Cantica Gaudia

Advent: Tuesday Morning Prayer

Opening:  Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteouness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up, and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also.

Canticle: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
God’s mercies never come to an end,
They are new every morning.
Your faithfulness, O Lord, is great.
You are all that I have,
And therefore I will wait for you.
You, O Lord, are good to those who wait for you,
To all those who seek you.
It is good to wait in patience
For the salvation of the Lord.

Psalm: Happy are those who live in your house
Their lives are your continuous praise
Happy the ones  whose hearts confide in you
Whose feet walk the pilgrim pathways
Passing the valley of weeping
They change it into a spring
And the morning rains cover it with blessing
They go from strength to strength, tower to tower
Appearing before you at Zion’s Mount

Antiphon: O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Reading: To be human is to become visible, while carrying what is hidden, as a gift to others.

To remember the other world in this world is to live in your true inheritance.

You are not a troubled guest on this earth. You are not an accident amidst other accidents. You were invited from another and greater night than the one from which you have just emerged.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Creator of all,
Alive in all things and greater than all things,
Your naming be held holy.
Your vision of our goodness be made manifest throughout the universe,
And your desires for us brought to fulfillment.
Give us that which is essential for our growth and work.
Offer forgiveness and healing to us as we forgive and heal those around us.
Protect us from unnecessary suffering and wasteful pain.
For all that is beautiful, strong and glorious has its roots in you
and expresses your will and your nature, which we share in, unendingly.  Amen.

Prayer: The Lord is our light and our help,
calling us to look beyond the darkness to the promise of his Coming.
We wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour.

The world groans in darkness – yearning to give birth to a new and eternal creation,
We wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour.

Overwhelmed souls and hearts hardened through suffering
yearn for the warmth and touch of your love.
We wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour.

And as we wait in joyful hope, we ask God to bless and keep us:
May God hold us in the palm of his hand. Amen.

Collect: God our deliverer, whose approaching birth still shakes the foundations of our world: may we so wait for your coming with eagerness and hope that we embrace without terror the labor pangs of the new age, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Going Forth: We go now to love and serve the Lord. Alleluia!