Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Early Summer: Sunday Noonday Prayer

Opening:  You must be made new in mind and spirit, and put on the new nature of God's creating, which shows itself in a just and devout life.

Psalm: I say to the arrogant, let go of arrogance
And to the crooked, put down your horns—
Put them down, all the way down
And lower your proud stiff necks
For what truly lifts
Comes neither from the rising of the sun
Nor from the setting of the sun
Nor from the wild power of desert mountains
But only from me
Who when that time comes
Lowers one
And lifts another

Reading: O friend, understand: the body is like the ocean, rich with hidden treasures. Open your inmost chamber and light its lamp. Within the body are gardens, rare flowers, peacocks, the inner Music; within the body a lake of bliss, on it the white soul-swans take their joy.

And in the body, a vast market -- go there, trade, sell yourself for a profit you can't spend. Mira says, her Lord is beyond praising. Allow her to dwell near Your feet.

The Lord’s Prayer: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
Sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
Now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayer: Come Lord, come down,
Come in, come among us.
Come as the wind to move us;
Come as the light to prove us;
Comes as the night to rest us;
Come as the storm to test us;
Come as the sun to warm us;
Come as the stillness to calm us;
Come Lord, come down
Come in, come among us.

Going Forth: Go forth as a beacon of light, rejoicing and making clear the path ahead.