Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Fall: Friday Noonday Prayer

Opening: Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal, have mercy on us. (repeat 3 times)

Psalm: Search me inside and out with your beam
Pour your awareness throughout my heart like honey
And find the crookedness and selfishness there
And lead me away from it
On the way to your timeless time

Reading: Every day
I see or hear
Something
That more or less

Kills me
With delight,
That leaves me
Like a needle

In the haystack
Of light.
It is what I was born for—
To look, to listen,

To lose myself
Inside this soft world—
To instruct myself
Over and over

In joy,
And acclamation.
Nor am I talking
About the exceptional,

The fearful, the dreadful,
The very extravagant—
But of the ordinary,
The common, the very drab,

The daily presentation.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
How can you help

But grow wise
With such teachings
As these—
The untrimmable light

Of the world,
The ocean’s shine,
The prayers that are made
Out of grass?

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayers: Gentle me, Holy One
Into an unclenched moment
A deep breath
A letting go
Of heavy experiences
Shriveling anxieties
Dead certainties

That, softened by the silence
Surrounded by the light
And open to the mystery

I may be found by wholeness
Upheld by the unfathomable
Entranced by the simple
And filled with the joy that is You.

Going Forth:  The blessing of Martha's welcome, the blessing of Mary's listening; the blessing of action, the blessing of reflection, the blessing of a God who is in each of these, and in each one of us, be with us all. Amen.