Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Fall: Monday Morning Prayer

Opening: O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you as the day rises to meet the sun.

Canticle: May all beings be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings everywhere,
The strong and the weak,
The great and the small,
The mean and the powerful,

The short and the long, the subtle and the gross.
May all beings everywhere,
Seen and unseen,
Dwelling far off or nearby,
Being or waiting to become:

May all be filled with lasting joy.
Let no one deceive another,
Let no one anywhere despise another,
Let no one out of anger or resentment
Wish suffering on anyone at all.
Just as a mother with her own life
Protects her child, her only child, from harm,
So within yourself let grow
A boundless love for all creatures.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broadest extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.

Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.

Psalm:Lord, how beautiful you are;
how radiant the places you dwell in.
My soul yearns for your presence;
my whole body longs for your light.
Even the wren finds a house
and the sparrow a nest for herself.
Take me home, Lord; guide me
to the place of perfect repose.
Let me feel you always within me;
open my eyes to your love.

Happy are those who trust you
and merge their will in your will.
They let go of all desires
and give up everything they know,
until they finally enter
the inmost temple of the heart,
where there is no self, no other,
nothing, but only you.

Glory to God, who made us, who bears our pain, and who loves us,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.  Amen.

Reading: Empower me
to be a bold participant,
rather than a timid saint in waiting,
in the difficult ordinariness of now;
to exercise the authority of honesty;
rather than to defer to power,
or deceive to get it;
to influence someone for justice,
rather than to impress anyone for gain;
and, by grace, to find treasures
of joy, of friendship, of peace
hidden in the fields of the daily
you give me to plow.

The Lord’s Prayer

Seed and source,
Far in the distance and in our souls,
You are holy and make us whole.
May we perceive your divine will
That loved us into being
Help us to join your creative force
And let it prosper here.
Give us what we need to survive,
And release us from our transgressions
As we release others from theirs.
Keep us away from paths of destruction
And from those who would ruin what you have made,
For you are the matrix of life, love and wisdom,
Now and forever.  Amen.

Prayer: Holiness, Word, Power, you reveal yourself as one God in three persons, a mighty, creative, life-generating dancer who invites your creation to join you. Catch us up in your love and lead us into your world to call others to follow you with singing and rejoicing. Amen.

Collect: Lord of dreams, you take us off the straight and narrow and open a new future, a relationship of grace: give us the courage of Joseph to bear his world's disdain and keep faith with the gift of life; through Jesus Christ, God with us. Amen.

Going Forth: In the name of the true and living Holy One, who made us for love, who saved us by love, and who loves us still. Amen.