Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Late Summer: Thursday Noonday Prayer

Opening: Root us in your word, O Lord, in the good soil of your field.

Psalm: People, listen to me
Open your ears, inhabitants of the perishable world
Low and high, rich and needy, all of you –

My mouth will speak wisdom
My heart’s speech will be true
I will give myself over to my meaning
Will sing it, play it out on the lyre—

Why should I fear the sorrow
Of being diminished by the honored of the world
Who trust in their wealth
And glory in their riches?

No amount of money can redeem a soul
It cannot be ransomed with gold
For a soul is worth far too much
And if you try to purchase it
It is lost forever

Reading: She caught me off guard when my soul said to me, “Have we met?”  So surprised was I to hear her speak like that I chuckled.

She began to sing a tale: “There was once a hardworking man who used to worry so much because he could not feed and clothe his children and wife the way he wanted.

There was a beautiful little chapel in the village where the man lived and one day while he was praying, an angel appeared.

The angel said, ‘Follow me.’  And he did, out into an ancient forest.  ‘Now dig here,' the angel said.  And the man felt strength in his limbs he had not known since youth and with just his bare hands he dug deep and found a lost treasure, and his relationship with the world changed.”

Finding our soul’s beauty does that – gives us tremendous freedom from worry.

“Dig here,” the angel said – “in your soul, in your soul.”

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be your Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.  Amen.

Prayer: God of power and presence,
You are the midwife of our lives,
Always drawing us on to be born again,
Encouraging, exhorting, calming,
Containing even death.
You pull us, kicking, into life,
Breathe spirit into us.
We thank you for the gift in our breath,
The love that we make,
The hope that we cherish,
The grace that encompasses our darkest day.
In smallness and splendor, in storm and serenity,
We celebrate your care and creativity.
We rest in you, as trustingly as any baby.

Amen.

Going Forth: Strengthen the hands of those who work for peace.