Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Late Summer: Wednesday Morning Prayer

Opening:  In God's Name be the course and the mooring -- let us embark.

Canticle: Hear, my child, hear and accept my words this day,
That the years of your life may be many.
I have taught you the way of wisdom.
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
And if you run, you will not stumble.
Keep hold of instruction; do not let it go;
Guard wisdom, for it is your life.

Psalm: O Lord, I am not proud;
I have no haughty looks.
I do not occupy myself with great matters,
Or with things that are too hard for me.
But I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its mother’s breast;
My soul is quieted within me.
O Israel, wait upon the Lord,
From this time forth for evermore.

Glory to God, Source of all being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Reading: When Roses Speak, I Pay Attention

“As long as we are able to
Be extravagant we will be
Hugely and damply
Extravagant.  Then we will drop
Foil by foil to the ground.  This
Is our unalterable task, and we do it
Joyfully.”

And they went on.  “Listen,
The heart-shackles are not, as you think,
Death, illness, pain,
Unrequited hope, not loneliness, but

Lassitude, rue, vainglory, fear, anxiety,
Selfishness.”

Their fragrance all the while rising
From their blind bodies, making me
Spin with joy.

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: Because your design for each of us is perfect in its friendliness, may we count nothing strange which befalls us on our journey. Rather may our spirits keep breathing the upland air of trust.

Because you make each today wonderful for body and mind, may we welcome the coming of that eternal and unshadowed day in which we shall see your face and know the truth at last. Amen.

Collect: May none of God's wonderful works keep silence, night or morning. Bright stars, high mountains, the depths of the seas, sources of rushing rivers: may all these break into song as we sing to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May all the angels in the heavens reply: Amen, Amen, Amen. Power, praise, honour, eternal glory to God, the only Giver of grace. Amen, amen, amen.

Going Forth: Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.