Cantica Gaudia

Season of Lent: Monday Evening Prayer

Opening: Examine me, O God and know my heart. Test me and discover my thoughts, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Canticle: Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you;
you are gentle with us as a  mother with her children.
Often you weep over our sins and our pride,
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgment.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds,
in sickness you nurse us and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying, we are born to new life;
by your anguish and labor we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness;
through your gentleness, we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead,
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy, heal us;
in your love and tenderness, remake us.
In your compassion, bring grace and forgiveness,
for the beauty of heaven, may your love prepare us.

Psalm: Happy is the one who is forgiven
Whose wound is healed
Happy the one restored to your harmony
In whose spirit there is no more deceit

When I held my silence
My bones grew brittle with crying all day
For by day and night your hand lay heavy on me
And my life’s moisture dried up
Through the long droughts of summer

But then I turned toward my mistakes and shortcomings
Knew my unworthiness, did not cover it up
I said, “I will confess all this, since it is so”
And you forgave me for what I am

Therefore let all the faithful
When they find their confusion find you
And pray that the waters of self-delusion
Won’t crest to crush them in their time

You are my shelter
You help me withstand my suffering
I endure it warmed in the winds of your exultant songs

I will instruct and I will teach the way to go
I will counsel, my eye is on you

Don’t be like a horse or mule
That has no understanding
That must be led along with bridle and bit
His constant ornament
Lest he bump or push or go off course

Many are the pains of the heedless
Those who hold back from you
But the one who trusts self all to you
Will swim in your kindness

So the upright rejoice in you and are glad
The upright in heart shout for joy

Glory to God, who created us, bears our pain, and loves us, now and always.

Reading: The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control.

The Lord’s Prayer: Creator of all,
Alive in all things and greater than all things,
Your naming be held holy.
Your vision of our goodness be made manifest throughout the universe,
And your desires for us brought to fulfillment.
Give us that which is essential for our growth and work.
Offer forgiveness and healing to us as we forgive and heal those around us.
Protect us from unnecessary suffering and wasteful pain.
For all that is beautiful, strong and glorious has its roots in you
and expresses your will and your nature, which we share in, unendingly.  Amen.

Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts that we may feel the breath and play of your Spirit. Unclench our hands so that we may reach out to one another, and touch and be healed. Open our lips that we may drink in the delight and wonder of life. Open our eyes so that we may see Christ in friend and stranger. Breathe your Spirit into us, and touch our lives with the life of Christ. Amen.

Collect: Brooding Spirit, beneath your wings there is creation and life: accompany us on the difficult path with the disappeared and the broken, the fearful and the vengeful, until we find the way to the city of our peace, where we are accepted as we are.

Blessing: May the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, speak to us word of pardon and peace.