Cantica Gaudia

Season of Lent: Tuesday Morning Prayer

Opening: Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.

Canticle: Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.
For behold, darkness covers the land;
deep gloom enshrouds the peoples.
But over you the Lord will rise,
and his glory will appear upon you.
Nations will stream to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawning.
Your gates will always be open;
by day or night they will never be shut.
They will call you, The City of the Lord,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Violence will no more be heard in your land,
ruin and destruction within your borders.
You will call your walls, Salvation,
and all your portals, Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day;
by night you will not need the brightness of the moon.
The Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.

Psalm: O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you;
My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.

Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place,
That I might behold your power and your glory.

For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;
My lips shall give you praise.

So will I bless you as long as I live
And lift up my hands in your Name.

My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth praises you with joyful lips,

When I remember you upon my bed,
And meditate on you in the night watches.

For you have been my helper,
And under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

My soul clings to you;
Your right hand holds me fast.

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:  How did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
all its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its Being.
Otherwise, we all remain
too frightened.

The Lord’s Prayer: Holy One,
We honor your name.
Let the world know your justice
Here as everywhere.
Give us the food we need
For both the body and the soul.
Forgive us the wrongs we do
As we forgive the wrongs of others.
Keep us safe from the evil
At large or of our own making.
We trust you for you made us and
We are yours, now and always.  Amen.

Prayer: The middle is a good place to be.
The center around which life flows.
Bless my circle of friends.
Bless my circle of interests.
May I be encircled by love and peace. Amen.

Collect: Spirit of the desert, you drove Jesus to the edge of the world to find his truth and calling: scour our hearts and awaken our hunger that freed from empty clinging we might find ourselves in you; through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the wilds. Amen.

Blessing: Grace, mercy and peace from the Holy One be with us today and always.