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Service of Light
Greeting/Invocation
We light the Evening Candle and say or sing:
Light and Peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
~Thanks be to God!
Stay with us Lord for it is evening,
~And the day is almost over.
THURSDAY EVENING HYMN
Our mother Earth, her mantle green,
lay ripened, seeded and at rest;
she yearned to nurture all to life,
providing nourishment and nest.
So God, unbounded, uncontained,
ordained the oceans teem with life
and bid the skies be filled with flight:
with fish and fowl the world was rife.
These each were blest and both deemed good
God urged them mate and multiply:
thus life would ever be increased
and God in all be glorified.
With song and plumage, soaring flight,
birds blazoned forth God’s gifts so free;
while sea-life, fathomless and feared,
reflected, dark, God’s mystery.
Thus evening came and morning came
the fifth day, filling air and sea.
Life overflowing and outpoured
depends upon diversity! Amen.
Text: Aelred-Seton Shanley; Tune: Plainsong
SERVICE OF THE WORD
PSALMODY
Antiphon
Let praise resound from the birds of the air–
the sea and its creatures roar with joy.
Psalm 148
Alleluia! Praise Adonai!
Sing praise from the heavens above,
Sing praise from the heights of the mountains!
All angels and spirits, sing praise!
Sing praise, O Sun and Moon!
Sing praise, O glittering Stars!
Sing praise, O Galaxies of the Universe!
Sing praise, O Cosmos of Creation!
Praise the Name of the ONE
Whose Word invited you to be,
Establishing the pattern of creation:
Wanting us all to be free.
Let praise resound from the Earth
From oceans and creatures of the sea;
fire and hail, snow and mist,
Stormy winds that hear the Word.
All mountains and hills,
All fruit trees and cedars
Beasts both wild and tame
Reptiles and birds on the wing;
Princes and judges,
Rulers and citizens
All men and women
Elders and children;
Together sing praise to the HOLY
To the ONE whose praise is exalted;
To the NAME beyond all names,
Whose splendor fills heaven and earth.
For LOVE gives strength to the people,
Shares glory with all the faithful;
Welcoming us as companions,
Teaching us how to sing praise.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
And to the BREATH of Love;
as always before,
so now and evermore. Amen.
Let praise resound from the birds of the air–
the sea and its creatures roar with joy.
Reading Genesis 1: 20-23
Then God said: Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky. God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of crawling living creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw that it was good, and God blessed them, saying: Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth.Evening came, and morning followed—the fifth day.
Responsory
R. Ah, gentle God, You are so lovely in Your creatures, *how exceedingly beautiful and ravishing You must be in Yourself! V. Praise and honor be to the unfathomable richness that is in You!” *how exceedingly beautiful and ravishing You must be in Yourself! V. Glory to the ONE, to the WORD, and to the Holy BREATH of Life.
Gospel Canticle of Mary
Antiphon
Jesus went about proclaiming the Good News
and curing sickness and disease among the people. Alleluia.
It is customary to make the sign of the cross at the beginning of the Gospel Canticle.
My heart + is radiant with the Lord,
My whole being delights in God my Savior.
All people now will call me blessed
For God has loved this humble handmaid.
The Almighty has shown me great favor
Holy is the NAME,
Whose mercy embraces the faithful,
From one generation to the next.
The mighty arm of God,
Scatters the proud in their own conceit,
Pulls tyrants from their thrones
While lifting up the lowly:
Fills the famished with bounty,
And reveals the emptiness of riches.
Rescues lowly Israel,
Sharing such loving kindness,
As promised to our ancestors
To Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants forever.
Glory to the ONE and to WORD
And to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
Jesus went about proclaiming the Good News
and curing sickness and disease among the people. Alleluia.
Service of Prayer
Litany of Intercession
For ornithologists, ichthyologists, bird watchers, and all who explore the beauty and wonder of birds, fish and other forms of sea life, ~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all whose lives and livelihoods involve fish and other forms of sea life, especially those striving to preserve endangered species through the development of sustainable fishing practices and to improve and restore oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and ponds,
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all whose lives and livelihoods involve poultry and other birds, especially those striving to develop sustainably integrated practices and to improve and restore their natural habitats, ~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all who are deprived by modern lifestyles and urban jungles from experiencing the incredible beauty, diversity, liveliness and songs of the birds,
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For all the sea creatures and winged birds themselves, whose praise of God that has been sounding for hundreds of millions of years, is threatened with extinction by the human destruction of their habitats and the toxins produced by consumerism and greed, ~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Father …
Closing Prayer & Blessing
God of the Sea and Sky, as we celebrate the fifth day of the week, we praise and thank you for the wonder and beauty of all the creatures that You have made, for each one of them reveals something of Your inexpressible love. Awaken in us a profound sensitivity to Your presence in all of creation and awareness that it is in You that we and all creation live and move and have our being. For your love is the power that has created all things, sustains all things, and invites all things to join you in building the future now and forever. Amen.
May the God of the Cosmos + bless us with reverence, wonder and awe . Amen.
Let us bless Adonai! ~And give thanks to God.
Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon for this season.
Marian Antiphon
Loving Mother of our Savior, holding open heaven’s only hope, Star for steerage in this vastness, rise to help us, save the sinking. Nature’s greatest Wonder: you have borne your own true Maker, giving human life to him. Virgin ever, before and after, that Good News from Gabriel, Word of Life for living, tell it now: mercy to all people!
The angel of the Lord brought the message to Mary. ~ And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, your Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may, by his Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of his Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.