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St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
SERVICE OF LIGHT
Greeting/Invocation
We light the Evening Candle and say or sing:
Light and Peace in Jesus Christ our Love!
~Thanks be to God!
How blest are the poor, alleluia!
~ Theirs is the reign of God, alleluia!
ST. CLARE Hymn
Now let us praise a woman noble, great,
A valiant servant of the God of Hosts;
her holiness is famed, renowned abroad.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Afire with shafts of holy love Clare turned
From earthly joys to yearn for those of heaven;
Eternal triumph now her soul’s reward!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Clare’s earthly prison penance kept subdued;
She fed her soul on prayer’s sweet food alone;
Thus did she seek the glory of her Spouse.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
All strength and honor praise and glory be
To God the ABBA, and the only WORD,
the Holy SPIRIT ever Three in One:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Melody: Sine Nomine 10.10.10 with Alleluias
Music: Ralph Vaughn Williams
Text: Breviary Hymn for the Office of Holy Women
SERVICE OF THE WORD
PSALMODY
Antiphon
The realm of heaven is promised and given by the Lord Jesus only to the poor:
for those who cling to temporal things lose the fruit of love.
Psalm 15/16
Protect me God, I turn to you for help.
I profess, “You are my Love, my greatest good.”
I once put trust in false gods,
the idols of the land.
Now I make no offerings to them,
nor do I invoke their names,
Those who chase after them
simply add grief to their grief.
Adonai, you are my portion and cup,
the shape of my future;
you mark off the best place for me
to enjoy my place on the earth.
I bless God who teaches me,
who even at night directs my heart.
I am sure that God is right here beside me,
I can never be shaken.
And so my heart rejoices
my body thrills with life,
my whole being rests securely.
You will not abandon me to Sheol,
nor send your faithful one down to death.
You show me the road to life:
boundless joy as your companion for ever!
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
And to the BREATH of Love;
as always before,
so now and evermore. Amen.
The realm of heaven is promised and given by the Lord Jesus only to the poor:
for those who long to temporal things lose the fruit of love.
READING Phil 3:8-10
I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Silent Prayer
Responsory
R. Though my flesh and my heart may fail,
* God is my strength and my portion for ever.
V. I count all that this world offers as worthless, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. *God is my strength and my portion for ever.
V. Glory to the Abba and the Word, and the Breath of Love.
Canticle of Zachary– Luke 1:68-79
Antiphon
The blessed Clare denied herself and took up her cross,
following Jesus, who emptied himself for us.
Canticle of Mary
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
The blessed Clare denied herself and took up her cross,
following Jesus, who emptied himself for us.
SERVICE OF PRAYER
Prayers of St. Clare
May we place our minds in the mirror of eternity;
May we place our souls in the splendor of glory;
May we place our hearts in the figure of the divine substance;
Through contemplation, may our entire being be transformed into the image of the One in Whose image we were created.
May we experience what the friends of God experience when they taste the hidden sweetness that God alone has kept from the beginning for those who love.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Dear Abba …
Closing Prayer & Blessing
Holy One and God of endless Compassion, you are the praise of all your saints and the joy of all creation. We rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Clare and we give you thanks for her love of poverty and devoted service to the poor and for her legends which continue to delight and inspire us. Fill us with life and light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days; For yours is the power and glory of love now and forever. Amen.
From the Final Words of St. Clare
May we go calmly in peace, + accompanied by our Divine Escort;
for the One who created us has sent the Holy Spirit
and has always guarded us as a mother guards the child who loves her. ~Amen.
Let us bless Adonai.
~Thanks be to God.
Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon.
Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae, Vita dulcedo et Spes nostra, salve!
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae; Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum vale. Eia, ergo, Advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos, ad nos converte; et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis, post hoc exilium ostende.
O Clemens, O Pia, O Dulcis, Virgo Maria!