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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!
O Adonai, You are my Light;
~My God, You illumine my darkness.
EVENING HYMN for FRIDAYS in LENT
Take up your cross, the Savior said, If you would my disciple be;
Take off the masks, embrace the truth, And humbly follow after me.
Take up your cross, let not its weight Fill your weak spirit with alarm;
His strength will lift your spirit up And brace your heart and nerve your arm.
Take up your cross, heed not the shame, Nor let your foolish pride rebel;
Our Love for you the cross endured and fought the pow’rs of death and hell.
Take up your cross, and follow Christ, Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only those who bear the cross May hope to wear the glorious crown. Amen.
Tune: DISTRESS L.M. (Southern Harmony 1835); Text: C.W. Everest (1814-1877), alt.
SERVICE OF THE WORD
PSALMODY
Antiphon
Come, Lord, bring to us your peace,
let us rejoice before you with a perfect heart.
Psalm 54/55:2-3 and 41/42
O God, listen to my prayer, do not hide from pleading,
attend to me and reply with my cares I cannot rest.
Like the deer that yearns for running streams,
so my soul is yearning for you, my God.
My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life;
when can I enter and see, the face of God.
My tears have become my bread, by night, by day,
as I hear it said all day long: “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down my soul, why groan with- in me?
Hope in God and praise the Holy One: my savior and my God.
Deep is calling on deep in the roar of mighty waters;
your torrents and all your waves have swept over me.
By day Adonai will send com-passion and loving kindness;
by night I will sing a song of thanks; praise the God of my life.
Why are you cast down my soul, why groan with- in me?
Hope in God and praise the Holy One: my savior and my God.
Reading Isaiah 53:2-4
Who could believe what we have heard
to whom has the power of Adonai been revealed?
Like a sapling he grew up in front of us, like a root in arid ground.
Without beauty, without majesty we saw him, no looks to attract our eyes;
a thing despised, rejected by men, a person of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.
But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and brought low.
Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins.
On him lies the punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed.
Responsory
R. Abba, you so loved the world that you send your only Son *to be our Savior.
V. In fulfillment of your will he gave himself up to death *to be our Savior.
V. Glory to the ONE, to the WORD, and to the Holy BREATH of Life.
Gospel Canticle of Mary
Antiphon
If your sibling has something against you,
leave your offering and first make peace.
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
If your sibling has something against you,
leave your offering and first make peace.
Service of Prayer
Litany of Intercession
Grant us pardon and peace:
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Forgive our sins and neglect:
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Give us true faith and undying hope in your love for us:
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Strengthen our resolve to follow Christ more closely this Lenten Season:
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
May we live each day more simply so that others may simply live:
~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Grant light and peace to all those who have died and consolation to those who grieve them: ~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Father …
Closing Prayer & Blessing
May the sweet incense of our evening prayers rise before you, Gracious God, and may your loving-kindness fall upon us, that with purified hearts and minds we may sing your praise with the hosts of heaven and the whole of creation and glorify you forever;
for your love is the power that has created all things, sustains all things, and frees all things to join you in building the future now and forever. Amen.
May the God of Compassion + bless us with forgiveness and fill our hearts with loving-kindness for all people and all creation . Amen.
Let us bless Adonai! ~And give thanks to God.
Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon.
Queen of the heavens we greet you, Queen of Angels now we entreat you,
Fairest flower, heaven’s portal From whom came the Light immortal.
Matchless maiden, God did raise you For the Universe to praise you.
Hear us, O hear us, dear Mother; Show your children Jesus, our brother.
Pray for us O gracious Queen of the Universe.
~That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. O Gracious God, grant to your people lasting health of mind and of body. Send us your assistance in times of temptation. May we who celebrate the memory of the Holy Mother of God, rise from our sins by the help of her intercession. We ask this through Christ our Love. Amen.