Thursday after Ashes | THE DAILY FEAST

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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 lamp;

~My God, You illumine my darkness.

EVENING HYMN for LENT

For forty days Christ fasted, fed upon his Abba’s every word–

all for the joy that lay ahead; such were his pleas, his prayer was heard.

Though one with God he plunged his heart deep in the world’s unfathomed pain;

he wrestled demons, hunger, thirst, that we in him may do the same.

In Christ our journey is revealed: his face set toward Jerusalem.

Where he, our head, goes, so must we: the church, his body, one with him.

O Abba, Food of those who fast, O Christ in whom the least are known,

Earth’s rising sap, O Spirit-spring: come raise to life what you have sown! Amen.

Tune: ERHALT’ UNS HERR (1547); Text: Aelred Seton-Shanley

SERVICE OF THE WORD

PSALMODY

Antiphon

Come, let us return to Adonai our God-

the God who is gracious and merciful.

Psalm 102/103a

My soul, give thanks to Adonai,

all my being, bless the Holy Name.

My soul, give thanks to Adonai

and never forget all these blessings.

Bless God, who forgives all your sin,

who heals every one of your ills,

who snatches you free from death,

who enfolds you with tender compassion

who fills your life with goodness

and gives you the strength of an eagle.

Adonai does deeds of justice

and defends the poor and oppressed;

Teaches God’s ways to Moses

and God’s deeds to the children of Israel.

Adonai is compassion and love,

patient and rich in mercy.

God will not accuse us for long,

nor bring our sins to trial,

nor exact from us in kind

nor give us what our sins deserve.

As high as the heavens are above the Earth,

so great is God’s love for those who trust.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far does God remove our sins.

As parents have compassion on their children,

Adonai has pity on those who are reverent,

for Adonai knows of what we are made,

and remembers that we are dust.

The love of Adonai is everlasting

upon those who revere God’s Holiness;

whose justice reaches out to all generations

when they keep God’s will in their minds and hearts.

Glory to the ONE and to the WORD

And to the BREATH of Love;

as always before,

so now and evermore. Amen.

Come, let us return to Adonai our God–

the God who is gracious and merciful.

Reading Luke 9: 22-25

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Human One must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all,
“If any wish to come after me, they must deny themselves
and take up the cross daily and follow me.
For those who wish to save their lives will lose it,
but those who lose their lives for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for you to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit your true self?”

Responsory

R. To walk with me, *take up your cross and follow me.

V. Deny your false self day after day *take up your cross and follow me.

V. Glory to the ONE, to the WORD, and to the Holy BREATH of Life.

Gospel Canticle of Mary

Antiphon

Whoever wishes to come after me, let them deny themselves,

and take up the cross, and follow me.

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

Whoever wishes to come after me, let them deny themselves,

and take up the cross, and follow me.