Solemnity of the Ascension, EP I

 Ascension_ICON

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Recorded in the Couvent of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Family

Fanjeaux, France

 

SERVICE OF LIGHT

Greeting/Invocation

 We light the EASTER CANDLE and say or sing:

Christ our Light!

~Thanks be to God!

 

God goes up with shouts of joy, alleluia!

~Our Love goes up with trumpet blast, alleluia!

 

HYMN FOR ASCENSION 

Our Love goes up with shouts of joy

While trumpets all his triumph tell;

With him humanity is raised

Above angelic worlds to dwell.

 

He sits with God, at God’s right hand,

And now he reigns o’er everything;

The Abba’s glory is his own:

With all creation let us sing.

 

So when he comes again in might,

To raise us on that splendid day,

We shall be gathered up to him

And ev’ry tear be wiped away.

 

O God, dear Abba, hear our prayer,

With Jesus, your Beloved Son,

Send forth the Spirit of your love

To live in us and make us One.

 

 

SERVICE    OF THE WORD

Evening Psalmody

Antiphon

I came from the Abba and have come into the world.

Now I am leaving the world again and going to the Abba.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

Psalm 46/47

All you peoples, clap your hands,

cry to God with shouts of joy!

For Adonai, the Most High is awesome and great;

and reigns over the Earth with such love!

 

God’s love overwhelms those who hate;

and changes foes into allies and friends.

All we have, has been given by God,

given to us out of love.

 

God goes up with shouts of joy;

Adonai goes up with the blast of trumpets.

Sing praise for God, sing praise.

Sing praise to Love, sing praise!

 

God-Love reigns over all the earth,

sing praise with all your skill!

God-Love reigns over the nations;

God-Love is enthroned in holiness.

 

The holy ones from every tradition

are assembled with the saints of our own.

We are all one family of God

whose Love reigns over us all.

 

Glory to the One and to the Word

and to the Breath of  Love

as  always before,

so now and evermore. Amen.

I came from the Abba and have come into the world.

Now I am leaving the world again and going to the Abba.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

 

 

READING          ACTS 1:1-6

In the first book, O Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandments through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking to them of the Realm of God. And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Abba, which, he said, “you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in a few days you will baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

 

 

Responsory

R.  Our Love ascended into heaven * alleluia, alleluia!  V. In the same way, he will come again. * alleluia, alleluia!  V.  Glory to the Abba and the Word and the Holy Breath of Love.

 

Gospel Canticle

Antiphon

I go to prepare a place for you.  I shall come again and take you to myself,
so that where I am, you may be also. Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

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 the Word

And to the Breath of Love

As always before

So now and evermore. Amen

I go to prepare a place for you.  I shall come again and take you to myself,
so that where I am, you may be also. Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

 

 

SERVICE OF PRAYER

 Litany of Intercession

O Jesus, Our Lover, help us to love you ~and to keep your commandments.

 

O Jesus, Our Mother, do not leave us orphans ~ come back to dwell in our hearts.

 

O Jesus, Our Way, show us the path to freedom ~and lead us to abundant life.

 

O Jesus, Our Truth, open our eyes, our minds and our hearts ~that we may seek and find you.

 

O Jesus, our Life, send us the Advocate, the Gift of you Abba ~ the Holy Spirit of Truth.

 

 

Prayer of Jesus

Our Dear Abba in heaven…

 

Closing Prayer

We bless and thank you, O Gracious God, for you have raised Jesus to sit at your right hand and to put an end to all that limits or destroys life.  May this celebration of his Ascension into heaven empower us to express in our lives the love we celebrate.  We ask this in the Name of Jesus, the Risen and Ascended One, who lives and loves with you and the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.

 

Blessing

May the Risen Christ, ascended to the Abba, send us the Holy Spirit and bless + us with abundant life, Alleluia!  ~Amen, Alleluia!

 

Let us bless Adonai, Alleluia, Alleluia!

~Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia!

 

ANALHPSH__L11

Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon for the Easter Season.

 

Regina Caeli laetare, alleluia!

Quia Quem meruisti portare, alleluia!

Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia!

Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia!

 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!

For our Love is truly risen, Alleluia!

 

Let us pray.

Holy, Immortal and Mighty God, you have brought joy to the world by raising Jesus from the dead. By the prayers of Mary his Mother, and of all the myrrh-bearing women,

raise us up with Jesus and bring us to the fullness of life.  We ask this through the same Jesus Christ, our Risen Love.  Amen.