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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 Love!

~Thanks be to God!

 

Stay with us O Christ, 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 praises be sung by the birds of the air–

the sea and its creatures sound their joy.

Psalm 103/104 B

The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

and sing your praise among the branches.

You water mountains from the clouds of heaven;

the soil is satisfied by the fruit of your work.

 

It make grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:

wine that gladdens our hearts,
oil to make our faces shine,
and bread to sustain our lives.

 

The trees of Adonai are well-watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that God planted.

There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.

The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags provide refuge for the badger.

 

You made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows the hour of its setting.

You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

 

The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.

The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and rest in their dens.

Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening falls.

 

Glory to the ONE and to the WORD

And to the BREATH of Love!

As always before,

so now and evermore.  Amen

  Let praises be sung by the birds of the air–

the sea and its creatures sound their joy.

Reading   I Peter 1:6-9

There is cause for rejoicing here. You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials; but this is so that your faith, which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold, may by its genuineness lead to praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears. Although you have never seen him, you love him, and without seeing you now believe in him, and rejoice with inexpressible joy touched with glory because you are achieving faith’s goal, your salvation.

 

Responsory

R. Without seeing you, we love you; without seeing you, we believe; And we sing Christ, in joy your glory; we believe in you. 

V. In our hearts may the fire of love still burn; here you give your Spirit to us

and the flame of that fire fills the whole world.

Gospel Canticle of Mary

Antiphon

Love Adonai, your God with all your heart, all your soul

and all your mind. Then love your neighbor as yourself. 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

Love Adonai, your God with all your heart, all your soul

and all your mind. Then love your neighbor as yourself. Alleluia!

SERVICE OF PRAYER

Litany of Intercession

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 the sea creatures and winged birds themselves, whose praise of God 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 Dear Abba …

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 Earth & Sea & Sky +   bless us with reverence, wonder and awe .   Amen.

 

Let us bless Adonai!    ~Thanks be to God.

Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Salve Regina

Marian Antiphon

Mother of Mercy, Our Queen we greet you. Our life, our hope, our happiness we hail you. We call to you as Eve’s own children, and exiles.  To you we lift our hearts in sorrow and fear,  in this valley of tears.  Turn then, our loving Advocate, and look with favor upon us.  And after our life in exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.  O gracious, O loving, O Virgin benign, our Mother Mary.

 

Pray for us, Holy Mother of God

~ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

 

Let us pray.  Holy, Mighty and Immortal God, through the working of the Holy Spirit, you prepared the body and soul of the glorious virgin Mother Mary, as a worthy dwelling for your Word; grant that we, who celebrate her memory each evening, may with the help of her prayers, be freed from ever-present evil, and come to share the fulness of life eternal.   Amen.