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SERVICE OF LIGHT
Greeting/Invocation
We light the Evening Vesper Candle and say or sing:
Light and peace in Jesus Christ our Love!
~Thanks be to God!
Sunday Evening Hymn
O radiant Light, O Sun divine, Of God the Abba’s deathless face,
O image of the Light sublime that fills the heavenly dwelling place.
O Word of God, the Source of Life, Praise is your due by night and day.
Our happy lips must raise the strain of your esteemed and splendid Name.
O Jesus Christ as daylight fades, as shine the lights of eventide,
We praise the Abba with the Word, the Spirit blest and with them one.
Text: Phos Hilaron, transl. WG Storey; Tune: J. Michael Joncas, Praise God in Song
Thanksgiving for the Light
Let us give thanks to the God of Light, always and for everything.
~In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Praised be Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe,
who led our ancestors in the faith by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and prepared a lamp for the Anointed. Light up our darkness, O God, by the light of your Christ; may his word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path,
for you are full of loving kindness for your whole creation and we, your creatures glorify you: Abba, Word and Holy Breath of Love, now and forever. Amen, Amen!
SERVICE OF THE WORD
Sunday Evening Psalm
Antiphon
Our God answers to no one
in heaven or on earth.
Psalm 113b/115
Not to us, Adonai, not to us,
but to your Name give the glory;
because of your love and your truth,
lest the nations say, “Where is their God?”
But our God is in the heavens
and answers to no one.
Their gods are crafted by hand
nothing more than silver or gold.
They have mouths that are mute
and eyes that are blind;
they have ears that are deaf
and noses that cannot smell.
With their hands they cannot feel;
their feet cannot walk.
No sound comes from their throats,
their makers will come to be like them
and so will all who worship and trust in them.
Let all of Israel trust in Adonai
who is their help and their shield.
Let the house of Aaron trust in Adonai
who is their help and their shield.
All who reverence God, trust in Adonai,
who is your help and your shield.
God remembers us and will bless us;
will bless the house of Israel
and bless the house of Aaron.
Adonai will bless those who worship
the little no less than the great
May God bless and grant you increase,
for you and for all your children.
May you be truly blest by Adonai,
the maker of heaven and earth.
The heavens belong to Adonai
but the Earth is entrusted to us.
The dead do not sing God’s praises
nor those who go down into silence;
but we who live bless Adonai
now and forever, Amen. Alleluia!
Our God answers to no one
in heaven or on earth.
Reading Romans 8: 9,11
You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Responsory
R. If we die with him, we shall live with him; *if we endure we shall reign with him. V. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are faithless he keeps faith, he cannot deny himself. *If we endure we shall reign with him. V. Glory to the Abba and to the Word and to the Holy Breath of Love.
GOSPEL CANTICLE
Antiphon:
The Reign of God is like yeast
a woman kneads into a mass of dough,
and she waits until the bread is risen.
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
The Reign of God is like yeast
a woman kneads into a mass of dough,
and she waits until the bread is risen.
SERVICE OF PRAYER
Litany of Intercession
Your Reign is like good seed planted in a field invaded by weeds; ~give us ears to hear and patience to refrain from judging others.
Your Reign is like yeast kneaded into three measures of flour ~ give us ears to hear and strength to bring your love into everything we do.
Your Reign is like a mustard seed which someone plants in a field ~ give us ears to hear and hearts to make others welcome.
You invite us while we are still stuck in selfishness and sin to join you in building your Reign on earth as it is in heaven; ~may the love we bring to the world today be seed and leavening for your reign.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Father…
Closing Prayer & Blessing
God of Life and Love, you sent Jesus to announce the Reign of Heaven in parables and in his way of living and loving among us. Like a woman who makes bread for her family and friends, knead the leaven of your way of life and the love of your Holy Spirit into our hearts that our lives may become bread for those who hunger, sustenance for those who are oppressed, nourishment for those who search for truth and satisfaction for those who seek justice and peace. For yours is the power and the glory of love, now and forever. ~Amen.
May the God who gives seed to the sower , flour to the baker, and bread to the hungry + bless us and all of creation with the fullness of life. ~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!
Pray for us, O 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.