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ALLELUIA!
Invitation to Worship
Our Love is truly risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
O Holy One,+ open my lips.
~And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Adonai, you search me and you know me, alleluia;
~You know my resting and my rising, alleluia!
Hymn for St. Catherine’s Day
Our lives are full of challenges, of paths we want to tread;
of dreams of the discoveries in days that lie ahead.
Chorus:
Catherine our Sister, teach us the Truth you know:
and may your life provide a light to show us how to grow.
Our lives are full of obstacles that block and bar our way:
of questions and uncertainties, that darken and dismay.
Her life was full of promises that-the sun would always shine;
but-she chose to walk the harder path–to take the stronger line.
She would not just wait passively while darkness settled in;
but gave her mind, her love, her self to let the dawn begin.
Text: Elaine Lee, alt. ; Tune: CONSOLATION CM. with Refrain (arr. The Daily Feast.org)
PSALMODY
Antiphon
Take my yoke and learn from me
for I am gentle and humble of heart. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Psalm 102/103
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.
Take my yoke and learn from me
for I am gentle and humble of heart. Alleluia, Alleluia!
READING From the dialogue On Divine Providence by Catherine of Siena
O Eternal God, eternal Trinity, …You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.
I have tasted and seen the depth of your mystery and the beauty of your creation with the light of my understanding. I have clothed myself with your likeness and have seen what I shall be. Eternal Abba, you have given me a share in your power and the wisdom that Christ claims as his own, and your Holy Spirit has given me the desire to love you. You are my Creator, eternal Trinity, and I am your creature. You have made of me a new creation in the blood of your Son, and I know that you are moved with love at the beauty of your creation, for you have enlightened me.
Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light and causes me to know your truth. By this light, reflected as it were in a mirror, I recognize that you are the highest good, one we can neither comprehend nor fathom. And I know that you are beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, you gave yourself to humankind in the fire of your love.
You are the garment which covers our nakedness, and in our hunger you are a satisfying food, for you are sweetness and in you there is no taste of bitterness, O triune God! (Cap 167, Gratiarum actio ad Trinitatem)
Responsory
R. Set me as a seal upon your heart; like a band around your arm* for love is stronger than death, it can never be destroyed: alleluia, alleluia!
V. My Beloved is hiding in the clefts of the rock. O let me but hear your voice and see your face: *for love is stronger than death, it can never be destroyed: alleluia, alleluia!
V. Glory to the Abba and the Word and the Holy Breath of Love.
Canticle of Zachariah
Antiphon
O Eternal God, receive the sacrifice of my life for the sake of your People,
Accept my heart; impress upon it the face of your Son,
my Love, Jesus Christ, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Blessed + be Adonai, the God of Israel,
Who visits this people to set us free
Raising for us a sign of salvation
In the house and family of David.
God promised throughout past ages
In words of holy prophets
To save us from our enemies,
And from the control of our oppressors.
Adonai favored our ancestors
And remembered the sacred covenant.
The pledge to Abraham and Sarah
Is now renewed for us;
That freed from the grip of our foes
We might worship without fear
And be both just and holy
For the rest of our days.
And you, child, called “prophet of the Most High,”
Will go ahead to prepare the way,
By teaching this people of salvation
Through forgiveness of their sins.
For the loving compassion of the Holy One
As the Rising Sun will shine upon us
To illumine the darkness and dispel death’s shadow
To Guide our feet on the way of peace.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
And to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
Eternal God, receive the sacrifice of my life for the sake of your People,
Accept my heart; impress upon it the face of your Son,
my Love, Jesus Christ, Alleluia, Alleluia!
SERVICE OF PRAYER
Prayer of Jesus
Our Father…
Closing Prayer of St. Catherine
O Fire ever blazing! The soul who comes to know herself in you finds your greatness wherever she turns, even in the tiniest things, in people and in all created things;
for in all of them she sees your Power, and Wisdom and Clemency.
For if you had not been powerful, knowing and willing, you would not have created them. But you were Powerful and Knowing and Willing, and therefore you created everything.
… O give to us, eternal Trinity, your gentle benediction. Amen.
(from Prayer 12 and Prayer 26)
Blessing
May the God of Peace who raised Jesus from the dead + bless us and grant us peace. ~Amen.
Let us bless Adonai, Alleluia, Alleluia!.
~Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia!