Leader: You discern our thoughts from far away, O God.
All: You search out our path & and our lying down.
Leader: You are acquainted with all our ways.
All: You are with us as we pray.
We will listen, or join in with, to the hymn, ‘Christ has no body now but yours’. (Take This moment tr2).
(Refrain) Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes.
You are his body. (Refrain).
Christ has no body now but yours,
We will sing the antiphon & psalm as indicated
Cantors: The bodies of the saints have been buried in peace,
And their names live on for all generations.
Side 1: You have heard. 0 God, the strains of my distress,
Even the silent crying of my heart.
Side 2: I love you because your ear inclined to me,
I know you were there for me in the day of my trouble.
Side 1: The cords of death entangled me:
The snares of the grave held me fast.
Side 2: Tentacles wrapped themselves round me,
Crushing me to anguish & pain.
Side 1: Desperate for air I called out:
Help me. Deliver me. Rescue me.
Side 2: My strength is sapped, my energy draining away.
With my last breath I cried out in panic.
Side 1: In your healing compassion you came to me,
With the kiss of life reviving me.
Side 2: At my very last gasp you held me,
You snatched me from the jaws of the grave.
All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen.
All: The bodies of the saints have been buried in peace,
And their name lives on for all generations.
After saying the antiphon together we will listen to, or join in with,
Michael Joncas’s setting of psalm 115. (S the Ps 2 B6).
Refrain: A blessing cup is a communion with the blood of Christ. (x2)
How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up & I will call on the name of the Lord. (Refrain)
Every time you eat of this bread, every time you drink of this cup,
You proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes, until he comes. (Refrain)
Reading – on Edith Stein.
In the Catholic Church, German-Jewish convert saint, Edith Stein, is often referred to as the “Martyr of Love.” Her feast-day marks the date that she, together with her sister Rosa, also a convert to Christianity, were sent to their death by Nazis at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. Edith Teresa Hedwig Stein was born October 12, 1891 in Breslau, Germany, (now Poland), & her last residence was the Monastery of the Carmelite Nuns in Echt, Holland. She was arrested on August 2, 1942, for reasons of race & specifically because of Jewish descent. The last recorded words of Edith Stein while she and her sister marched to their death in the gas chamber were, “Come, we are going for our people!” Poignantly, this “Martyr of Love” left humanity a legacy of lessons in faith with courage. Spiritual food for thought are her words, “Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth. My desire for the truth was my one sole prayer.”
Reflection.
Please sing the Magnificat as indicated.
Cantors: The saints will dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven;
Their peace will last for ever.
Side 1: I acclaim the greatness of the Lord,
I delight in God, my saviour, who regarded my humble state.
Side 2: Truly from this day on
All ages will call me blest.
Side 1: For God, wonderful in power,
Has used that strength for me.
Side 2: Holy the name of the Lord!
Whose mercy embraces the faithful, one generation to the next.
Side 1: The mighty arm of God scatters the proud in their conceit,
Pulls tyrants from their thrones, & raises up the humble.
Side 2: The Lord fills the starving
And lets the rich go hungry.
Side 1: God rescues lowly Israel, recalling the promise of mercy,
The promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham’s heirs for ever.
All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen.
All: The saints will dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven;
Their peace will last for ever.
Intercessions:
Reader: As we celebrate this feast, we pray for Jewish people
everywhere & especially for those who have suffered, or
are still suffering, because of being Jewish…… silence …….
we sing,
Cantors: With all the saints, All: We pray to the Lord.
Reader: Edith was a woman of great courage – we pray for a share
of that courage when we need it.…… silence ……. we sing,
Cantors: With all the saints, All: We pray to the Lord.
Reader: Edith never lost her innate sense of humour. We pray
never to lose that gift. …… silence ……. we sing,
Cantors: With all the saints, All: We pray to the Lord.
Reader: Edith became a Carmelite sister: let us pray for all
Carmelites especially any known to us. …… silence ……. we sing,
Cantors: With all the saints, All: We pray to the Lord.
Reader: On this feast of one of the patrons of Europe, we pray for
the people of Europe – that the richer countries will find
good ways of sharing what they have, & helping the less-
developed countries to progress in serving the common good
of their people. …… silence ……. we sing,
Cantors: With all the saints, All: We pray to the Lord.
Reader: We pray for people who have died today, & for those who
will die tonight. We also remember in prayer those whose
anniversaries occur tomorrow, remembering especially………..
Pause for any further intercessions.
Leader begins the Our Father …….
Leader: Almighty, ever-living God, listen now to our prayers & grant
us the strength that Edith’s faith & love inspires. Through Christ our Lord,
All: Amen.
We end with a blessing of peace for Europe.
(Libera Peace – Rutter’s Gaelic Blessing. Tr 5.)