Leader: Come, let us turn again to the living God, the God whose love
both comforts & refines us.
All: Our world is hurt & you will come with healing balm.
Our world is sad & you share that sadness.
We have come to pray & you will hear us.
We will pray the psalm – ‘A Summer Psalm of Freedom’ – as indicated.
Reader: O God of all seasons, it’s nearly summer – the season I
dreamed about throughout winter’s long dreary days. Now is
the time of leisure, time to be out of doors-and-walls. But
so often I feel like an over-civilised child of this century &
convenience & comfort. Six months ago it was snow & ice
that screened me in from earth’s delights. Now it is a
television screen that too often massages my mind, weary
from work, that screens me in from summer’s healing touch.
But even if I flick that dead-window off & go outside on the
porch, I am still screened in or carefully protected lest bugs
or flies disturb my comfort by bringing nature far too close.
Grant me, O never-tiring, Miracle Worker, the freedom of
my childhood to run & play with abandon, without thought of
comfort, bugs or flies, in summer’s great vacationland.
Pause.
Please listen to Ps 138 (You are Mine Tr 7)
You’ve searched me, Lord, you know me when I sit & when I stand. You know me, you know me.
Where can I escape you? Your presence surrounds me.
When I climb the heavens you find me. (Refrain)
If I fly to the sunrise, or westward to the sea,
Your right hand would guide me, holding me. (Refrain)
Reading: from the writings of Edward Hays.
When you have learned to discipline your mind & live in the present
moment , you are more able to experience life. If this Heaven &
Earth are full of the glory, then should it not be possible to
experience – at least to a degree – that glory? Are we not called, in
the words of the psalm, to ‘taste & see the goodness of God’? It is
only out of such an appreciation of the wonder of life that a full &
true gratitude arises spontaneously from deep within our hearts, a
gratitude for the support of the Earth when we walk, for the food
that has given up its life that we might be nourished, for ten
thousand other things& for the gift of life itself.
Pause for personal reflection.
Please sing the Magnificat & its antiphon as indicated.
Cantors: This is the faithful and wise steward whom the Master placed over his household,
To give them their measure of food at the proper time.
Side 1: My being proclaims your greatness
And my spirit finds joy in you, God my Saviour,
Side 2: For you have looked upon me, your servant, in my lowliness;
All ages to come shall call me blessed.
Side 1: God, you who are mighty have done great things for me.
Holy is your name.
Side 2: Your mercy is from age to age
Towards those who fear you.
Side 1: You have shown might with your arm
And confused the proud in their inmost thoughts.
Side 2: You have deposed the mighty from their thrones
And raised the lowly to high places.
Side 1: The hungry you have given every good thing,
While the rich you have sent away empty.
Side 2: You have upheld Israel, your servant,
Ever mindful of your mercy,
Side 1: Even as you promised our ancestors;
Promised Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants for ever.
All: Give praise to the Father Almighty,
To his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;
To the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,
Both now and for ever, Amen.
All: This is the faithful and wise steward whom the Master placed over his household,
To give them their measure of food at the proper time.
Intercessions:
Reader: Lord Jesus, you have shown us your ways in our day through
wise and holy women and men. Help us to hear your voice of
wisdom in our world today as we remember St Philip Neri,
……silence………. we pray,
All: Remain with us, Holy Spirit of God.
Reader: We thank you for the wisdom and compassion of pastors,
and we ask you to bless those people who dedicate their
lives to living out their understanding of you in pastoral
work.……… silence ………. we pray,
All: Remain with us, Holy Spirit of God.
Reader: We ask your blessing on all the members of our Christian
Church who are seeking to have a closer relationship with
our risen Jesus …………………… silence……….we pray,
All: Remain with us, Holy Spirit of God.
Reader: We pray for people who have died today – for those who will die tonight – & for those whose anniversaries occur tomorrow,
remembering especially …………
Pause for people to add silently or aloud any further intentions.
Leader begins the Our Father.
Leader: Lord God, who gave your spirit of truth & love in full measure to Philip Neri, grant that we who are celebrating his memory may be supported in all that we do by his prayers. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
All: Amen.
Leader: Let us ask for God’s blessing on each other & all those in our minds & hearts. (Deep Peace – Sacred Pathways Tr 15).
Deep peace of the running wave to you;
Deep peace of the flowing air to you;
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you;
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you;
Deep peace, deep peace.
All: Remain with us, Holy Spirit of God.
Leader: We pray for people who have died today – for those who will die tonight – & for those whose anniversaries occur tomorrow, remembering especially:……………………………
Pause for people to add silently or aloud any further intentions.
Leader begins the Our Father.
Leader: Lord God, who gave your spirit of truth & love in full measure to Philip Neri, grant that we who are celebrating his memory may be supported in all that we do by his prayers. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
All: Amen
Leader: The Spirit of Truth lead us into all truth, & give us grace to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, & to live the Word & works of God, & may Almighty God bless us – the Father Son and Holy Spirit
All: Amen