MORNING and Evening Prayer
of the Sisters of Mercy
EASTER
SEVENTH WEEK FRIDAY
Morning Prayer
READING
Romans 8: 14-17
All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
who shepherds the people and sets them free.
God raises from David’s house
a child with power to save.
Through the holy prophets
God promised in ages past
to save us from enemy hands,
from the grip of all who hate us.
The Lord favored our ancestors
recalling the sacred covenant,
the pledge to our ancestor Abraham,
to free us from our enemies,
so we might worship without fear
and be holy and just all our days.
And you child, will be called
Prophet of the Most High,
for you will come to prepare
a pathway for the Lord
by teaching the people salvation
through forgiveness of their sin.
Out of God’s deepest mercy
a dawn will come from on high,
light for those shadowed by death,
a guide for our feet on the way to peace.
INTERCESSIONS
God, our mother and father, you have chosen us to be children of the light, free and honored. Through the power of your Spirit, give us the determination to eliminate those forces that rob others of their rightful dignity:
--Hasten the day of freedom, O God.
That no child will be unfed, unloved, unsheltered, or unwanted…
That no woman or man will be tortured, slain, raped or falsely imprisoned…
That no person will be victimized by gang warfare, violent crime, abuse or incest…
That no person will be demeaned by the lash of racism, sexism or ageism…
That no child will be asked to live in a world where air is polluted, land is destroyed and rivers are toxic…
That no person will live in a world without hope or meaning...
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PRAYER
Spirit of God, come and transform us. Stir up in us an ardent desire to do your will and bring about the reign of mercy and justice. Holy Spirit, praying unceasingly within us, give our tongues the words to praise you, our hearts the fervor to love you. Sanctify the work of our lives that all our acts may give glory to God, today and always. Abide with us that we may abide with you. This we ask in faith. Amen.
Easter
SEVENTH WEEK FRIDAY
EVENING PRAYER
READING
Deuteronomy 10: 12-13
So now, O Israel, what does the Lord, your God, require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your should, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.
CANTICLE OF MARY
Let us walk in god’s ways. Let us love and serve God with all our heart.
I acclaim the greatness of the Lord,
I delight in God my savior,
who regarded my humble state.
Truly from this day on All ages will call me blest.
For God, wonderful in power,
has used that strength for me.
Holy the name of the Lord!
Whose mercy embraces the faithful,
one generation to the next.
The mighty arm of God
scatters the proud in their conceit,
Pulls tyrants from their thrones,
and raises up the humble.
The Lord fills the starving
And lets the rich go hungry.
God rescues lowly Israel,
recalling the promise of mercy,
the promise made to our ancestors,
to Abraham’s heirs for ever.
INTERCESSIONS
Spirit of wonder and awe, creation stands hushed in silent worship of you. Stir up in us a deep awareness that you are our all.
You have made the universe to be a reflection of your glory:
--May we reverence the earth, its waters, and its land as the gift of your hand.
You have made woman and man in your image:
--May we see you in all persons we meet and reverence your presence within them.
You have bestowed the gifts of your Spirit upon your people:
--May we support the mystic and the prophet and walk with the healer and the teacher.
You are beyond our knowing. Your ways are beyond our comprehension:
--May we praise you, holy, inexhaustible Mystery.
You are the center from whom we go forward or stay back:
--May we be rooted in mercy, our gaze fixed on Christ Jesus.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PRAYER
Spirit of God, come and transform us. Stir up in us an ardent desire to do your will and bring about the reign of mercy and justice. Holy Spirit, praying unceasingly within us, give our tongues the words to praise you, our hearts the fervor to love you. Sanctify the work of our lives that all our acts may give glory to God, today and always. Abide with us that we may abide with you. This we ask in faith. Amen.