Week One
Wednesday Morning

Greeting and Doxology

PSALM 47
All you people, clap your hands. Sing out your praise to God.

All peoples, clap your hands,
shout your joy to God.
For God Most High is awesome,
great king of all the earth.

The One who conquers peoples
and sets them at our feet
chooses for beloved Jacob a land to be our pride.

God ascends the mountain
to cheers and trumpet blasts.
Sing out your praise to God,
to the king, sing out your praise.

For God rules the earth;
sing praise with all your skill.
God rules over nations,
high on the sacred throne.

Foreign rulers join the people of Abraham’s God;
all the powers on earth belong to God on high.

READING Tobit 4:15a, 16a, 19a
What you hate, do not do to anyone. Give some of your food to the hungry, and some of your clothing to the naked. At all times bless God, and ask that your ways may be made straight and that all your paths and plans may prosper.

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
O God, you who feed the hungry, let me be bread for your people.

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
With the coming of this day, generous God, we reflect on your call to service. We remember those who commit themselves to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and we pray:
For those who quietly provide services necessary for the common good, we pray: public utility workers, secretaries, those who labor in food preparation and housekeeping we pray:
For those engaged in dangerous work to assure our safety: fire fighters, police, paramedics, we pray:
For those who lead others to truth: educators, theologians, poets, musicians, artists, we pray:
For those charged with protecting the common good and promoting justice: legislators, national leaders, delegates to the United Nations, we pray:
For Sisters of Mercy, our associates and colleagues in ministry, and for all those you are calling to Mercy life, we pray:

THE LORD’S PRAYER

PRAYER
Jesus, you have given us living bread that we may be nourished and strengthened. As you provided food for those who gathered upon the hillside to hear your word, feed your people today with the bread that brings life. Do not forget those who love you. We ask this in your name. Amen.

BLESSING
May God’s blessing be upon us. Amen
May God’s light lead us in the way of Righteousness. Amen.
May our lives be patterned on Christ Jesus. Amen.