Monday after the Seventh Sunday of Easter
Evening Prayer: New Life – The Spirit
O God, make speed to save us;
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: Give me the joy of your saving help again*
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
(Ps. 51.13)
Opening (from Psalm 51)
1 You look for truth deep within me,*
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
2 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure;*
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
3 Create in me a clean heart, O God,*
and renew a right spirit within me.
4 Cast me not away from your presence*
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Glory to the Father…
or a suitable hymn
Psalm 139
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me;*
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before*
and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;*
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit?*
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;*
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning*
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me*
and your right hand hold me fast.
10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night,’
11 Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts;*
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
13 I will thank you because I am marvellously made;*
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
14 My body was not hidden from you,*
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;*
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.
16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God!*
how great is the sum of them!
17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number
than the sand;*
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.
18 Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God!*
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.
19 They speak despitefully against you;*
your enemies take your name in vain.
20 Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate you?*
and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
21 I hate them with a perfect hatred;*
they have become my own enemies.
22 Search me out, O God, and know my heart;*
try me and know my restless thoughts.
23 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me*
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
God of mystery and power, even our minds and hearts are the veils and signs of your presence. We come in silent wonder to learn the way of simplicity, the eternal road that leads to love for you and for your whole creation. We come as your Son Jesus Christ taught us, and in his name.
Conclusion (from Romans 8)
1 If God is for us, who is against us?*
The God who did not spare his own Son,
will he not give us all things with him?
2 It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?*
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
3 Neither death nor life,*
nor angels nor principalities;
4 Nor things present, nor things to come,*
nor depth, nor height;
5 Nor powers, nor anything in all creation*
shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
READING(S)
Matthew 8:5-17
When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralysed, in terrible distress.’ And he said to him, ‘I will come and cure him.’ The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly I tell you, in no onein Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.’ And the servant was healed in that hour.
When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’
Silence
Response (Ps. 147.5)
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; alleluia, alleluia.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; alleluia, alleluia.
There is no limit to his wisdom.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; alleluia, alleluia.
MAGNIFICAT
Magnificat Antiphons: I will not leave you desolate, says the Lord;* I will come to you. (John 14.18)
1 My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,*
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
2 for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant;*
from this day all generations will call me blessed.
3 The Almighty has done great things for me*
and holy is his name.
4 He has mercy on those who fear him*
in every generation.
5 He has shown the strength of his arm;*
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
6 He has cast down the mighty from their thrones*
and has lifted up the lowly.
7 He has filled the hungry with good things,*
and the rich he has sent away empty.
8 He has come to the help of his servant Israel,*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
9 the promise he made to our forebears,*
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)
PRAYERS
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Collect of the Day
Almighty God, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven. Mercifully give us faith to know that, as he promised, he abides with us on earth to the end of time; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!
The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing:
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
