Wednesday, June 14, 2017

The power of prayer and togetherness in a season of violence and despair. Who is our saint of the day?




Good Evening Dear Family! 

I hope everyone is managing to keep their equilibrium during this season of violence and despair that we keep seeing, hearing, and reading about in all forms of media. I cannot believe all the sadness that keeps being visited upon us and yet it is during these times we find ourselves coming together and for the betterment of society.  We also become staunch  practitioners of the  CALM Principle meaning being (Compassionate, Accepting, Loving, and Merciful) We must seek to be in tune with, The Beatitudes, The Magnificat,  Matthew 25 and our baptismal vows etc. Prayer is a powerful tool during this season too. It knits us together. It may not change the situations we are seeing but it does change us. So let us come together, pray, and be one as we find solace in our prayers. We will use the lessons from Basil The Great along with other prayers tonight. But first let's tell our loved ones that we love them and then find our silence in our own sacred spaces. 

I Love you all dear family! 
Now please pass this on to your loved ones. 
God is Good!




God of love, light, and mercy we come to you this night with prayers in our hearts to light our candles with special intention for all who are giving aid and comfort to all who are grieving the loss of those who died in all acts of terror and violence. We pray this night for the many medical teams who are practicing the arts of healing of body, mind, and spirit. We pray for those who are working in law enforcement who are coming to terms personally with another act of mass murder. We pray for all clergy who are brave enough to stand and support all God's children especially the LGBTQIA, Islamic, and Latino communities who have suffered much again. We pray for all of us who are seeking what we can do to help one another. We pray that we may continue to practice being CALM (Compassionate, Accepting, Loving, and Merciful) We pray this night that we may use our hands to hold, comfort, to help, and to give freely. We pray that we may use our feet to rush and give aid, to march against injustice, to carry the Good News of God's Love to all the world. We pray that we may use our ears to listen and not just hear, to listen inwardly into our heart homes where we meet God deeply and quietly and hear God's still small voice of calm. We pray that we may be use our shoulders for that soft place to fall, to help carry the burdens of many, and to take up our crosses daily and follow Jesus into uncharted territories where Jesus is leading us. We pray and we remember those who lost their lives in all places where there have been acts of, fire,  terror, hate, bigotry, gun violence, and especially the dear ones this week remembering those in London, Arlington, and San Francisco.

Let Light Perpetual Shine upon Them and give them peace. 

We light our candles and carry your love, your light, and your goodness O God, this night into the world that you have made. "The light of Christ in Me, Recognizes the Light of Christ in You!' Amen.






139 Domine, probasti vs 1-9

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.
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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 marvelously 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.)
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Lord you have searched me out- David Hurd





 Ezekiel 22:23-30

23 The word of the Lord came to me: 24 Mortal, say to it: You are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 Its princes* within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it. 26 Its priests have done violence to my teaching and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Its officials within it are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 Its prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God’, when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the alien without redress. 30 And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.

The Song of Hannah
1 Samuel 2:1-8
My heart exults in you, O God; *
my triumph song is lifted in you.
My mouth derides my enemies, *
for I rejoice in your salvation.
There is none holy like you, *
nor any rock to be compared to you, our God.
Do not heap up prideful words or speak in arrogance; *
Only God is knowing and weighs all actions.
The bows of the mighty are broken, *
but the weak are clothed in strength.
Those once full now labor for bread, *
those who hungered now are well fed.
The childless woman has borne sevenfold, *
while the mother of many is forlorn.
God destroys and brings to life, casts down and raises up; *
gives wealth or takes it away, humbles and dignifies.
God raises the poor from the dust; *
and lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with the rulers *
and inherit a place of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are God’s *

on which the whole earth is founded.


1 Corinthians 2:6-13

6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. 7But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
   nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him’— 
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.*

A Song of Christ’s Humility
Philippians 2:6-11
Though in the form of God, *
Christ Jesus did not cling to equality with God,
But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, *
and was born in human likeness.
Being found in human form, he humbled himself *
and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highly exalted him *
and given him the name above every name,
That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, *
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, *

to the glory of God the Father.


Luke 10:21-24

21 At that same hour Jesus* rejoiced in the Holy Spirit* and said, ‘I thank* you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.* 22All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus* said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’


A Prayer attributed to St. Francis
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we

are born to eternal life. Amen.



Almighty God, who has revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever.




The Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis
Luke 2:29-32
Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.





"The bread that you store up belongs to the hungry; the coat that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold that you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor." — Saint Basil 


12 A Song of Creation Benedicite, omnia opera Domini
Song of the Three Young Men, 35-65


Invocation
Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

I The Cosmic Order

Glorify the Lord, you angels and all powers of the Lord, *
O heavens and all waters above the heavens.
Sun and moon and stars of the sky, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, every shower of rain and fall of dew, *
all winds and fire and heat.
Winter and summer, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O chill and cold, *
drops of dew and flakes of snow.
Frost and cold, ice and sleet, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O nights and days, *
O shining light and enfolding dark.
Storm clouds and thunderbolts, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

II The Earth and its Creatures

Let the earth glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O mountains and hills,
and all that grows upon the earth, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O springs of water, seas, and streams, *
O whales and all that move in the waters.
All birds of the air, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O beasts of the wild, *
and all you flocks and herds.
O men and women everywhere, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

III The People of God

Let the people of God glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O priests and servants of the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
Glorify the Lord, O spirits and souls of the righteous, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
You that are holy and humble of heart, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Doxology
Let us glorify the Lord: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

A Song of Creation

Prayers of St. Basil the Great

O God and Lord of the Powers, and Maker of all creation, Who, because of Thy clemency and incomparable mercy, didst send Thine Only-Begotten Son and our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, and with His venerable Cross didst tear asunder the record of our sins, and thereby didst conquer the rulers and powers of darkness; receive from us sinful people, O merciful Master, these prayers of gratitude and supplication, and deliver us from every destructive and gloomy transgression, and from all visible and invisible enemies who seek to injure us. Nail down our flesh with fear of Thee, and let not our hearts be inclined to words or thoughts of evil, but pierce our souls with Thy love, that ever contemplating Thee, being enlightened by Thee, and discerning Thee, the unapproachable and everlasting Light, we may unceasingly render confession and gratitude to Thee: The eternal Father, with Thine Only-Begotten Son, and with Thine All-Holy, Gracious, and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

We give Thee thanks, O Lord our God, for the Communion of Thy holy, pure, deathless and heavenly Mysteries, which thou hast given for the good, the hallowing, and the healing of our souls and bodies. Do Thou, O Sovereign of the world, cause this Communion in the Holy Body and blood of Thy Christ to nourish us in unashamed faith, sincere charity, ripe wisdom, health of soul and body, separation from all ills, observance of Thy Law, and justification before His awful Judgment Seat. O Christ our God, the Mystery of Thy Providence has been accomplished according to our ability. We have been reminded of Thy Death and we have seen a figure of Thy Resurrection; we have been filled with Thine Infinite Life, and we have tasted Thine inexhaustible joy; and we pray Thee to make us worthy of these things in the life to come, through the grace of Thine Eternal Father and of Thy holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and forever, eternally: amen.

Guidance I

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord,
to your quiet harbour,
where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict.
Show me the course I should take.
Renew in me the gift of discernment,
so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go.
And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course,
even when the sea is rough and the waves are high,
knowing that through enduring hardship and danger,
in your name we shall find comfort and peace.


Guidance II

St Basil of Caesarea O Lord our God, we beseech you,
to ask for the gift we need.
Steer the ship of our life to yourself,
the quiet harbor of all storm-stressed souls.
Show us the course which we are to take.
Renew in us the spirit of docility.
Let your Spirit curb our fickleness;
guide and strengthen us to perform
what is for our own good,
to keep your commandments and ever
to rejoice in your glorious and vivifying presence.
Yours is the glory and praise for all eternity. Amen.

Deeper Sense of Fellowship With All Living Things

O God, grant us a deeper sense of fellowship
With all lively things
Our little brothers and sisters
To whom in common with us
You have given this earth as home.

We recall with regret that in the past
We have acted high handedly
And cruelly in exercising our domain over them
Thus the voice of the earth
Which should have risen to you in song
Has turned into a groan of travail.

May we realize that all these creatures
Also live for themselves and for you,
Not for us alone.
They too love the goodness of life,
As we do, and serve you better
In their way than we do in ours. Amen.


God of many names heal this fragile and broken world that you created.
Forgive all of our deeds that led us to destroy and harm your world O God.

God of many names, take away all bitterness and division that have led  us away from you.
Lead us to become the loving and united family you created us to be.

God of many names, we pray for the healing of all our family members who are ill remembering especially___________
Heal our bodies, minds, and spirits also.

God of many names, we pray for all who are dying and who have died. May they have a peaceful transition into the Thin Places.
Help us O God to see death as only the shedding of our mortal bodies into souls of  everlasting life.

God of many names, be with all of our faith leaders and communities as they prepare for worship and devotion to you. 
May we also prepare our souls and hearts to worship you wherever we may be this Sabbath weekend.

God of many names, we pray for the least of these who are our family members  and, who are refugees, victims of human trafficking, abuse, terror, bullying, ---phobias, religious persecution,  violence of any kind, and all those who are separated from their family members, nations and cultures by war or economic hardship.
May we see you in them at all times and in all places

God of many names, may we sew seeds of hope, joy, love, and peace and may we be truly united as your family of love.
Let us love one another and be untied as one!

God of many names, we offer our additional prayers, thanksgivings, celebrations, and remembrances  to you on behalf ourselves and others especially________________________

God of many names, we offer these our prayers in the name of your Son Jesus, our redeemer, healer, reconciler, brother, and friend. Amen.

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Good Night ! I love you and give thanks to God for you this night and always! We are a family and we must work for the good of all human and living beings.

With love and prayers, 

Sara





Image result for st. basil prayers



True fasting lies in rejecting evil, holding one’s tongue, suppressing one’s hatred, and banishing one’s lust, evil words, lying, and betrayal of vows. St. Basil the Great

The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil - Holy Saturday

Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great


Resources:
St. Basil Quotes on the Web
St. Basil Prayers on the Web.
Enriching our Worship
Book of Common Prayer
Satucket Lectionary for lessons and St. Basil the Great Biography
YouTube for Music


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