Walk With me on Our Journey: Day 1 of the Great O Antiphons! O Come Emmanuel! Come Soon!

Good Evening Dear Ones!

Happy Being Thoughtful and Thankful thursday. Welcome to our yearly time of the "Great O Antiphons". Today's Antiphon is "O Sapientia" which means O Wisdom. Our #AdventWord for the day is "Learn. Every day we need to take time to learn something new. Here is today's questions are this: What is on your new learning curve? What has God taught you during this time of pandemics? Take out your journals and write down the answers. Let us begin in silence as with this mindfulness exercise as we come together in unity and hold sacred space.

Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Pause.

Peace be still
Peace be.
Peace.

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Pause.

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Pause.

Peace be still.
Peace be.
Peace.

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Pause.

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For the next week we will meditate upon the O Antiphons instead of daily quotes.

Calendar Work For December 17-The “O” Antiphons: Wisdom (Isa. 11:2-3) Who is a voice of wisdom in your life? Thank her or him.

Celtic Advent Calendar 2020! Yes it's here From Contemplative Cottage

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard

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Come let us worship with these opening sentences of the Great O Antiphons!

December 17

O Wisdom of our God Most High,

guiding creation with power and love:

come to teach us the path of knowledge!

—From Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers

We will pray and add one each day.

O Sapientia

O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Veni, Veni Emmanuel

We will be singing and praying with Veni Emannuel each of the days of the Great O Antiphons!

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
who orderest all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go. Refrain

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Great O Antiphon's - O Sapientia

O Sapientia

I invite you to light a virtual candle and pray for the gift of #Wisdom and enlightenment of our spirits as we await the coming of Jesus into our mind, hearts, and lives once again.

Let us confess our need for God’s healing grace.

Silence

Compassionate God,

we confess our weaknesses and our need for your

strengthening touch.

We confess that some illnesses stem from our own fault,

while others are beyond our control.

We turn to you, source of life,

and ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ

for the gifts of true healing and life in you. Amen.

May the God of love visit us in our times of trial and weakness,

and raise us to newness of life, through Jesus Christ, in the

power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

Advent
Come and save us, * O Lord God of hosts.
Come and save us, O Lord God of hosts.
Show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved:
O Lord God of hosts.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Come and save us, O Lord God of hosts.
V. Show us your mercy, O Lord:
R. And grant us your salvation.

The Light of Christ in me Recognizes the Light of Christ in you!"

I hold holy space for you during this time of prayer, vigil, and meditation.

Light of the World Phos hilaron

Light of the world, in grace and beauty,

Mirror of God’s eternal face,

Transparent flame of love’s free duty,

You bring salvation to our race.

Now, as we see the lights of evening,

We raise our voice in hymns of praise;

Worthy are you of endless blessing,

Sun of our night, lamp of our days.

Psalm 134 Ecce nunc

Behold now, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, *

you that stand by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the LORD; *

the LORD who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.

Psalm 141:1-3,8ab Domine, clamavi

O LORD, I call to you; come to me quickly; *

hear my voice when I cry to you.

Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, *

the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Set a watch before my mouth, O LORD,

and guard the door of my lips; *

let not my heart incline to any evil thing.

My eyes are turned to you, Lord GOD; *

in you I take refuge.

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Prayer Over The Advent Candle

O God, as light comes from this candle,
May the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us,
Warming our hearts and brightening our way.
May Christ our Savior
Bring life into the darkness of this world,
And to us, as we wait for his coming.
Amen.

(www.catholicnewsagency.com)

Smudging Prayer

Creator, our Father in heaven, we come to you as your children. We confess that we are weak and broken images of you. We pray for the forgiveness and healing you give in Jesus Christ. May his Spirit clean our spirits, minds, hearts, and bodies. We pray that your Holy Spirit will help us to worship in spirit and truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, so that his Spirit will carry our prayers to you. Amen.

God and Creator of us all we pray and light our candles this night at a time where we are finding ourselves sorely divided one from another by a myriad of circumstances. We pray that we may start to learn from each other and place our egos and the need to be right at the door. We pray that we may use gentle speech and kind actions when we meet someone who differs from us. We pray that we may lovingly enfold them in our arms and extend to them radical hospitality and welcome. We pray that we may continually beat the weaponry of hate into ploughshares and turn the spears of division into pruning hooks and that we may grow into a peace-filled and loving world. We pray this night for all who are enduring any kind of pain that they may be comforted and that we may lovingly respond to their needs. We pray and ask this night for forgiveness of any action or word we have done or spoken this day and that we may turn away and repent of the wrongs we have done. We pray that we may spread God's light of love, peace, and learning to this world and that we may be beacons of hope, joy, love, and peace. We pray that we may follow Jesus and imitate him by being CALM (Compassionate, Accepting, Loving, and Merciful) and show the world that we are carried aloft by the Holy Spirit's Love Energy and that our Hearts and heart homes may be enlarged and that truly we may become one family of God and Love and brothers and sisters one to another. Amen.

Everything Has Its Time

From Ecclesiastes 33 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Psalm 82

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:

2 ‘How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked?

Selah

3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;

maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

they walk around in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I say, ‘You are gods,

children of the Most High, all of you;

7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,

and fall like any prince.’*

8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth;

for all the nations belong to you!

Wisdom 10: 9-14

9 Wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.

10 When a righteous man fled from his brother’s wrath,

she guided him on straight paths;

she showed him the kingdom of God,

and gave him knowledge of holy things;

she prospered him in his labours,

and increased the fruit of his toil.

11 When his oppressors were covetous,

she stood by him and made him rich.

12 She protected him from his enemies,

and kept him safe from those who lay in wait for him;

in his arduous contest she gave him the victory,

so that he might learn that godliness is more powerful than anything else.

13 When a righteous man was sold, wisdom* did not desert him,

but delivered him from sin.

She descended with him into the dungeon,

14 and when he was in prison she did not leave him,

until she brought him the sceptre of a kingdom

and authority over his masters.

Those who accused him she showed to be false,

and she gave him everlasting honour.

A Song of Judith

Judith 16:13-16

I will sing a new song to my God, *

for you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible.

Let the whole creation serve you, *

for you spoke and all things came into being.

You sent your breath and it formed them, *

no one is able to resist your voice.

Mountains and seas are stirred to their depths, *

rocks melt like wax at your presence.

But to those who fear you, *

you continue to show mercy.

No sacrifice, however fragrant, can please you, *

but whoever fears the Lord shall stand in your sight for ever.

1 John 2:28 - 3:3

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.

29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him. 3 1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he* is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

The Song of Mary Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *

for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: *

you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your name.

You have mercy on those who fear you *

from generation to generation.

You have shown strength with your arm *

and scattered the proud in their conceit,

Casting down the mighty from their thrones *

and lifting up the lowly.

You have filled the hungry with good things *

and sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *

for you have remembered your promise of mercy,

The promise made to our forebears, *

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Mark 5: 25-34

25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ 29Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ 31And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ 32He looked all round to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

A Song of Our True Nature

Julian of Norwich

Christ revealed our frailty and our falling, *

our trespasses and our humiliations.

Christ also revealed his blessed power, *

his blessed wisdom and love.

He protects us as tenderly and as sweetly when we are in greatest need; *

he raises us in spirit

and turns everything to glory and joy without ending.

God is the ground and the substance, the very essence of nature;

God is the true father and mother of natures.

We are all bound to God by nature, *

and we are all bound to God by grace.

And this grace is for all the world, *

because it is our precious mother, Christ.

For this fair nature was prepared by Christ

for the honor and nobility of all, *

and for the joy and bliss of salvation.

Let us pray the Alternative form of the Lord's Prayer as found in the New Zealand Prayer Book

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples

of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,

now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Stewart

God, in whose service alone is perfect freedom: We thank you for your prophets William Lloyd Garrison and Maria Stewart, who testified that we are made not by the color of our skin but by the principle formed in our soul. Fill us, like them, with the hope and determination to break every chain of enslavement, that bondage and ignorance may melt like wax before flames, and we may build that community of justice and love which is founded on Jesus Christ our cornerstone; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Third Sunday of Advent

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come
among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins,
let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver
us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and
the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Loving Jesus: Protect and sustain us with your hand. Open the
door of your love that, sealed with your wisdom, we may be free
to serve you with joy. Amen.
(a prayer of St. Gertrude)

Jesus, you are the way through the wilderness: show us your truth
in which we journey, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit be in us
the life that draws us to God. Amen.
(source: F.B. McNutt, The Prayer Manual [London: Mowbray, 1961], p. 29,
adapted)

O God our shield and armor of light, whom we adore with all the
angelic host: defend us from evil; watch over any who are in
danger this night and give your angels charge over them; and
grant that we may always rejoice in your heavenly protection and
serve you bravely in the world; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.

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.

Christ has no Body

Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks. Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. - Teresa of Avila

From A New Zealand Prayer Book-

Lord,
it is night.

The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.

The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives
rest in you.
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.

In your name we pray.
Amen.

O God, who opens the eyes of the blind and sets the captives free; Open our eyes that we may ever discern your way and guide our feet that we may walk in it, to your honor and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

‘Light a candle in the darkness’ (Celtic Daily Prayer p. 244).
Great God of bounty and provider in lean times, protector from evil and hope of new light and life, we thank you for all those who before us have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and walked in His ways. We praise you that with them we are part of the fellowship of all saints, past and present. Teach us to follow their examples of faithfulness and service, and to trust You through all the dark, cold days to bring us through to light and new life. In the name of the One who transforms all life, Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.

We pray these prayers based on O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

Praying to God who is Love!

God of Love help us to be loving to all of our family of love. We pray that we may lovingly respond to each other's needs and concerns.

O Come Emmanuel, Come Soon and enliven our spirits with your compassion, acceptance, love and mercy! May we always show love, bring joy, give hope, and make peace to all of our family members and living things.

God of Love we pray for all who are traveling the next few days to visit loved ones. We pray for all of our loved ones whom we haven't seen for awhile.