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Solemn Evening Prayer
May the Lord be with you always and wherever you are, may you be with Him always. St. Clare
Leader: | We adore you, |
All: |
most holy Lord Jesus Christ,
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Leader: | O God come to our aid. |
All: |
O Lord make haste to help us.
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Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be,
OPENING HYMN
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Ant. 1.: |
Clare devoted herself to the Lord’s affairs that she might be holy in body and spirit. PSALM 18[19]
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No speech, no word, no voice is heard †
There he has placed a tent for the sun; †
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be,
Pause for quiet prayer & reflection on Psalm
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Ant. 1.: |
Clare devoted herself to the Lord’s affairs that she might be holy in body and spirit.
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Ant. 2: |
Clare accepted the loss of everything: and so she found something better and lasting. PSALM 44 [45]
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You are the fairest of the children of men †
O mighty one, gird your sword upon your thigh; †
Take aim with your bow in your dread right hand.†
Your throne, O God, shall endure for ever. †
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you †
From the ivory palace you are greeted with music. †
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be,
Pause for quiet prayer & reflection on Psalm
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Ant. 2: |
Clare accepted the loss of everything: and so she found something better and lasting.
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Ant. 3: |
Clare laid aside her finery, and subdued her body with fasting. PSALM 44 [45]
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And the people of Tyre shall come with gifts,*
She is led to the king with her maiden companions. †
Sons shall be yours in place of your fathers: *
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be,
Pause for quiet prayer & reflection on Psalm
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Ant. 3: |
Clare laid aside her finery, and subdued her body with fasting.
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Leader: | She is led to the King with her maiden companions. |
All: |
They are escorted amid gladness and joy.
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THE FIRST READINGPhil. 3:7-16, 20-21; 4:4-9 A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians For Christ I have accepted the loss of everything. Because of Christ, I have come to consider all these advantages that I had as disadvantages. Not only that, but I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the law, but I want only perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus has captured me. I can assure you I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus. We who are called “perfect” must all think in this way. If there is some point on which you see things differently, God will make it clear to you; meanwhile, let us go forward on the road that has brought us to where we are. For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.
I want you to be happy, always in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near. There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Finally, fill your minds with everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learned from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen me do. Then the God of peace will be with you.
RESPONSORY
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Leader: | We thank God for the grace which has been given to us in Christ Jesus: In him we have been enriched in every way. |
All: |
God will sustain us to the end, until the coming of the Lord.
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THE SECOND READING
A reading from the letter of St. Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague.
Consider the Poverty, Humility and Charity of Christ.
Happy the soul to whom it is given to attain this life with Christ, to cleave with all one’s heart to him whose beauty all the heavenly hosts behold forever, whose love inflames our love, the contemplation of whom is our refreshment, whose graciousness is our delight, whose gentleness fills us to overflowing, whose remembrance makes us glow with happiness, whose fragrance revives the dead, the glorious vision of whom will be the happiness of all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. For he is the brightness of the eternal glory, the splendour of eternal light, the mirror without spot. Look into that mirror daily, O queen and spouse of Jesus Christ and ever study therein your countenance, that within and without you may adorn yourself with the flowers and garments that become the daughter and chaste spouse of the most high King. In that mirror are reflected poverty, holy humility and ineffable charity, as, with the grace of God, you may perceive.
Gaze first upon the poverty of Jesus, placed in a manger in swaddling clothes. What marvellous humility! What astounding poverty! The King of angels, Lord of heaven and earth, is laid in a manger. Consider next the humility, the blessed poverty, the untold labours and burdens which he endured for the redemption of the human race. Then look upon the unutterable charity with which he willed to suffer on the tree of the cross and to die thereon the most shameful kind of death. This mirror, Christ himself, fixed upon the wood of the cross, bade the passers-by consider these things: “All you who pass this way look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.” With one voice and one mind let us answer him as he cries and laments, saying in his own words: “I will be mindful and remember and my soul shall languish within me.” Thus, O queen of the heavenly King, may you ever burn more ardently with the fire of his love. Contemplate further the indescribable joys, the wealth and unending honours of the King, and sighing after them with great longing, cry to him: “Draw me after you: we shall run to the fragrance of your perfumes, O heavenly bridegroom.” I will run and faint not until you bring me into the wine cellar, until your left hand be under my head and your right hand happily embrace me and kiss me with the kiss of your mouth. In such contemplation be mindful of your little mother and know that I have inscribed your happy memory indelibly on the tablets of my heart, holding you dearer than all others.
RESPONSORY
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Leader: | Clare, a worthy daughter of Francis, despised the world’s empty shows; She spread the cult of chastity around the earth. |
All: |
United to Christ her spouse, she became the mother of many virgins,
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Magnificat Antiphon: |
Clare cast all her cares upon the Lord.
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Lourdes Magnificat (sung)
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1. | My soul now glorify the Lord who is my Saviour |
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Rejoice, for who am I that God has shown me favour
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2. | The world shall call me blest and ponder on my story |
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In me is manifest God’s greatness and his glory
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3. | For those who are his friends, And keep his laws as holy, |
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His mercy never ends and He exalts the lowly.
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4. | But by his power the great, The proud, the self-conceited, |
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The Kings who sit in state are humbled and defeated.
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5. | He feeds the starving poor, He guards his holy nation, |
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Fulfilling what he swore long since in revelation.
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6. | Then glorify with me, The Lord who is my Saviour, |
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One Holy Trinity, for ever and for ever.
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Magnificat Antiphon: |
Clare cast all her cares upon the Lord.
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INTERCESSIONS
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Leader: | Christ the Lord is the spouse of virgins and the Lamb unspotted, whom virgins follow wherever he goes; let us proclaim his love and pray. |
Response: |
O Lord hear us we pray: O Lord give us your love.
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Leader: | Christ our Lord, you praised those who follow the way of virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven – grant that we may rightly understand your words, and be united to you by a chaste body and a pure mind. |
Response: |
O Lord hear us we pray: O Lord give us your love.
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Leader: | Christ our Lord, you offered your body on the wood of the cross as a sacrifice to the Father for our salvation – grant that, crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires, we may complete what is lacking in your sufferings. |
Response: |
O Lord hear us we pray: O Lord give us your love.
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Leader: | Christ our Lord, you presented the Church to yourself, as a chaste virgin to her only husband; make her holy and faultless – and grant us a faith that is true and complete. |
Response: |
O Lord hear us we pray: O Lord give us your love.
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Leader: | Christ our Lord, you bring joy to the lives of your faithful as they celebrate the feast of your holy virgin Clare – may we always rejoice in her constant intercession. |
Response: |
O Lord hear us we pray: O Lord give us your love.
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Leader: |
Christ our Lord, you have welcomed your holy virgins to the wedding |
Response: |
O Lord hear us we pray: O Lord give us your love.
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CONCLUDING PRAYER
Lord God,
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Leader: | May Almighty God bless us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit |
All: |
Amen
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Leader: | Let us praise the Lord. |
All: | Thanks be to God |