Opening Sentence

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mark 8:34

Confession

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,

We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;

Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,

That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,

Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Venite Psalm 95

1

Come, let us sing to the LORD; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

2

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

3

For the LORD is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.

4

In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.

5

The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have molded the dry land.

6

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the LORD our Maker.

7

For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

8

Harden not your hearts,
as your forebears did in the wilderness, *
at Meribah, and on that day at Massah,
when they tempted me.

9

They put me to the test, *
though they had seen my works.

10

Forty years long I detested that generation and said, *
"This people are wayward in their hearts;
they do not know my ways."

11

So I swore in my wrath, *
"They shall not enter into my rest."

Antiphon

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him.

Psalm 22 Deus, Deus meus

1

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *
and are so far from my cry
and from the words of my distress?

2

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; *
by night as well, but I find no rest.

3

Yet you are the Holy One, *
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

4

Our forefathers put their trust in you; *
they trusted, and you delivered them.

5

They cried out to you and were delivered; *
they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

6

But as for me, I am a worm and no man, *
scorned by all and despised by the people.

7

All who see me laugh me to scorn; *
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,

8

"He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him; *
let him rescue him, if he delights in him."

9

Yet you are he who took me out of the womb, *
and kept me safe upon my mother's breast.

10

I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *
you were my God when I was still in my mother's womb.

11

Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *
and there is none to help.

12

Many young bulls encircle me; *
strong bulls of Bashan surround me.

13

They open wide their jaws at me, *
like a ravening and a roaring lion.

14

I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint; *
my heart within my breast is melting wax.

15

My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; *
and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.

16

Packs of dogs close me in,
and gangs of evildoers circle around me; *
they pierce my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.

17

They stare and gloat over me; *
they divide my garments among them;
they cast lots for my clothing.

18

Be not far away, O LORD; *
you are my strength; hasten to help me.

19

Save me from the sword, *
my life from the power of the dog.

20

Save me from the lion's mouth, *
my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.

21

I will declare your Name to my brethren; *
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

22

Praise the LORD, you that fear him; *
stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

23

For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;
neither does he hide his face from them; *
but when they cry to him he hears them.

24

My praise is of him in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

25

The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *
"May your heart live for ever!"

26

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, *
and all the families of the nations bow before him.

27

For kingship belongs to the LORD; *
he rules over the nations.

28

To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29

My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him; *
they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.

30

They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *
the saving deeds that he has done.

Gloria Patri

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.

Exodus 9:13-35

¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues upon you yourself, and upon your officials, and upon your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

¹⁵ For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.

¹⁶ But this is why I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my name resound through all the earth.

¹⁷ You are still exalting yourself against my people, and will not let them go.

¹⁸ Tomorrow at this time I will cause the heaviest hail to fall that has ever fallen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

¹⁹ Send, therefore, and have your livestock and everything that you have in the open field brought to a secure place; every human or animal that is in the open field and is not brought under shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them.'"

²⁰ Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried their slaves and livestock off to a secure place.

²¹ Those who did not regard the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the open field.

²² The LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that hail may fall on the whole land of Egypt, on humans and animals and all the plants of the field in the land of Egypt."

²³ Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire came down on the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt;

²⁴ there was hail with fire flashing continually in the midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

²⁵ The hail struck down everything that was in the open field throughout all the land of Egypt, both human and animal; the hail also struck down all the plants of the field, and shattered every tree in the field.

²⁶ Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

²⁸ Pray to the LORD! Enough of God's thunder and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer."

²⁹ Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD's.

³⁰ But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God."

³¹ (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.

³² But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.)

³³ So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands to the LORD; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth.

³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials.

³⁵So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

Canticle 10 The Second Song of Isaiah
Quaerite Dominum Isaiah 55:6-11

Seek the Lord while he wills to be found; *
call upon him when he draws near.

Let the wicked forsake their ways *
and the evil ones their thoughts;

And let them turn to the Lord, and he will have compassion, *
and to our God, for he will richly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, *
nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, *
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as rain and snow fall from the heavens *
and return not again, but water the earth,

Bringing forth life and giving growth, *
seed for sowing and bread for eating,

So is my word that goes forth from my mouth; *
it will not return to me empty;

But it will accomplish that which I have purposed, *
and prosper in that for which I sent it.

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.

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

¹ Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

² We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵ For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake.

⁶ For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁷ But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.

¹¹ For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.

¹²So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Mark 10:32-45

³² They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him,

³³ saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles;

³⁴ they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again."

³⁵ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."

³⁶ And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"

³⁷ And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

³⁸ But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

³⁹ They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;

⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

⁴¹ When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.

⁴² So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.

⁴³ But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴ and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.

⁴⁵ For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Canticle 14 A Song of Penitence
Kyrie Pantokrator Prayer of Manasseh 1-2, 4, 6-7, 11-15

O Lord and Ruler of the hosts of heaven, *
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and of all their righteous offspring:

You made the heavens and the earth, *
with all their vast array.

All things quake with fear at your presence; *
they tremble because of your power.

But your merciful promise is beyond all measure; *
it surpasses all that our minds can fathom.

O Lord, you are full of compassion, *
long-suffering, and abounding in mercy.

You hold back your hand; *
you do not punish as we deserve.

In your great goodness, Lord,
you have promised forgiveness to sinners,*
that they may repent of their sin and be saved.

And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart, *
and make my appeal, sure of your gracious goodness.

I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, *
and I know my wickedness only too well.

Therefore I make this prayer to you: *
Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.

Do not let me perish in my sin, *
nor condemn me to the depths of the earth.

For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, *
and in me you will show forth your goodness.

Unworthy as I am, you will save me,
in accordance with your great mercy, *
and I will praise you without ceasing all the days of my life.

For all the powers of heaven sing your praises, *
and yours is the glory to ages of ages. Amen.

Father Benedict

Venerable Benedict (whose name is Latin and in Greek it means eulogemenos -- blessed) came from the city of Nursia, which lies in Italy, and was the son of pious and rich parents.

He left his home city and his parents, when he was still very young, and went to a desolate place together with his nurturer. There he made friends with God through virtue and exercise and was enriched by Him with the power of performing miracles and cures. Indeed, he worked a lot of miracles raising the dead, foretelling the future, talking about things which were far away as if they were in front of him. It is only necessary for us here to say this: when the saint was about to go to the Lord, he found the time to send a message to both his disciples who were near him as well as to those who were dwelling far away that he was going to die and that there would be a sign through which they would all know that he was separated from his body. Six days before he died, he ordered his grave to be opened and ready. Immediately he was struck by high fever, from which his body dried out within six days. On the sixth day he ordered his disciples to carry him to their chapel. When he was there, he received Holy Communion standing among his disciples. As he was being supported and standing with their help, he raised his hands to heaven and, thus, looking to heaven above and praying, he commended his holy soul to the hands of God. At that time two brothers, one of which was in his cell and the other far away, saw the following vision. There appeared a marvellous road which extended from Venerable Benedict's cell up to heaven to the east. Glorious, precious and silk clothes were spread on the road and some marvellous and wonderful men were standing on the road holding candles and they were orderly ascending to heaven supporting the saint. One of those shining and white-dressed men, who was standing next to the saint, asked the venerable men who were seeing this vision whether they knew whose that marvellous road was, through which "the beloved man of God Benedict was ascending to heaven". So, the two venerable men came to their senses and understood that the saint had departed as they saw him. This vision made known the glory and company which the saint was made worthy to have when he was to depart to the Lord.

Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass
against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Suffrages A

Show us your mercy, O Lord;

And grant us your salvation.

Clothe your ministers with righteousness;

Let your people sing with joy.

Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;

For only in you can we live in safety.

Lord, keep this nation under your care;

And guide us in the way of justice and truth.

Let your way be known upon earth;

Your saving health among all nations.

Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;

Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

Create in us clean hearts, O God;

And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.

Collect of the Day: Fifth Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for Fridays

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

For Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

World Cycle of Prayer

We pray for the people of Haiti.

Haitian Times newspaper

Ecumenical Cycle of Prayer

We pray for our sisters and brothers, members of the United Church of Canada.

The United Church of Canada

For Our Enemies

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Young Persons

God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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.

General Thanksgiving

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.

Benediction

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.