Sacred Heart
MORNING PRAYER

GREETING
O God, send us your Spirit, that the fire of love may burn within us.
Lover of us all, make our hearts like yours.
DOXOLOGY

PSALM 103
You, O God, are tender and caring, slow to anger, rich in love.

My soul, bless the Lord,
bless God’s holy name!
My soul, bless the Lord,
hold dear all God’s gifts!

Bless God, who forgives your sin
and heals every illness,
who snatches you from death
and enfolds you with tender care,
who fills your life with richness
and gives you an eagle’s strength.

The Lord, who works justice
and defends the oppressed,
teaches Moses and Israel
divine ways and deeds.

The Lord is tender and caring,
slow to anger, rich in love.
God will not accuse us long,
nor bring our sins to trial,
nor exact from us in kind
what our sins deserve.

As high as heaven above earth,
so great is God’s love for believers.
As far as east from west,
so God removes our sins.

As tender as father to child,
so gentle is God to believers.
The Lord knows how we are made,
remembers we are dust.

Our days pass by like grass, our prime like a flower in bloom.
A wind comes, the flower goes,
empty now its place.

God’s love is from all ages,
God’s justice beyond all time
for believers of each generation:
those who keep the  covenant,
who take care to live the law.

The Lord reigns from heaven,
rules over all there is.
Bless the Lord, you angels,
strong and quick to obey,
attending to God’s word.

Bless the Lord, you powers,
eager to serve God’s will.
Bless the Lord, you creatures,
everywhere under God’s rule.
My soul, bless the Lord!
 
Isaiah 66: 10–14a
I will comfort you as a mother nurses her child.

Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be glad for her, all who love her.
Share her great joy,
all who know her sadness.

Now drink your fill
from her comforting breast,
enjoy her plentiful milk.

For this is what the Lord says:
“Look! to her I extend
peace like a river,
the wealth of the nations
like a stream in full flood.
And you will drink!

I will carry you on my shoulders,
cuddle you on my lap.
I will comfort you
as a mother nurses her child.

 “Jerusalem will be your joy.
Your heart will rejoice to see it.
You will flourish like grass in spring.”
 
READING
Hosea 2:14 – 16, 19 – 20
Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer will you call me, “My Baal.” And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.
 
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
In your love we are made whole, O Healer of our every ill.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
who shepherds the people
and sets them free.
God raises from David’s house
a child with power to save. --
--Through the holy prophets
God promised in ages past
to save us from enemy hands,
from the grip of all who hate us.
The Lord favored our ancestors
recalling the sacred covenant,
the pledge to our ancestor Abraham,
to free us from our enemies,
so we might worship without fear
and be holy and just all our days.
And you child, will be called
Prophet of the Most High,
for you will come to prepare
a pathway for the Lord
by teaching the people salvation
through forgiveness of their sin.
Out of God’s deepest mercy
a dawn will come from on high,
light for those shadowed by death,
 a guide for our feet on the way to peace.

 
INTERCESSIONS
O God, you are tender and merciful. You comfort us in our pain and are with us in our sorrow.
Draw near to us as we pray for the suffering world:
~ God of mercy, save your people.
The cry of the hungry is heard in our land. Your people lack food and the means to provide for their families:
The cry of exploited and abused women is heard in our land. They have no one to speak for them:
The cry of the young is heard in our land. They seek understanding and persons to guide them:
The cry of your church is heard in our land. Heal its brokenness and bring it into unity of heart and mind:
The cry of people oppressed by political and economic systems is heard in our land. They long for justice to reign:
The cry of the critically ill and the dying is heard in our land. They wait for your coming:
 
THE LORD’S PRAYER

Prayer
Your love is beyond our understanding, O God. You hold us in loving regard and cherish our tears. You are like a mother who tenderly cradles her child against the pain and suffering of life. May your love poured out so freely upon us flow through us to all in need of mercy. Make our hearts like that of Jesus. Amen.
 
BLESSING
May the love of God enfold us. Amen. May the love of God transform us. Amen. May the love of God empower us to love as Jesus loved. Amen.