27 April 2015
Opening Prayer
All say: Tá mé ag filleadh arís ort,
Is a Rí gheal ná daor sinn;
Tabhair dom deoch as tobar na daonnacht’,
Nó braon den uisce úd do shil as do thaobh deas,
A dhéanfadh sinn a ghlanadh, a ghealadh is a shaoradh,
Is go rachaidh ár n-anam go Flaithis i d’fhéachaint.
I come back to you again and, bright King,
do not condemn us;
give me a drink from the well of your humanity
or a drop of water that flowed from your right side,
which will be enough to clean us and wash us and free us,
and may our souls rise up to Heaven in your sight.
Song We Shall Draw Water Joyfully (Paul Inwood)
All sing: We shall draw water joyfully,
singing joyfully, singing joyfully,
We shall draw water joyfully from the wellsprings of salvation.
Reflection Quencher of Thirst (Rabindranath Tagore)
Come to us, Quencher of Thirst,
and relieve our endless yearning.
Come to the desert of our busyness
and refresh our parched attention.
Come to the arid land of boredom
and pour enthusiasm into prayer.
Come to the wasteland of worry
and satisfy us with your stillness.
Come to the wilderness of denial
and fill us with growth-filled authenticity.
Song Let All Who Are Thirsty Come (Taizé)
All sing: Let all who are thirsty come,
Let all who wish receive the water of life freely, Amen, come Lord Jesus, Amen, come Lord Jesus.
Reflection Rainmaker (Sri Lankan)
Seed the empty clouds of my heart
with a downpour of your love.
Gather the raindrops of joyfulness
and rinse away my melancholy.
Shower the land of my mind
with thoughts beneficial to all.
Sprinkle true motivation through
the charitable deeds that I do.
Water my efforts at forgiveness
with the flowing rains of compassion.
Song God Is (La Rue/Stevens)
Instrumental Water Music (Handel)
Reading Hosea 6:2-3
After two days he will revive us;
On the third he will raise us up,
That we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
His appearing is as sure as dawn;
He will come to us like showers,
Like the spring rains that water the earth.
Prayer Let us pray,
All say: In these days of dying and new birth in our church,
Let us let go of what is past and press on to what lies ahead on the path the Lord opens before us. (D. Harrington)
Song High is The Heaven, Deep Is The Sea (Liam Lawton)
All sing: High is the heaven, deep is the sea,
wide is the wisdom that calls us to be,
formed in your spirit that we might reveal
love is your dwelling, love is your dwelling,
O eternal mystery.
Reflection Julian of Norwich
Be a gardener.
Dig a ditch.
Toil and sweat.
And turn the earth upside down.
And seek the deepness.
And water plants in time.
Continue this labour.
And make sweet floods to run,
And noble and abundant fruits to spring.
Take this food and drink,
and carry it to God as your true worship.
Song I See His Blood Upon the Rose (Plunket/Joncas)
Song Canon of Praise (Pachelbel/Hal Hopson)
Reflection God’s Thirst For Us
The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realise it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2560
Song Vidi Aquam (Plainchant)
Reflection Saint John Paul 11
With baptism we become children of God in his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.
Rising from the waters of the baptismal font,
every Christian hears again the voice that was once heard on the banks of the Jordan river;
‘You are my beloved;
with you I am well pleased.’
Song You Have Been Baptised (Ian Callanan)
All sing: You have been baptised, you have put on Christ, come rejoicing to God’s table,
You have been baptised, you have put on Christ
come rejoicing to God’s table of redemption.
Song Panis Angelicus (César Franck)
Reading Acts 10:44-48
While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit came down on all the listeners. Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter were all astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit should be poured out on the pagans too, since they could hear them speaking strange languages and proclaiming the greatness of God. Peter himself then said, “Could anyone refuse the water of Baptism to these people now they have received the Holy Spirit just as much as we have?” He then gave orders for them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterwards they begged him to stay on for some days.
Song 10,000 Reasons (Redman/Myrin)
All sing: Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, my soul.
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, oh, my soul.
I worship Your holy name.
Reading John 15:9-17
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my own joy may be complete. This is my commandment: Love one another, as I have loved you.
Song If You Love Me (Thomas Tallis)
Reflection In Praise Of Water (John O’Donohue)
Let us bless the humility of water,
Always willing to take the shape
Of whatever otherness holds it,
The buoyancy of water,
Stronger than the deadening,
Downward drag of gravity,
The innocence of water,
Flowing forth, without thought
Of what awaits it,
The refreshment of water,
Dissolving the crystals of thirst.
Water: voice of grief,
Cry of love,
In the flowing tear.
Water: vehicle and idiom
Of all the inner voyaging
that keeps us alive.
Blessed be water,
Our first mother.
Song Regina Coeli (Plainchant)
Song Regina Coeli (Aichinger)
Holy Water
Blessed water has been important part of Christian faith and practice down through the years. Water fonts inside the doors of many houses offer blessing to those who enter and those who leave. Water has been associated with apparitions of Mary most notably at Lourdes, in Fatima and in Medjugorje. Today in Catalonia is celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Montserrat, the Black Madonna, who has been revered for centuries. We are privileged to hear the famous El Virolai – the song to the Madonna which is sung in the Monastery of Montserrat at 1.00 p.m. every day especially by the boys of the Montserrat Choir School – we are fortunate to have a past pupil of that famous choir school in our choir – Albert – who will sing this traditional song for us.
Song El Virolai (Our Lady of Monserrat)
Easter Blessing Let us pray,
O God, whose Son,
Baptised by John in the waters of the Jordan,
was anointed with the Holy Spirit,
and, as he hung from the Cross,
gave forth water from his side along with blood,
and after his Resurrection, commanded his disciples:
‘Go forth, teach all nations, baptising them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’,
look now we pray upon the face of your Church
And graciously unseal for her the fountain of Baptism.
Blessing of Water – Easter Vigil – Roman Missal
Song Let Us Rejoice (Marty Haugen)
All sing: This is the day the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad.
This is the day the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad.