Secular Franciscan Wake Service

Four Parts:

Introductory Rite

Proclamation of God’s Word:

Reading, Response, Reflection

Prayers of Intercession:

Litany, Meditation on Lord’s Prayer

Concluding Rite

Sources:

Bible:

Reading

Psalm

Liturgy of the Church:

Opening Prayer (Hear our prayers. . . )

Closing Prayer (God of Mercy. . . )

Francis of Assisi:

Exhortation to the Faithful (Introductory Prayer)

Canticle of the Creatures (Psalm Response)

Meditation on the Lord’s Prayer (Prayers of Intercession)

Testament (Concluding Prayer)

Office of the Passion (Concluding Prayer)

Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order:

Litany

Three Roles:

Leader

Reader

Cantor

Secular Franciscan Wake Service

INTRODUCTORY RITE

Leader: In the name of the Lord!

All those who love the Lord with their whole heart,

with their whole soul and mind,

and with their whole strength

and love their neighbors as themselves,

who hate their bodies with their vices and sins,

who receive the Body and Blood

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

and who produce worthy fruits of penance—

All: O how happy and blessed

are these men and women

while they do such things

and persevere in doing them!

The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon them

and make its home and dwelling place

among them.

They are children

of the heavenly Father whose works they do.

They are spouses, brothers, and mothers

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Leader: Hear our prayers, O Holy One our God.

By raising Jesus your Son from the dead,

you have given us faith in the resurrection.

Strengthen our hope

that _____, our brother/sister,

will likewise rise to life with Jesus, his/her Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

All: Amen!

PROCLAMATION OF GOD’S WORD

Reading

— either Job 19:23-27 or Isaiah 26:6-9 —

— or Romans 6:3-9 or Romans 8:18-23 —

— or 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 or 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 —

— or 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 or Revelation 14:13 —

— or Matthew 11:25-30 or John 6:37-40 —

— or John 12:24-26 —

Response

— Psalm 42:1-2,4,7-8,11 —

Cantor: Praised be you, my Lord,

through our Sister, Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no one living can escape.

All: Praised be you, my Lord,

through our Sister, Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no one living can escape.

Cantor: As a deer longs for flowing streams,

so my soul longs for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, the living God.

When shall I come and behold the face of God?

All: Praised be you, my Lord,

through our Sister, Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no one living can escape.

Cantor: These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:

how I went with the throng

and led them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,

a multitude keeping festival.

All: Praised be you, my Lord,

through our Sister, Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no one living can escape.

Cantor: All your waves and your billows

have gone over me, O Holy One.

By day you command your steadfast love.

At night your song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

All: Praised be you, my Lord,

through our Sister, Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no one living can escape.

Cantor: Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, whom I shall praise again,

my help and my God.

All: Praised be you, my Lord,

through our Sister, Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no one living can escape.

Reflection

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

Litany

Leader: Since we are immersed in the resurrection of Christ,

which gives meaning to Sister Death,

let us serenely tend

toward the ultimate encounter with the Father.

Cantor: Christ Jesus, you are the firstborn

of many sisters and brothers.

As we live in communion with them and with you,

All: let us serenely tend

toward the ultimate encounter with the Father.

Cantor: Christ Jesus, you have brought us

into the life and mission of your Church.

As we encounter your living and active presence,

All: let us serenely tend

toward the ultimate encounter with the Father.

Cantor: Christ Jesus, you invite us to that radical change

which the Gospel calls conversion.

As we unite ourselves with you,

All: let us serenely tend

toward the ultimate encounter with the Father.

Cantor: Christ Jesus, you identify yourself with the lowly

and commission us to create a worthy life for them.

As we strive for a more evangelical world,

All: let us serenely tend

toward the ultimate encounter with the Father.

Cantor: Christ Jesus, you led _____

from the Gospel to life and from life to the Gospel.

As we celebrate the fullness of his/her life,

All: let us serenely tend

toward the ultimate encounter with the Father.

Meditation on the Lord’s Prayer

Leader: Our Father. . .

All: Most Holy, our Creator, Redeemer, Consoler, and Savior.

Leader: Who are in heaven. . .

Men: In the angels and the saints,

enlightening them to know,

for you, Lord, are light,

enflaming them to love,

for you, Lord, are love,

dwelling in them and filling them with happiness,

for you, Lord, are the Supreme Good,

the Eternal Good,

from whom all good comes,

without whom there is no good.

Leader: Holy be your name. . .

Women: May knowledge of you become clearer in us

so that we may know

the breadth of your blessings,

the length of your promises,

the height of your majesty,

the depth of your judgments.

Leader: Your kingdom come. . .

Men: So that you may

rule in us through your grace

and enable us to come to your kingdom,

where there is

clear vision of you,

perfect love of you,

blessed companionship with you,

eternal enjoyment of you.

Leader: Your will be done on earth as in heaven. . .

Women: So that we may love you

with our whole heart, by always thinking of you,

with our whole soul, by always desiring you,

with our whole mind,

by always directing all our intentions to you

and by seeking your glory in everything,

with our whole strength,

by exerting all our energies and affections

of body and soul

in the service of your love and of nothing else.

Men: May we love our neighbors as ourselves

by drawing them all to your love

with our whole strength,

by rejoicing in the good of others as in our own,

by suffering with others at their misfortunes,

and by giving offense to no one.

~T~

Leader: Give us this day. . .

Women: In remembrance, understanding, and reverence

of that love

which our Lord Jesus Christ had for us

and of those things

that he said and did and suffered for us.

Leader: Our Daily Bread. . .

Men: Your own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Leader: Forgive us our trespasses. . .

Women: Through your ineffable mercy,

through the power and passion of your beloved Son,

and through the merits and intercessions

of the ever blessed virgin and all your elect.

Leader: As we forgive those who trespass against us. . .

Men: And what we do not completely forgive,

make us, Lord, forgive completely

so that we may truly love our enemies

because of you,

that we may fervently intercede for them

before you,

and that we may strive to help everyone

in you.

Leader: And lead us not into temptation. . .

Women: Hidden or obvious, sudden or persistent.

Leader: But deliver us from evil. . .

All: Past, present, and to come.

CONCLUDING RITE

Leader: God of Mercy, hear our prayer.

May our brother/sister _____,

who followed your Son Jesus in the way of Francis,

and who has now been embraced by Sister Death,

enter that kingdom of peace and light

where your saints live with you in glory.

This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All: Amen!

Leader: Let those who observe these things

be blessed in heaven

with the blessing of the Most High Father

and on earth

with the blessing of his beloved Son

and with the Most Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

All: Let us bless the Lord God, living and true!

Let us always render God

praise, glory, honor, blessing, and every good.

Amen. Amen.

So be it. So be it.

^{Pax et}T^Bonum

Supplement to Franciscan Wake Service

PROCLAMATION OF GOD’S WORD

Biblical Readings

— Job 19:23-27 —

A Reading from the Book of Job.

O that my words were written down!

O that they were inscribed in a book!

O that with an iron pen and with lead

they were engraved on a rock forever,

for I know that my Redeemer lives,

who at the last will stand upon the earth!

After my skin has been destroyed,

then in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see on my side,

whom my own eyes shall behold,

and not another’s.

The Word of God.

— Isaiah 26:6-9 —

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah.

The way of the righteous is level, O Just One.

You make smooth the path of the righteous.

In the path of your judgments, O Holy One,

we wait for you.

Your name and your renown are the soul’s desire.

My soul yearns for you in the night.

My spirit within me earnestly seeks you,

for when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Your dead shall live—

their corpses shall rise.

O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy,

for your dew is a radiant dew,

and the earth will give birth to those long dead!

The Word of God.

— Romans 6:3-9 —

A Reading from the Letter to the Romans.

Do you not know

that all of us

who have been baptized into Christ Jesus

were baptized into his death?

Therefore we have been buried with him

by baptism into death,

so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead

by the glory of the Living God,

so we too might walk in newness of life,

for if we have been united with him

in a death like his,

we will certainly be united with him

in a resurrection like his.

We know

that our old self was crucified with him

so that the body of sin might be destroyed

and we might no longer be enslaved to sin,

for whoever has died

is freed from sin.

But if we have died with Christ,

we believe

that we will also live with him.

The Word of God.

— Romans 8:18-23 —

A Reading from the Letter to the Romans.

The sufferings of this present time

are not worth comparing

with the glory about to be revealed to us,

for the creation waits with eager longing

for the revealing of the children of God.

The creation was subjected to futility,

not of its own will

but by the will of the one who subjected it,

in hope that the creation itself

will be set free from its bondage to decay

and will obtain the freedom

of the glory of the children of God.

We know

that the whole creation

has been groaning in labor pains until now.

And not only the creation but we ourselves,

who have the first fruits of the Spirit,

groan inwardly

while we wait for adoption,

the redemption of our bodies.

The Word of God.

— 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 —

A Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians.

Christ has been raised from the dead,

the first fruits of those who have died.

Since death came through a human being,

the resurrection of the dead has also come

through a human being,

for as all die in Adam,

so all will be made alive in Christ—

but each in proper order:

Christ the first fruits;

then at Christ’s coming those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end,

when Christ hands over the kingdom to Living God,

after having destroyed

every ruler and every authority and power,

for Christ must reign

until all enemies have been put under Christ’s feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death,

for “God has put all things in subjection

under Christ’s feet.”

The Word of God.

— 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 —

A Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians.

Listen, I will tell you a mystery!

We will not all die,

but we will all be changed,

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet,

for the trumpet will sound,

and the dead will be raised imperishable,

and we will be changed.

This perishable body must put on imperishability,

and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When this perishable body puts on imperishability,

and this mortal body puts on immortality,

then the saying that is written

will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin,

and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God,

who gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of God.

— 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 —

A Reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians.

We do not want you to be uninformed,

brothers and sisters,

about those who have died,

so that you may not grieve as others do

who have no hope.

Since we believe

that Jesus died and rose again,

even so, through Jesus,

God will bring with him those who have died.

This we declare to you by the word of the Lord,

that we who are alive,

who are left until the coming of the Lord,

will by no means

precede those who have died,

for the Lord himself,

with a cry of command,

with the archangel’s call,

and with the sound of God’s trumpet,

will descend from heaven,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left,

will be caught up in the clouds

together with them

to meet the Lord in the air,

and so we will be with the Lord forever.

Therefore encourage one another

with these words.

The Word of God.

— Revelation 14:13 —

A Reading from the Book of Revelation.

I heard a voice from heaven saying,

“Write this:

Blessed are the dead

who from now on die in the Lord.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit,

“they will rest from their labors,

for their deeds follow them.”

The Word of God.

— Matthew 11:25-30 —

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

At one time Jesus said,

“I thank you, Father, God of heaven and earth,

because you

have hidden these things

from the wise and the intelligent

and have revealed them to infants—

yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

“All things have been handed over to me

by the one who gives me life.

No one knows the child except the parent,

and no one knows the parent

except the child and anyone

to whom the child chooses to reveal the parent.

“Come to me, all you

who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you,

and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart.

You will find rest for your souls,

for my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light.”

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

— John 6:37-40 —

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

Jesus said,

“Everything that the Living God gives me

will come to me;

and anyone who comes to me

I will never drive away,

for I have come down from heaven,

not to do my own will,

but the will of the one who sent me.

And this is the will of the one who sent me,

that I should

lose nothing of all that God has given me

but raise it up on the last day.

This is indeed the will of my Father,

that all

who see God’s Child and believe in that Child

may have eternal life.

And I will raise them up on the last day.”

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

— John 12:24-26 —

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

Jesus said,

“Very truly, I tell you,

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains just a single grain;

but if it dies,

it bears much fruit.

Those who love their life

lose it,

and those who hate their life in this world

will keep it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me

must follow me;

and where I am,

there will my servant be also.

Whoever serves me

the Living God will honor.”

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

~T~

Translation

adapted from the NRSV