Morning Prayer 3.11.26, Gregory the Great

Today is a Gun Violence spotlight but also we spotlight one of our Mission Partners, The Haiti Nursing Foundation. They can be reached at Haiti Nursing Foundation. Here is a link to our Liturgy: Morning Prayer 3.12.26, Gregory the Great, Bishop and Theologian, 604 | Daily Office Network

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Good morning and welcome. I'm Father Tom Roy, the Vicar of the Daily Office Network. I'm an ordained priest in the Diocese of Minnesota. The Daily Office Network is a community of Christians who gather together on a daily basis Monday through Friday to pray morning prayer. We use the 1979 Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer as our guide. We come from several different faith traditions in several different countries. We do our best to exercise tolerance and decency with one another here. Now let's settle in and begin morning prayer. Today is the 12th of March 2026. In the life of the church, our saint is Gregory the Great, a bishop and a theologian who died in the year 604. If you're looking for our podcast, search Apple or Spotify and use the keywords Daily Office Network. Let's begin. I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again. And Joseph's own hand shall close your eyes. The Haiti Nursing Foundation improves health in the Republic of Haiti by supporting quality nursing education, primarily at the facility, I'm sorry, at the Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti, or FSIL, located in Liogain, Haiti. HNF's vision is to support centers of excellence for undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education for nurses, preparing them to serve as practitioners, faculty, and leaders in Haiti's healthcare system. HNF was founded in 2005 as a 501 charitable organization and acts as an institutional advancement arm for FSIL in the United States, providing ongoing financial and program support to the nursing school. Since its inception, HNF has provided over$3 million to support nursing students for school operations and new programs. HF USA is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has an active and engaged board of directors, which is pictured above, at the 2025 meeting of Haiti's Nursing Foundation. There's also a website link there. Haiti Nursing Foundation is one of our mission partners. We have a little video at the end today for them as well. I'll arise and go to my father and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. I'll lead us in the general confession of sin. I'll ask Mother Angel to pronounce our absolution. And then Addie, if you would lead us in the invitatory in this altar. First, our confession of sin. God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you, opposing your will in our lives. We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created. We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf. Forgive, restore, and strengthen us through our Savior Jesus Christ, that we may abide in your love and serve only your will. Amen.

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Almighty God, have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through the grace of Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, keep you in eternal life.

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Amen. Michael Brown, would you lead us in the invitatory of this altar? Lord, open our lips. And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

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Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving and raise to the Lord a shout with psalms. For you are a great God. You are great above all God. In your hand are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are yours also. The sea is yours, for you made it, and your hands have molded the dry land. Come, let us bow down and bend the knee and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture, the sheep of your hand, for that today we would hearken to your voice. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Amen. Thank you, Michael. Our psalms appointed for today are Psalm number 42 and Psalm number 43. I'm going to ask Jill and Martha to lead our psalm. Jill, would you start?

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As the deer longs for the water brooks, so longs my soul for you, O God.

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My soul is a taste for God, a taste for a living God. When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?

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My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long they say to me, Where now is your God?

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I pour on my soul when I think on these things. I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God.

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With the voice of praise and thanksgiving among those who keep holy day.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? And why are you so disquieted within me?

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Put your trust in God, for I will yet give thanks to the one who is the help of my countenance and my God.

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My soul is heavy within me. Therefore, I will remember you from the land of Jordan and from the peak of Mazar among the heights of Hyman.

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One deep calls out to another in the noise of your cataracts. All your rapids and floods have gone over me.

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The Lord grants loving kindness in the deep time. In the life ceasing, the song of the Lord is with me. A prayer to the God of my life.

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And why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?

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While my bones are being broken, my enemies mock me to my face.

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All day long they mock me and say to me, Where now is your God?

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Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? Why are you so disquieted within me?

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Put your trust in God.

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Deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.

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For you are the God of my strength. Why have you put me from you? And why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?

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Shed out your light on your truth that ye may lead me and bring me to the holy hill and to your dwelling.

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That I may go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy and gladness. And on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God, my God.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Why are you so full of happiness, O my soul? And why are you so disquieted within me?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Put your trust in God, for I will yet give thanks to the one who is the helper my countenance and my God.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Thank you, Jill and Martha. That was a great reading. Painting from the seventeenth century, Joseph receives his father and his brothers in Egypt. Our reading is from Genesis chapter 46, verses 1 through 7 and 28 through 34. Chad, would you lead this?

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When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob, and he said, Here I am. Then he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's own hand shall close your eyes. Then Jacob set out from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt. Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. Israel sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way before him into Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen, Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, I can die now, having seen for myself that you are still alive. Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. When Pharaoh calls you and says, What is your occupation? You shall say, Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth, even until now, both we and our ancestors, in order that you may settle in the land of Goshen, because all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians. The word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God. Thank you, Chen. Our first canticle is the Song of Moses. Mother Angel, would you lead this?

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You made the heavens and the earth with all the vest 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.

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Thank you, Mother Angel.

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Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk? Do I say to this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake. For whoever ploughs should plough in hope, and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But I have made no use of any of these rites, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that. No one will deprive me of my ground for boasting. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Thanks be to God. Thank you, Paul. That's a great reading. Our next canticle is Song of the Redeemed, Mother Angel.

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All nations will draw near and fall down before you because your just and holy works have been revealed. O ruler of the host of the universe, Lord God, great deeds are they that you have done, surpassing human understanding. Your ways are ways of righteousness and truth, O King of all the ages. Who can fail to do you homage, Lord, and sing the praises of your name? For you only are the Holy One. All nations will draw near and fall down before you because your just and holy words have been revealed. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. All nations will draw near and fall down before you, because your just and holy works have been revealed.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Thank you, Mother Angel. That was beautiful. Remember yesterday Jesus sent the disciples out by two. Today Christ multiplies the loaves. Deacon Elizabeth, would you lead this?

SPEAKER_06 21:00

Sure. The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, Come away to a decided place all by yourselves and rest awhile. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat, and they went away in the boat to a desired place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they had their own foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a decided place. The hour is now very late. Send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat. But he answered them, You give them something to eat. They said to him, Are we to go and buy two hundred dinari worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, How many loaves have you? Go and see. And they had found out, they said, Five and two fish. Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side of Bethsida while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. The word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God. Thank you, deacon. And now the apostles' creed. Carol, would you lead us in the creed?

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I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, 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. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and 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.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Amen. Amen. Thank you, Carol. The prayers begin with our Lord's Prayer. Marcia, would you lead us in the Lord's Prayer and then we'll read the suffrages?

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The Lord be with you.

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And also with you.

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Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

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Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.

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Govern and uphold them now and always.

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Day by day we bless you.

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We praise your name forever.

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Lord, keep us from all sin today.

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Have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy.

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Lord, show us your love and mercy.

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For we put our trust in you.

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In you, Lord, is our hope.

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And we shall never hope in vain.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Thank you, Marcia. This is the Sephora's book of ours from 1390 of Saint Gregory the Great. Saint Gregory the Great wrote in vain, do they think themselves innocent who appropriate to their own use alone those goods which God gave in common? By not giving to others that which they themselves receive, they become homicides and murderers, inasmuch as in keeping for themselves those things which would alleviate the suffering of the poor. We may say that every day they cause the death of so many persons as they might have fed and did not. When, therefore, we offer the means of living to the indigent, we do not give them anything of ours, but that which of right belongs to them. It is less a work of mercy which we perform than a payment of a debt. Notice the dove of the Holy Spirit whispering in his ear. And now two prayers, the collect of the day for Gregory the Great, a bishop and a theologian who died in 604, and a collect for guidance. Robert, would you lead us in these two prayers?

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Almighty and merciful God, you raised up Gregory of Rome to be a servant of the servants of God and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the gospel to the English people. Preserving your church, the Catholic and apostolic faith they taught that your people, being fruitful in every good work, may receive the crown of glory that never fades away through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being. We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Amen. Thank you, Robert. And now it's our sad duty to report America's gun toll. Look at how many people get shot or killed each week with all the guns we have lying around in America. This is as of Monday, the 9th. And normally I would have a spotlight here which would show you a photograph from a mass shooting that happened during the week, and I would tell you about the early morning hours and where the shooting happened and all the people that were killed and injured, and that's not the case this week. This week I have a meme from the Diocese of Pennsylvania, the Anti-Gun Violence Commission. It says, God, we've had enough. Show us how to stop the violence. Bring your peace into our broken world. I'm sure we'll have something when we come back next week to talk about another mass shooting. Let's look at this week's totals. Those killed by gunfire in the United States, it only went up by three, thanks be to God. Only three. Now, those are three people, but usually we have increases of 50 or 100 or even more. 220 people were killed in our country last week by gunfire. And it brings our total year-to-date to 2241, 2,241. Those injured by gunfire in the United States states last week, 398. There again, that's only up by about 16 or so. It was 382 the week before. It brings our total year-to-date injured to 3,745. And so we pray a prayer to end gun violence. O Lord our God, we pray for the victims of the other pandemic as gun violence ravages our homes, our streets, our businesses, our schools, and our houses of worship. We pray for the children who are killed and injured. We pray for their families, their classmates, their teachers, and their school employees. We pray for teenagers who are gunned down before their lives have really started. We pray for police officers who keep fighting a never-ending battle while trying to keep themselves and everyone else safe. And we pray for an end to racial profiling and law enforcement. We pray for all who are depressed or mentally ill, wanting to hurt themselves or others in a nation where guns are everywhere. We pray for the victims of crime who are forced to defend themselves and their loved ones. We pray for anti-violence activists and community leaders in a time when new methods of protest and reform must be created. Let your demands for justice and your cries for peace be heard, O Lord, in our legislative chambers and in our hearts. May your healing grace overtake this land through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We'll continue with the prayer for the mission of the church. And I'm going to ask I'm going to circle back and ask Chad to lead us in the prayer for the mission of the church, and then I'll bless the Lord and bless us.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to yourself. We praise and bless you for those whom you have sent in the power of the Spirit to preach the gospel to all nations. We thank you that in all parts of the earth a community of love has been gathered together by their prayers and labors, and that in every place your servants call upon your name. For the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God. Life is short, and we don't have much time to gladden the hearts that of those who make this journey with us. So be swift to love and make haste to be kind. God's blessing be with you. Christ's peace be with you. The Spirit's outpouring be with you now and always. Amen. And that is morning prayer on this Thursday. Thank you for coming to pray today. Wherever you go, take that love of Jesus that lives inside of you and your heart. Share that Jesus with the world. Show that Jesus to the world. Hope to see you back with us tomorrow safe and sound.