Morning Prayer for Monday 4.27.26.

Morning Prayer 4.27.26, Zita of Tuscany, Worker of Charity, 1271 | Daily Office Network

Transcript

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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 to pray morning prayer live Monday through Friday. We have services at 7 and 9 a.m. Eastern time. We use the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer as our guide. We mix in artwork, we have a news story, a video at the end. All are welcome here where we do our best to exercise tolerance and decency with one another. Now let's settle in and begin morning prayer. Today is the 27th of April, 2026. In the life of the church, our saint is Zita of Tuscany, a worker of charity who died in the year 1271. The Daily Office Network has been podcasting for about six months now. You can find us by going to Apple or Spotify. We're hosting our services Monday through Friday, all the live services that are edited. Search by Daily Office Network as the keywords, or click on one of the links. Let's begin. Aaron took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Photograph is a room with multiple bunk beds. About 35 migrants, including 14 children, have received much needed support and services here on the U.S. Mexico border since 2025. Opening of Comunidad de Lutz, a shelter for migrant women and children operated by the Diocese of San Diego and its nonprofit and ecumenical partners. On April the 14th, the Episcopal News Service joined some 20 attendees of this week's Episcopal Communicators Conference in San Diego, California to tour the shelters facility in Tijuana and listen to residents share their stories. Many of the women and the children there are fleeing violence, poverty, and political and economic instability. The goal of their mission is to provide the women different tools, workshops, mental health support, and medical support so that they have the opportunity to support themselves through a dignified job and buy or rent their own apartment or home someday. Noble work for sure. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Patty, would you lead us in the invitatory and the Psalter?

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Lord, open our lips.

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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. Therefore, let us keep the peace, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. The death that he died he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So also consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Hallelujah. Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Hallelujah.

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Thank you, Eddie. Our psalms appointed for this morning are Psalm number 41 and Psalm number 52. I'm going to ask Martha and Jill to lead our psalm. Martha, would you start?

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Happy are they who consider the poor and needy. The Lord will deliver them in the time of trouble.

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The Lord preserves them and keeps them alive so that they may be happy in the land. The Lord does not hand them over to the will of their enemies.

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The Lord sustains them and their sick bed and ministers to them in their illness.

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I said, Lord, be merciful to me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you.

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My enemies are seeing wicked things about me. I think when I will die and when my name will perish.

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Even if they come to see me, they speak empty words. Their heart collects false rumors. They go outside and spread them.

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All my enemies whisper together about me and devise evil against me.

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They say a deadly thing is fastened on me that I have taken to my bed and will never get up again.

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Ewe, my best friend whom I trusted, who broke bread with me, has scorned me and turned against me. That my enemy does not triumph over me.

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In my integrity you hold me fast and shall set me before your face forever.

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Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. From age to age. Amen. Amen.

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You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness against the godly all day long?

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You blood rune, your tongue is like a shatter. Oh waker of deception.

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You love evil more than good and lying more than speaking the truth.

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You love all voice a height. Oh, you deceitful tongue.

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Oh that God would demolish you utterly. Topple you and snatch you from your dwelling and root you out of the land of the living.

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A Russia shall see and tremble. And he shall laugh at you saying.

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This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, but trusted in great wealth and relied upon wickedness.

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I trust in myself, God, forever and ever.

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I will give you thanks for what you have done and declare the goodness of your name in the presence of the godly.

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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.

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Amen. Thank you, Jill and Martha. The painting by Nis Nicholas Poussin from sixteen thirty four, the adoration of the golden calf. Our reading is from Exodus chapter 32, verses one through twenty. Chad, would you lead this?

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When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, Come, make gods for us who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Aaron said to them, Take off your gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them and formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf, and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord. And they rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well being, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. The Lord said to Moses, Go down at once. Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely. They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them. They have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, how stiff necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and of you I will make a great nation. But Moses implored his God and said, O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with a great and power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath, change your mind, and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people. Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved upon the tables. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. But he said, It is not the sound made by victors or the sound made by losers. It is the sound of revelers that I hear. As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it into powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. The word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God. Thank you, Chad. Our first canticle is a song of Hannah. Mother Angel, can you lead this?

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My heart exalts in you, O God. My triumph song is lifted in you. My mouth derides my enemies, for I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like you, nor any right to be compared to you, my God. Do not keep up prideful words or speak in arrogance. Only God is knowing and with actions. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the weak are caught in strength. Those ones fall now, labor for bread. Those who hunger now are well fed. The childless woman has fallen sevenfold. God destroys and brings to life, casts down and raises up, gives wealth or takes it away, humbles and dignifies. God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heep to make them sit with the rulers and inherit a place of honor. For the pillars of the earth are gods on which the whole world is founded.

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Thank you, Mother Angel. See parishioners praying in a sanctuary. Our second reading comes from Colossians chapter four, verses two through eighteen. Paul, would you lead this?

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Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly as I should. Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to how you ought to answer everyone. Tychicus will well will tell you all the news about me. He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for his very purpose, so that you may know we are and who we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him, and Jesus who is called justice greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision among my co workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epiphrus, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills. For I testify for him that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea, and in Hyrapolis, Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters of Laodicea, and to Nymph and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea, and say to Archipus Archipus, see that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. The word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God. Thank you, Paul. Our next canticle is a song of Christ's humility, Mother Unjell.

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Though in the form of God, Christ Jesus did not cling to equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was born in human likeness. Being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on the promise. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name above every name. Every nation of them in heaven and on earth and unto the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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Thank you, Mother Angel. This lovely place is the presumed location of the Sermon on the Mount near the Church of the Beatitudes by the Sea of Galilee outside Capernaum. Our next reading is from Matthew chapter five, verses one through ten. Deacon Diana, would you lead this?

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When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God. Thank you, Deacon. And now the apostles' creed, Michael Brown, 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, 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 faith, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

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Amen. Thank you, Michael. And now 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 your 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.

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Thank you, Marcia. Painting by Bernard Strazi from the 17th century, the miracle of Saint Zita, known as Sita in England. Zita was a lowly servant girl who, despite suffering abuse from those overseeing her, she slowly gained respect for her Christian virtues. Whatever her duties, she regarded them as a chance to serve God, and eventually she rose to become the housekeeper in charge five centuries after her death. About the time this picture would have been painted, she was canonized, the patron saint of maids of domestic workers. Her cult became popular in the south of England, where they used to appeal to her for help with such tasks as finding lost keys. We actually do that with Saint Anthony, but evidently people do that with Saint Zita as well. Saint Zita, our saint of the day. And now three prayers: the colic to the day for Zita of Tuscany, a worker of charity who died in 1271, a colic for the renewal of life, and the Anglican Rosary Prayer. Deacon Diana, or I'm sorry, Deacon Elizabeth, would you lead us in this?

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Sure. Masful God who has given to us all things necessary for life and godliness, grant that we, like your servant Zita, may be faithful in the exercise of our duties, and that whatever you give us to do, we may do it heartily as something done for you, O Lord, and not for human beings. Through him who has called us to glory and virtue. Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen. O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night, and turns the shadow of death into the morning. Drive far from us all wrong desires. Incline our hearts to keep your law and guide our feet into the way of peace, that having done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Dear Lord Jesus, help me do the things I should, to be to others kind and good, and in all I do or say, grow more loving every day.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Thank you, Deacon Elizabeth. And now our Monday morning prayer list, our most recent. On Mondays, we pray for the continued health and well-being of the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Sean Rowe. We're also praying for the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Shane Parker, and for the Archbishop of the province of the West Indies, Philip Wright of Belize. Pray for those immigrants to our country who are being persecuted and pursued by ICE. Continue to pray for our founding vicar, Josh Thomas, in a skilled nursing facility. Pray for his continued improvement from a stroke. Sarah Hartzell from our second service suffered a fall this past weekend. She texted me from the hospital. She landed on concrete on her face, and she spent the weekend in the hospital. So pray for Sarah's recovery. Continue to pray for Ian and his struggles with mental health. Pray that he stays ahead of his addiction and is able to maintain his status in a shelter. Prayers for Dawn, who has herniated discs and severe pain in her back. Prayers for Reverend Elaine, who's undergone multiple surgeries and there's more to go. Pray for Patricia's healing and relief of pain. And continue to pray for Yvonne, our Yvonne, who's been fighting cancer for more than seven years. We'll continue with the prayer for the mission of the church. I'm going to ask Jacqueline to lead this, and then I'll bless the Lord and bless us.

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Ever living God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ. Inspire our witness to Him, that all may know the power of His forgiveness and the hope of His resurrection, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

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Amen.

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Let us bless the Lord, alleluia, alleluia.

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Thanks be to God. Alleluia.

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Glory to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation in church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. And the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you now and remain with you always. Amen.

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Amen.

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Thank you for coming to pray today. Wherever you go, take that love of Jesus that lives inside of you in your heart. Share that Jesus with the world. Show that Jesus to the world. Many need Jesus right now. Hope to see you back with us again on Tuesday. And it will take me a second to get to the turnoff button here. Give me just a second here.