ENTRANCE HYMN Allegri’s Misere
THE LIGHTING OF THE MINORAH CANDLES
Richard lights one of the Seven Candles with each Response of this Jewish Blessing
O God, You have called us to peace, for You are Peace itself.May we have the vision to see that each of us, in some measure, can help realise these aims:
Where there are ignorance and superstition,
Let there be enlightenment and knowledge.
Where there are prejudice and hatred,
Let there be acceptance and love.
Where there are fear and suspicion,
Let there be confidence and trust.
Where there are tyranny and oppression,
Let there be freedom and justice.
Where there are poverty and disease,
Let there be prosperity and health.
Where there are strife and discord,
Let there be harmony and peace.
A prayer from the Jewish Liturgy of Hanukkah (Feast of Lights)
RICHARD: These candles which we now light`
are in remembrance of the miracle of our deliverance,
of the wondrous and glorious deeds
that You performed for our Fathers of old
and still perform for us today.
For the eight days of Hanukkah these candles are holy,
and we cannot look at them
without giving praise and honour to You, O Lord,
for the wonders and miracles You have performed
and for Your Glory.
PENITENTIAL RITE: All say together Pope John II’s Prayer which he prayed at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during his Pilgrimage of Jubilee Reconciliation, Year 2000
God of our Father,
You chose Abraham and his descendants
to bring Your Name to the nations:
we are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those
who in the course of history
have caused these Your children of Yours,
the Jewish People, to suffer;
and asking Your forgiveness,
we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood
with the Jewish People of the Covenant … AMEN!
ACT OF REMEMBRANCE – The Holocaust Martyrs, the Lighting of the HMD Memorial Candle and the reciting of the prayer found on a piece of paper in the clothing a dead child discovered when Ravensbruck Concentration Camp was liberated 1945
LITURGY OF BLESSING
The great Hebrew Blessing of Aaron in the Book of Numbers: as you leave the church today, you are invited to pause briefly to say a prayer before the Window of Holocaust Martyrs and Victims (at the Lady Chapel) .