Maundy Thursday Matins
Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit…
Hymn
"Take up your cross," the Savior said,
"If you would my disciple be;
Forsake the past, and come this day,
And humbly follow after me."
Take up your cross; let not its weight
Pervade your soul with vain alarm;
His strength shall bear your spirit up,
Sustain your heart, and nerve your arm.
Take up your cross, nor heed the shame,
Nor let your foolish heart rebel;
For you the Lord endured the cross
To save your soul from death and hell.
Take up your cross and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only those who bear the cross
May hope to wear a golden crown.
Opening Verse
We see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. - Hebrews 2:9-10
Examination of Conscience and Confession of Sin
Psalm 95
Invitatory. Christ suffered and died for us. Come, let us adore him.
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord;*
let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving*
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,*
and the heights of the hills are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,*
and his hands have moulded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down and bend the knee,*
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,*
and the sheep of his hand.
8 Today it you would hear his voice
Harden not your hearts *
as your forebears did in the wilderness,*
at Meribah and on that day at Massah,
when they tempted me.
9 They put me to the test,*
though they had seen my works.
10 Forty years long I detested that generation and said,*
'This people are wayward in their hearts;
they do not know my ways.'
11 So I swore in my wrath,*
'They shall not enter my rest.'
Invitatory. Christ suffered and died for us. Come, let us adore him.
Psalms
102 Domine, exaudi
LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you; *
hide not your face from me in the day of my trouble.
Incline your ear to me; *
when I call, make haste to answer me,
For my days drift away like smoke, *
and my bones are hot as burning coals.
My heart is smitten like grass and withered, *
so that I forget to eat my bread.
Because of the voice of my groaning *
I am but skin and bones.
I have become like a vulture in the wilderness, *
like an owl among the ruins.
I lie awake and groan; *
I am like a sparrow, lonely on a house-top.
My enemies revile me all day long, *
and those who scoff at me have taken an oath against me.
For I have eaten ashes for bread *
and mingled my drink with weeping.
Because of your indignation and wrath *
you have lifted me up and thrown me away.
My days pass away like a shadow, *
and I wither like the grass.
But you, O LORD, endure for ever, *
and your Name from age to age.
You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to have mercy upon her; *
indeed, the appointed time has come.
For your servants love her very rubble, *
and are moved to pity even for her dust.
The nations shall fear your Name, O LORD, *
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
For the LORD will build up Zion, *
and his glory will appear.
He will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless; *
he will not despise their plea.
Let this be written for a future generation, *
so that a people yet unborn may praise the LORD.
For the LORD looked down from his holy place on high; *
from the heavens he beheld the earth;
That he might hear the groan of the captive *
and set free those condemned to die;
That they may declare in Zion the Name of the LORD, *
and his praise in Jerusalem;
When the peoples are gathered together, *
and the kingdoms also, to serve the LORD.
He has brought down my strength before my time; *
he has shortened the number of my days;
And I said, "O my God,
do not take me away in the midst of my days; *
your years endure throughout all generations.
In the beginning, O LORD, you laid the foundations of the earth, *
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
They shall perish, but you will endure;
they all shall wear out like a garment; *
as clothing you will change them,
and they shall be changed;
But you are always the same, *
and your years will never end.
The children of your servants shall continue, *
and their offspring shall stand fast in your sight."
First Reading
Jeremiah 20:7-11
O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughing-stock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, ‘I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name’,
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear many whispering:
‘Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’
All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.
‘Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him,
and take our revenge on him.’
But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
will never be forgotten.
Canticle
Many waters cannot quench love;*
neither can the floods drown it.
1 Set me as a seal upon your heart,*
as a seal upon your arm;
2 For love is strong as death
passion fierce as the grave;*
its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
3 Many waters cannot quench love,*
neither can the floods drown it.
4 If all the wealth of our house
were offered for love,*
it would be utterly scorned.
Glory . . . Song of Songs 8:7-8
Many waters cannot quench love;*
neither can the floods drown it.
Second Reading
John 17:1-11 (12-26)
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. [While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’]
Responsory
By your own blood, Lord, you brought us back to God
By your own blood, Lord, you brought us back to God
From every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
You brought us back to God
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
By your own blood, Lord, you brought us back to God
I have longed to eat this meal with you before I suffer.
Benedictus
I have longed to eat this meal with you before I suffer.
Collects and Prayers
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Father anointed Christ with the Holy Spirit to proclaim forgiveness to those in bondage. Let us humbly call upon the eternal priest.