Saturday Vespers

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit…

Saturday. Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil. Joel 2:13

Realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. - 1 Peter 1:18-21


The Confession


Psalm 51
Invitatory. Christ suffered and died for us. Come, let us adore him.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your loving-kindness;*
in your great compassion blot out my offences.
2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness*
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,*
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you only have I sinned*
and done what is evil in your sight.
5 And so you are justified when you speak*
and upright in your judgement.
[6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth,*
a sinner from my mother's womb.
7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me,*
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
8 Purge me from my sin and I shall be pure;*
wash me and I shall be clean indeed.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness,*
that the body you have broken may rejoice.
10 Hide your face from my sins*
and blot out all my iniquities.]
11 Create in me a clean heart, O God,*
and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Cast me not away from your presence*
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
13 Give me the joy of your saving help again*
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
14 I shall teach your ways to the wicked,*
and sinners shall return to you.
15 Deliver me from death, O God,*
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
O God of my salvation.
16 Open my lips, O Lord,*
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
17 Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice,*
but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
18 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;*
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Invitatory. Christ suffered and died for us. Come, let us adore him.

Psalms

Antiphon: Death, you shall die in me; hell, you shall be destroyed by me.

11
I will lift up the cup of salvation *
     and call upon the Name of the LORD.
12
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD *
     in the presence of all his people.
13
Precious in the sight of the LORD *
     is the death of his servants.
14
O LORD, I am your servant; *
     I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;
     you have freed me from my bonds.
15
I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving *
     and call upon the Name of the LORD.
16
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD *
     in the presence of all his people,
17
In the courts of the LORD'S house, *
     in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
     Hallelujah!


Antiphon: Death, you shall die in me; hell, you shall be destroyed by me.

Antiphon 2: As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

1
LORD, hear my prayer,
and in your faithfulness heed my supplications; *
     answer me in your righteousness.
2
Enter not into judgment with your servant, *
     for in your sight shall no one living be justified.
3
For my enemy has sought my life;
he has crushed me to the ground; *
     he has made me live in dark places like those who are long dead.
4
My spirit faints within me; *
     my heart within me is desolate.
5
I remember the time past;
I muse upon all your deeds; *
     I consider the works of your hands.
6
I spread out my hands to you; *
     my soul gasps to you like a thirsty land.
7
O LORD, make haste to answer me; my spirit fails me; *
     do not hide your face from me
     or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
8
Let me hear of your loving-kindness in the morning,
for I put my trust in you; *
     show me the road that I must walk,
     for I lift up my soul to you.
9
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD, *
     for I flee to you for refuge.
10
Teach me to do what pleases you, for you are my God; *
     let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11
Revive me, O LORD, for your Name's sake; *
     for your righteousness' sake, bring me out of trouble.


Antiphon 2: As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Antiphon 3: Destroy this temple, says the Lord, and in three days I will rebuild it. He was speaking of the temple of his body.

Philippians 2:6-11

Though he was in the form of God,
   Jesus did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father.



Antiphon 3: Destroy this temple, says the Lord, and in three days I will rebuild it. He was speaking of the temple of his body.


First Reading


Lamentations 3:37-58

Who can command and have it done,
   if the Lord has not ordained it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
   that good and bad come?
Why should any who draw breath complain
   about the punishment of their sins?

Let us test and examine our ways,
   and return to the Lord.
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
   to God in heaven.
We have transgressed and rebelled,
   and you have not forgiven.

You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
   killing without pity;
you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
   so that no prayer can pass through.
You have made us filth and rubbish
   among the peoples.

All our enemies
   have opened their mouths against us;
panic and pitfall have come upon us,
   devastation and destruction.
My eyes flow with rivers of tears
   because of the destruction of my people.

My eyes will flow without ceasing,
   without respite,
until the Lord from heaven
   looks down and sees.
My eyes cause me grief
   at the fate of all the young women in my city.

Those who were my enemies without cause
   have hunted me like a bird;
they flung me alive into a pit
   and hurled stones on me;
water closed over my head;
   I said, ‘I am lost.’

I called on your name, O Lord,
   from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear
   to my cry for help, but give me relief!’
You came near when I called on you;
   you said, ‘Do not fear!’

You have taken up my cause, O Lord,
   you have redeemed my life.

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

Romans 8:1-11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.



Responsory

For our sake, Christ was obedient, accepting even death, death on a cross. Therefor God raised him on high and gave him the name above all other names.

Antiphon:Now the Son of Man has been glorified and God has been glorified in Him.
Magnificat
Antiphon:Now the Son of Man has been glorified and God has been glorified in Him.

Kyrie Eleison



Collect of the Day

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Thanksgivings

Intercessions
Our Redeemer suffered for us and was buried, to rise again. Let us truly and humbly worship him, and ask him:
- Lord, take pity on us.
Lord Jesus, from your pierced side came blood and water, the miraculous sign of your Church:
  -  bring your bride to life through your death, burial, and resurrection. (R.)
Lord Jesus, you remembered those who had forgotten your promise to rise from the dead:
  -  remember also those who do not yet know of your resurrection and live without hope.(R.)
Lamb of God, you are the paschal sacrifice offered up for all:
  -  draw all men to yourself.(R.)
God of the whole world, you hold the universe in your grasp, but still you allowed yourself to be held within a tomb.
  -  Free the human race from Hell and give it immortal glory.(R.)
Anointed One, Son of the living God, on the cross you opened the gates of Paradise to the thief.
  -  Let the dead, who shared your death and your burial, share also your glorious resurrection.(R.)

Lord's Prayer

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Almighty and ever-living God,
your only-begotten Son descended into the underworld,
from which he rose into glory.
In your kindness, grant that your faithful people,
who in their baptism shared his burial,
may advance to eternal life by sharing in his resurrection.

Bow down before the Lord

May the life-giving cross
be the source of all our joy and peace. Amen.



 
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