SATURDAY - WEEK II
Office of Readings
Lord, open my lips.
- And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Psalm 95 is the traditional Invitatory Psalm. Psalm 24, 67, or 100 may be substituted.
Antiphon: The Lord is risen, alleluia.
God, come to my assistance.
- Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
- as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen.
HYMN
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
The Day of Resurrection
Or:
Praise the Lord! ye heavens adore him;
praise him angels in the height;
sun and moon, rejoice before him;
praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord! for he hath spoken;
worlds his mighty voice obeyed;
laws which never shall be broken
for their guidance he hath made.
Praise the Lord! for he is glorious;
never shall his promise fail;
God hath made his saints victorious;
sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation!
Hosts on high, his power proclaim;
heaven and earth, and all creation,
laud and magnify his Name.
Words: Foundling Hospital Collection, 1801 Music: Austria, Daniel's Tune, Praise, Rex Gloriae Meter: 87 87 D
Antiphon 1: Remember us, O Lord; come with your saving help, alleluia.
I
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.
Who can tell the Lord's mighty deeds?
Who can recount all his praise?
They are happy who do what is right,
who at all times do what is just.
O Lord, remember me
out of the love you have for your people.
Come to me, Lord, with your help
that I may see the joy of your chosen ones
and may rejoice in the gladness of your nation
and share the glory of your people.
Our sin is the sin of our fathers;
we have done wrong, our deeds have been evil.
Our fathers when they were in Egypt
paid no heed to your wonderful deeds.
They forgot the greatness of your love,
at the Red Sea defied the Most High.
Yet he saved them for the sake of his name,
in order to make known his power.
He threatened the Red Sea; it dried up
and he led them through the deep as through the desert.
He saved them from the hand of the foe;
he saved them from the grip of the enemy.
The waters covered their oppressors;
not one of them was left alive.
Then they believed in his words:
then they sang his praises.
But they soon forgot his deeds
and would not wait upon his will.
They yielded to their cravings in the desert
and put God to the test in the wilderness.
He granted them the favor they asked
and sent disease among them.
Then they rebelled, envious of Moses and
of Aaron, who was holy to the Lord.
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan
and buried the clan of Abiram.
Fire blazed up against their clan
and flames devoured the rebels. Glory...
Antiphon 1 Remember us, O Lord; come with your saving help, alleluia.
Antiphon 2 Keep it carefully in mind; the Lord our God has made a covenant with you, alleluia.
They forgot the God who was their savior,
who had done such great things in Egypt,
such portents in the land of Ham,
such marvels at the Red Sea.
For this he said he would destroy them,
but Moses, the man he had chosen,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn back his anger from destruction.
Then they scorned the land of promise;
they had no faith in his word.
They complained inside their tents
and would not listen to the voice of the Lord.
So he raised his hand to swear an oath
that he would lay them low in the desert;
would scatter their sons among the nations
and disperse them throughout the lands.
They bowed before the Baal of Peor;
ate offerings made to lifeless gods.
They roused him to anger with their deeds
and plague broke out among them.
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened.
Thus the plague was ended
and this was counted in his favor
from age to age for ever.
They provoked him at the waters of Meribah.
Through their fault it went ill with Moses;
for they made his heart grow bitter
and he uttered words that were rash. Glory...
Antiphon 2 Keep it carefully in mind; the Lord our God has made a covenant with you.
Antiphon 3
Save your people, Lord; bring us together from among the nations, alleluia.
III
They failed to destroy the peoples
as the Lord had given command,
but instead they mingled with the nations
and learned to act as they did.
They worshipped the idols of the nations
and these became a snare to entrap them.
They even offered their own sons
and their daughters in sacrifice to demons.
They shed the blood of the innocent,
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they offered to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted with blood.
So they defiled themselves by their deeds
and broke their marriage bond with the Lord
till his anger blazed against his people;
he was filled with horror at his chosen ones.
So he gave them into the hand of the nations
and their foes became their rulers.
Their enemies became their oppressors;
they were subdued beneath their hand.
Time after time God rescued them,
but in their malice they dared to defy him
and sank low through their guilt.
In spite of this he paid heed to their distress,
so often as he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant.
In the greatness of his love he relented
and he let them be treated with mercy
by all who held them captive.
O Lord, our God, save us!
Bring us together from among the nations
that we may thank your holy name
and make it our glory to praise you.
Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
for ever, from age to age.
Let all the people cry out:
Amen! Amen! Glory...
Antiphon 3
Save your people, Lord; bring us together from among the nations, alleluia.
God has given us a new birth into living hope, alleluia.
- By raising Jesus Christ from the dead, alleluia.
FIRST READING
From the book of Revelation 5:1-14
The vision of the Lamb
I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it. One of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals."
Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the seven spirits of God sent out into the whole world. He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.
Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. They sang a new hymn:
"Worthy are you to receive the scroll
and to break open its seals,
for you were slain and with your blood
you purchased for God
those from every tribe and tongue,
people and nation.
You made them a kingdom and priests for our God,
and they will reign on earth."
I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing." Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: "To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever." The four living creatures answered, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
RESPONSORY Revelation 5:9-10
Worthy are you, Lord, to take the book and open its seals, for you were slain for us.
- With your blood you have purchased us for God, alleluia.
You have made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
- With your blood you have purchased us for God, alleluia.
SECOND READING
From the constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council
(Cap. 6, 36; 7, 44: 8, 45; 9,52: CSEL 32, 192, 198-199, 204)
God's plan of salvation
In his desire that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, God spoke in former times to our forefathers through the prophets, on many occasions and in different ways. Then, in the fullness of time he sent his Son, the Word made man, anointed by the Holy Spirit, to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted as the physician of body and spirit and the mediator between God and men. In the unity of the person of the Word, his human nature was the instrument of our salvation. Thus in Christ there has come to be the perfect atonement that reconciles us with God, and we have been given the power to offer the fullness of divine worship.
This work of man’s redemption and God’s perfect glory was foreshadowed by God’s mighty deeds among the people of the Old Covenant. It was brought to fulfilment by Christ the Lord, especially through the paschal mystery of his blessed passion, resurrection from the dead and ascension in glory: by dying he destroyed our death, and by rising again he restored our life. From his side, as he lay asleep on the cross, was born that wonderful sacrament which is the Church in its entirety.
As Christ was sent by the Father, so in his turn he sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. They were sent to preach the Gospel to every creature, proclaiming that we had been set free from the power of Satan and from death by the death and resurrection of God’s Son, and brought into the kingdom of the Father. They were sent also to bring into effect this saving work that they proclaimed, by means of the sacrifice and sacraments that are the pivot of the whole life of the liturgy.
So, by baptism men are brought within the paschal mystery. Dead with Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, they receive the Spirit that makes them God’s adopted children, crying out: Abba, Father; and so they become the true adorers that the Father seeks.
In the same way, whenever they eat the supper of the Lord they proclaim his death until he comes. So, on the very day of Pentecost, on which the Church was manifested to the world, those who received the word of Peter were baptised. They remained steadfast in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.
From that time onward the Church has never failed to come together to celebrate the paschal mystery, by reading what was written about him in every part of Scripture, by celebrating the Eucharist in which the victory and triumph of his death are shown forth, and also by giving thanks to God for the inexpressible gift he has given in Christ Jesus, to the praise of God’s glory.
RESPONSORY John 15:1,7,9
I am the true vine and you are the branches.
- Whoever lives in me and I in him
brings forth much fruit, alleluia.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you;
live on in my love.
I am the true vine and you are the branches.
- Whoever lives in me and I in him
brings forth much fruit, alleluia.
COLLECT
Set aside, O Lord,
the bond of sentence written for us by the law of sin,
which in the Paschal Mystery you canceled
through the Resurrection of Christ your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Let us praise the Lord.
- And give him thanks.
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