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.

Psalm 95

Psalm 24

Psalm 67

Psalm 100

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. Alleluia


HYMN

Christ the Lord is Risen Today
The Day of Resurrection

Or:


Lord Jesus Christ, be present now
Our hearts in true devotion bow,
Thy Spirit send with grace divine,
And let Thy truth within us shine.

Unseal our lips to sing Thy praise,
Our souls to Thee in worship raise,
Make strong our faith, increase our light
That we may know Thy Name aright.

Until we join the hosts that cry,
“Holy art Thou, O Lord, most high!”
And in the light of that blest place
Fore’er behold Thee face to face.

Glory to God the Father, Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One!
To Thee, O blessèd Trinity,
Be praise throughout eternity!

Text: Herr Jesu Christ Dich, Anon


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: We groan in pain as we await the redemption of our bodies, alleluia.

Psalm 39
Urgent prayer of a sick person
Creation is made subject to futility...by him who subjected it, but it is not without hope. (Romans 8:20)

             I
I said: I will be watchful of my ways
for fear I should sin with my tongue.
I will put a curb on my lips
when the wicked man stands before me."
I was dumb, silent and still.
His prosperity stirred my grief.

My heart was burning within me.
At the thought of it, the fire blazed up
and my tongue burst into speech:
O Lord, you have shown me my end,
how short is the length of my days.
Now I know how fleeting is my life.

You have given me a short span of days;
my life is as nothing in your sight.
A mere breath, the man who stood so firm,
a mere shadow, the man passing by;
a mere breath the riches he hoards,
not knowing who will have them." Glory...

Antiphon 1 We groan in pain as we await the redemption of our bodies, alleluia.

Antiphon 2 Hear and answer my prayer, O Lord, let me not weep in vain, alleluia.

                    II
And now, Lord, what is there to wait for?
In you rests all my hope.
Set me free from all my sins,
do not make me the taunt of the fool.
I was silent, not opening my lips,
because this was all your doing.

Take away your scourge from me.
I am crushed by the blows of your hand.
You punish man's sins and correct him;
like the moth you devour all he treasures.
Mortal man is no more than a breath;
O Lord, hear my prayer.

O Lord, turn your ear to my cry.
Do not be deaf to my tears.
In your house I am a passing guest,
a pilgrim, like all my fathers.
Look away that I may breathe again
before I depart to be no more. Glory...

Psalm Prayer: Through your Son you taught us, Father, not to be fearful of tomorrow but to commit our lives to your care. Do not withhold your Spirit from us but help us find a life of peace after these days of trouble..

Antiphon 2 Hear and answer my prayer, O Lord, let me not weep in vain, alleluia.


Antiphon 3 I have put all my trust in God's never-failing mercy, alleluia.

Psalm 52
Against a calumniator
If anyone would boast, let him boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31)

Why do you boast of your wickedness,
you champion of evil,
planning ruin all day long,
your tongue like a sharpened razor,
you master of deceit?

You love evil more than good,
lies more than truth.
You love the destructive word,
you tongue of deceit.

For this God will destroy you
and remove you for ever.
He will snatch you from your tent and uproot you
from the land of the living.

The just shall see and fear.
They shall laugh and say:
So this is the man who refused
to take God as a stronghold,
but trusted in the greatness of his wealth
and grew powerful by his crimes."

But I am like a growing olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the goodness of God
for ever and ever.

I will thank you for evermore;
for this is your doing.
I will proclaim that your name is good,
in the presence of your friends. Glory...

Antiphon 3 I have put all my trust in God's never-failing mercy, alleluia.


God raised up Christ from the dead, alleluia,
- so that all our faith and hope might be in God, alleluia.


FIRST READING

From the book of Revelation       2:12-29

To the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira

"To the angel of the church in Pergamum,  write this:

" 'The one with the sharp two-edged sword says this:

"I know that you live where Satan's throne  is, and yet you hold fast to my name and have not denied your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was martyred among you, where Satan lives.  

Yet I have a few things against you. You have some people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the Israelites: to eat food sacrificed to idols and to play the harlot. Likewise, you also have some people who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore, repent. Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and wage war against them with the sword of my mouth."

'"Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor I shall give some of the hidden manna;  I shall also give a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it."'  

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira,  write this:

" 'The Son of God, whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished brass, says this:

"I know your works, your love, faith, service, and endurance, and that your last works are greater than the first. Yet I hold this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, who teaches and misleads my servants to play the harlot and to eat food sacrificed to idols.   I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her harlotry. So I will cast her on a sickbed and plunge those who commit adultery with her into intense suffering unless they repent of her works. I will also put her children  to death. Thus shall all the churches come to know that I am the searcher of hearts and minds and that I will give each of you what your works deserve.

But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not uphold this teaching and know nothing of the so-called deep secrets of Satan:  on you I will place no further burden, except that you must hold fast to what you have until I come. " '

"To the victor,  who keeps to my ways  until the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. Like clay vessels will they be smashed, just as I received authority from my Father. And to him I will give the morning star. "

'"Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches."'


RESPONSORY          Revelation 2:18, 23; 22:12
These are the words of the Son of God
whose eyes are like flames of fire:
I search the mind and the heart,
 - and I will repay each one as his deeds deserve, alleluia.

Behold I am coming soon
and I bring my reward with me.
 - And I will repay each one as his deeds deserve, alleluia.


SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
(Sermo 12 de Passione, 3, 6-7: PL 54, 355-357)

Christ lives in his Church

And so all that the Son of God did and taught for the world’s reconciliation is not for us simply a matter of past history. Here and now we experience his power at work among us. Born of a virgin mother by the action of the Holy Spirit, Christ keeps his Church spotless and makes her fruitful by the inspiration of the same Spirit. In baptismal regeneration she brings forth children for God beyond all numbering. These are the sons of whom it is written: They are born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

In Christ Abraham’s posterity is blessed, because in him the whole world receives the adoption of sons, and in him the patriarch becomes the father of all nations through the birth, not from human stock but by faith, of the descendants that were promised to him. From every nation on earth, without exception, Christ forms a single flock of those he has sanctified, daily fulfilling the promise he once made: I have other sheep, not of this fold, whom it is also ordained that I shall lead; and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Although it was primarily to Peter that he said: Feed my sheep, yet the one Lord guides all the pastors in the discharge of their office and leads to rich and fertile pastures all those who come to the rock. There is no counting the sheep who are nourished with his abundant love, and who are prepared to lay down their lives for the sake of the good shepherd who died for them.

But it is not only the martyrs who share in his passion by their glorious courage; the same is true, by faith, of all who are reborn through baptism. That is why we are to celebrate the Lord’s paschal sacrifice with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The leaven of our former malice is thrown out, and a new creature is filled and inebriated with the Lord himself. For the effect of our sharing in the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive. As we have died with him, and have been buried and raised to life with him, so we bear him within us, both in body and in spirit, in everything we do.


RESPONSORY          John 10:14; Ezekiel 34:11,13
I am the good shepherd;
 - I know my sheep and my sheep know me, alleluia.

I shall look after my sheep
and seek them out.
I shall bring them out from among the peoples
and lead them to pasture.
 - I know my sheep and my sheep know me, alleluia.


COLLECT
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies,
transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage,
may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker.
Through our Lord Jesus 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.