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.

HYMN

Jesus Christ is Risen Today
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Or:


Christ is the world's light, he and none other
born in our darkness, he became our  brother;
if we have seen him, we have seen the Father
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world's peace, he and none other
no man can serve him and despise his brother;
who else unites us, one in God the Father?
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world's life, he  and none  other;
sold once for silver, murdered here, our brother -
he, who redeems us, reigns with God the Father
Glory to God on high.

Give  God the glory, God and none other;
give God the glory, Spirit, Son and Father;
give God the glory, God in man my brother;
Glory to God on high.

Text: F. Pratt Green


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: How wonderful are your works, O Lord, alleluia.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night,
on the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,
with the murmuring sound of the harp.

Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad;
for the work of your hands I shout with joy.
O Lord, how great are your works!
How deep are your designs!
The foolish man cannot know this
and the fool cannot understand.

Though the wicked spring up like grass
and all who do evil thrive,
they are doomed to be eternally destroyed.
But you, Lord, are eternally on high.
See how your enemies perish;
all doers of evil are scattered.

To me you give the wild ox's strength;
you anoint me with the purest oil.
My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;
my ears heard gladly of their fall.
The just will flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.

Planted in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God,
still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
to proclaim that the Lord is just.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong. Glory...

Psalm Prayer:Take our shame away from us, Lord, and make us rejoice in your saving works. May all who have been chosen by your Son always abound in works of faith, hope, and love in your service.

Antiphon 1 How wonderful are your works, O Lord, alleluia.

Antiphon 2 I will pour cleansing water upon you, alleluia.

Canticle  -  Ezekiel 36:24-28
The Lord will renew his people
They will be his own people, and God himself will be with them, their own God. (Revelation 21:3))

I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

I will give you a new heart
and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.

I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.

You shall live in the land I gave your fathers;
you shall be my people,
and I will be your God. Glory...

Antiphon 2 I will pour cleansing water upon you, alleluia.

Antiphon 3 All things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's, alleluia.

Psalm 8
Praise for God's loving compassion
I affirm that...the Gentile peoples are to praise God because of his mercy (Romans 15:8-9)

How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!

Your majesty is praised above the heavens;
on the lips of children and of babes
you have found praise to foil your enemy,
to silence the foe and the rebel.

When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him little less than a god;
with glory and honor you crowned him,
gave him power over the works of your hands,
put all things under his feet.

All of them, sheep and cattle,
yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish
that make their way through the waters.

How great is your name, O Lord our God
through all the earth! Glory...

Antiphon 3 All things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's, alleluia.


READING     Romans 14:7-9
None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.


RESPONSORY
The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.
 - The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.
He hung upon the cross for us,
 - alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
 - The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.


BENEDICTUS (Canticle of Zechariah)
Antiphon:
When the prince of pastors comes again, you will receive from him an unfading crown of glory, alleluia.


INTERCESSIONS
Christ has made known to us the life that lasts for ever. With faith and joy let us cry out to him, saying:
                         Lord, may your resurrection bring us the riches of your grace.

Eternal shepherd, look on your flock as it rises from sleep,
 - feed us with the word of life and the bread from heaven.

Keep us safe from wolf and hireling,
 - and make us faithful in listening to your voice.

You are present to all who preach your Gospel, and give power to their words,
 - make us today preachers of your resurrection by our holiness of life.

Be our great joy that no one can take from us,
 - so that we may reject sin with its sadness, and reach out to eternal life.


Our Father...