SATURDAY - WEEK IV
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 and 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.
Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee;
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heaven adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne:
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.
Words: Foundling Hospital Collection, 1801 St. 3 Edward Osler; Music: Austria, Daniel's Tune, Praise, Rex Gloriae Meter: 87 87 D
PSALMODY
Antiphon 1: The Lord delivered his people from the oppressor, alleluia.
IV
How often they defied him in the wilderness
and caused him pain in the desert!
Yet again they put God to the test
and grieved the Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember his deeds
nor the day he saved them from the foe;
when he worked his miracles in Egypt,
his wonders in the plains of Zoan;
when he turned their rivers into blood,
made their streams impossible to drink.
He sent dog-flies against them to devour them
and swarms of frogs to molest them.
He gave their crops to the grub,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail,
their sycamore trees with frost.
He gave up their cattle to plague,
their flocks and herds to pestilence.
He turned on them the heat of is anger,
fury, rage and havoc,
a troop of destroying angels.
He gave free course to his anger.
He did not spare them from death
but gave their lives to the plague.
He struck all the first-born in Egypt,
the finest flower in the dwellings of Ham. Glory...
Antiphon 1 The Lord delivered his people from the oppressor, alleluia.
Antiphon 2 The Lord led his people to his holy mountain, alleluia.
V
Then he brought forth his people like sheep;
he guided them safely in the desert.
He led them safely with nothing to fear,
while the sea engulfed their foes.
So he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.
He drove out the nations before them,
and divided the land for their heritage.
Their tents he gave as a dwelling
to each one of Israel's tribes.
Still they put God to the proof and defied him;
they refused to obey the Most High.
They strayed, faithless like their fathers,
like a bow on which the archer cannot count.
With their mountain shrines they angered him;
made him jealous with the idols they served.
God saw this and was filled with fury:
he utterly rejected Israel.
He forsook his dwelling place in Shiloh,
the tent where he lived among men.
He gave his ark into captivity,
his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.
He gave up his people to the sword,
in his anger against his chosen ones.
So war devoured their young men,
their maidens had no wedding songs;
their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lament. Glory...
Antiphon 2 The Lord led his people to his holy mountain, alleluia.
Antiphon 3 The Lord chose the tribe of Judah, and David, his servant, to shepherd Israel, his chosen people, alleluia.
VI
Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior overcome with wine.
He struck his foes from behind
and put them to everlasting shame.
He rejected the tent of Joseph;
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
the hill of Zion which he loves.
He built his shrine like the heavens,
or like the earth which he made firm for ever.
And he chose David his servant
and took him away from the sheepfolds.
From the care of the ewes he called him
to be shepherd of Jacob his people,
Of Israel is own possession.
He tended them with blameless heart,
with discerning mind he led them. Glory...
Antiphon 3
The Lord chose the tribe of Judah, and David, his servant, to shepherd Israel, his chosen people, 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 18:1-20
The destruction of Babylon
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth became illumined by his splendor. He cried out in a mighty voice: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a haunt for demons. She is a cage for every unclean spirit, a cage for every unclean bird, a cage for every unclean and disgusting beast. For all the nations have drunk the wine of her licentious passion. The kings of the earth had intercourse with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her drive for luxury."
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Depart from her, my people, so as not to take part in her sins and receive a share in her plagues, for her sins are piled up to the sky, and God remembers her crimes. Pay her back as she has paid others. Pay her back double for her deeds. Into her cup pour double what she poured. To the measure of her boasting and wantonness repay her in torment and grief; for she said to herself, 'I sit enthroned as queen; I am no widow, and I will never know grief.' Therefore, her plagues will come in one day, pestilence, grief, and famine; she will be consumed by fire. For mighty is the Lord God who judges her."
The kings of the earth who had intercourse with her in their wantonness will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her pyre. They will keep their distance for fear of the torment inflicted on her, and they will say: "Alas, alas, great city, Babylon, mighty city. In one hour your judgment has come." The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn for her, because there will be no more markets for their cargo: their cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple silk, and scarlet cloth; fragrant wood of every kind, all articles of ivory and all articles of the most expensive wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human beings.
"The fruit you craved has left you. All your luxury and splendor are gone, never again will one find them." The merchants who deal in these goods, who grew rich from her, will keep their distance for fear of the torment inflicted on her. Weeping and mourning, they cry out: "Alas, alas, great city, wearing fine linen, purple and scarlet, adorned in gold, precious stones, and pearls. In one hour this great wealth has been ruined."
Every captain of a ship, every traveler at sea, sailors, and seafaring merchants stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her pyre, "What city could compare with the great city?" They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning: "Alas, alas, great city, in which all who had ships at sea grew rich from her wealth. In one hour she has been ruined. Rejoice over her, heaven, you holy ones, apostles, and prophets. For God has judged your case against her."
RESPONSORY Is. 52:11,12; Rv. 18:4; Jer.51:45
Depart from Babylon,
purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
- For the Lord shall lead you forth,
and the God of Israel shall be your rear guard, alleluia.
Depart from Babylon, my people;
let each one save himself from the anger of the Lord.
- For the Lord shall lead you forth,
and the God of Israel shall be your rear guard, alleluia.
SECOND READING
From the commentary on the letter to the Romans by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop
(Cap 15,7:PG 74, 854-855)
God's mercy has been extended to all; the whole world has been saved
Though many, we are one body, and members one of another, united by Christ in the bonds of love. Christ has made Jews and Gentiles one by breaking down the barrier that divided us and abolishing the law with its precepts and decrees. This is why we should all be of one mind and if one member suffers some misfortune, all should suffer with him; if one member is honoured, all should be glad.
Paul says: Accept one another as Christ accepted you, for the glory of God. Now accepting one another means being willing to share one another’s thoughts and feelings, bearing one another’s burdens, and preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This is how God accepted us in Christ, for John’s testimony is true and he said that God the Father loved the world so much that he gave his own Son for us. God’s Son was given as a ransom for the lives of us all. He has delivered us from death, redeemed us from death and from sin.
Paul throws light on the purpose of God’s plan when he says that Christ became the servant of the circumcised to show God’s fidelity. God had promised the Jewish patriarchs that he would bless their offspring and make it as numerous as the stars of heaven. This is why the divine Word himself, who as God holds all creation in being and is the source of its well-being, appeared in the flesh and became man. He came into this world in human flesh not to be served, but, as he himself said, to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Christ declared that his coming in visible form was to fulfil the promise made to Israel. I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he said. Paul was perfectly correct, then, in saying that Christ became a servant of the circumcised in order to fulfil the promise made to the patriarchs and that God the Father had charged him with this task, as also with the task of bringing salvation to the Gentiles, so that they too might praise their Saviour and Redeemer as the Creator of the universe. In this way God’s mercy has been extended to all men, including the Gentiles, and it can be seen that the mystery of the divine wisdom contained in Christ has not failed in its benevolent purpose. In the place of those who fell away the whole world has been saved.
RESPONSORY Acts 13:46-47
It was our duty to proclaim the word of God to you first,
but since you reject it
and thus condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life,
- we now turn to the Gentiles, alleluia.
This is what Lord commanded us to do:
I have made you a light to the nations.
- We now turn to the Gentiles, alleluia.
COLLECT
O God, who in the celebration of Easter
graciously give to the world
the healing of heavenly remedies,
show benevolence to your Church,
that our present observance
may benefit us for eternal life.
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.
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