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

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God our creator triumphantly raise.
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who guideth us on to the end of our days.
God's banners are o'er us, His light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
As forward we travel from light into Light.

His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
And sun in his orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration a song let us raise
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
"To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!"
Tune: The Ash Grove, traditional Welsh Melody; Text: Anonymous; Midi: Cyberhymnal


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: He is my comfort and my refuge. In him I put my trust.

He is my love, my fortress;
he is my stronghold, my savior
my shield, my place of refuge.
He brings peoples under my rule.

Lord, what is man that you care for him,
mortal man, that your keep him in mind;
man, who is merely a breath
whose life fades like a passing shadow?

Lower your heavens and come down;
touch the mountains; wreathe them in smoke.
Flash your lightnings; rout the foe,
shoot your arrows and put them to flight.

Reach down from heaven and save me;
draw me out from the mighty waters,
from the hands of alien foes
whose mouths are filled with lies,
whose hands are raised in perjury. Glory...


Antiphon 1 He is my comfort and my refuge. In him I put my trust.


Antiphon 2 Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

                      II
To you, O God, will I sing a new song;
I will play on the ten-stringed harp
to you who give kings their victory,
who set David your servant free.

You set him free from the evil sword;
you rescued him from alien foes
whose mouths were filled with lies,
whose hands were raised in perjury.

Let our sons then flourish like saplings
grown tall and strong from their youth,
our daughters graceful as columns,
adorned as though for a palace.

Let our barns be filled to overflowing
with crops of every kind;
our sheep increasing by thousands,
myriads of sheep in our fields,
our cattle heavy with young,

no ruined wall, no exile,
no sound of weeping in our streets.
Happy the people with such blessings;
happy the people whose God is the Lord. Glory...

We praise you, the Lord God Almighty,
Who is and who was.
You have assumed your great power,
You have begun your reign.

The nations have raged in anger,
But then came your day of wrath
And the moment to judge the dead:
The time to reward your servants the prophets
And the holy ones who revere you,
The great and the small alike.

Now have salvation and power come,
The reign of our God and the authority
Of his Anointed One,
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
Who night and day accused them before God.

They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb
And by the word of their testimony;
Love for life did not deter them from death.
So rejoice, you heavens,
And you that dwell therein! Glory...

Antiphon 3 Now the victorious reign of our God has begun..


READING      Colossians 1:21-23
You yourselves were once alienated from him; you nourished hostility because of your evil deeds. But Christ has achieved reconciliation for you in his mortal body through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister.


RESPONSORY
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall want for nothing.
 - The Lord is my shepherd, I shall want for nothing.
He has brought me to green pastures.
 - I shall want for nothing.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
 - The Lord is my shepherd, I shall want for nothing.

          Give us light, peace and security, Lord.

Brilliant light, Word of the Father, you came to save all people,
 - lead the catechumens of your Church into your marvelous light.

Overlook our sins, Lord,
 - for you are the source of forgiveness.

Lord, it is your will that we use our minds to unlock nature's secrets and master the world,
 - may the arts and sciences advance your glory and the happiness of all peoples.

Look kindly on those who have dedicated themselves to the service of their fellow men,
 - may they fulfill their work freely and completely.

Lord, you open the way and no one can close it;
 - lead into your perpetual light those who have fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection.


Our Father...


PRAYER
Lord,
hear the evening prayers we bring before you:
help us to follow in the footsteps of your Son
so that we may produce an abundant harvest of goodness
in patience and in faith.