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: Come, let us praise the Lord; in him is all our delight.

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

Sing praise to our Creator,
O sons of Adam’s race;
God’s children by adoption,
Baptized into His grace.

Refrain:
Praise the Holy Trinity,
Undivided Unity;
Holy God, Mighty God,
God Immortal, be adored.

To Jesus Christ give glory,
God’s co-eternal Son;
As members of His Body
we live in Him as one.

Refrain

Now praise the Holy Spirit,
poured forth upon the earth;
Who sanctifies and guides us,
Confirmed in our rebirth.

Refrain

Melody: Mainz 76.76 with Refrain
Text: Omer Westendorf, 1961



PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: My God, do not reject my cry for help, assailed as I am by the wicked.

                    I
O God, listen to my prayer,
do not hide from my pleading,
attend to me and reply;
with my cares, I cannot rest.

I tremble at the shouts of the foe,
at the cries of the wicked;
for they bring down evil upon me.
They assail me with fury.

My heart is stricken within me,
death's terror is on me,
trembling and fear fall upon me
and horror overwhelms me.

O that I had wings like a dove
to fly away and be at rest.
So I would escape far away
and take refuge in the desert.

I would hasten to find a shelter
from the raging wind,
from the destructive storm, O Lord,
and from their plotting tongues. Glory...

Antiphon 1 My God, do not reject my cry for help, assailed as I am by the wicked.


Antiphon 2 The Lord himself will free us from hostile and treacherous hands.

                    II
For I can see nothing
but violence and strife in the city.
Night and day they patrol
high on the city walls.

It is full of wickedness and evil;
it is full of sin.
Its streets are never free
from tyranny and deceit.

If this had been done by an enemy
I could bear his taunts.
If a rival had risen against me,
I could hide from him.

But it is you, my own companion,
my intimate friend!
How close was the friendship between us.
We talked together in harmony
in the house of God. Glory...

Antiphon 2 The Lord himself will free us from hostile and treacherous hands.


Antiphon 3 Entrust your cares to the Lord; he will sustain you.

                   III
As for me, I will cry to God
and the Lord will save me.
Evening, morning and at noon
I will cry and lament.

He will deliver my soul in peace
in the attack against me;
for those who fight me are many,
c but he hears my voice.

God will hear and will humble them,
the eternal judge;
for they will not amend their ways.
They have no fear of God.

The traitor has turned against his friends;
he has broken his word.
His speech is softer than butter,
but war is in his heart,
His words are smoother than oil,
but they are naked swords.

Entrust your cares to the Lord
and he will support you.
He will never allow
the just man to stumble.

But you, O God, will bring them down
to the pit of death.
Deceitful and bloodthirsty men
shall not live half their days.

O Lord, I will trust in you. Glory...

Antiphon 3 Entrust your cares to the Lord; he will sustain you.


Children, listen to my words of wisdom.
- Pay attention to my counsels.


FIRST READING

From the book of the prophet Isaiah       30:1-18

The futility of entering into pacts with foreign peoples

Woe to the rebellious children,
  says the Lord,
Who carry out plans that are not mine,
  who weave webs that are not inspired by me,
  adding sin upon sin.
They go down to Egypt,
  but my counsel they do not seek.
They find their strength in Pharaoh's protection
  and take refuge in Egypt's shadow;
Pharaoh's protection shall be your shame,
  and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.
When their princes are at Zoan
  and their messengers reach Hanes,
All shall be ashamed
  of a people that gain them nothing,
Neither help nor benefit,
  but only shame and reproach.

(Oracle on the Beasts of the Negeb)
Through the distressed and troubled land
  of the lioness and roaring lion,
  of the viper and flying saraph,
They carry their riches on the backs of asses
  and their treasures on the humps of camels
To a people good for nothing,
  to Egypt whose help is futile and vain.
Therefore I call her
  "Rahab quelled."
 
Now come, write it on a tablet they can keep,
  inscribe it in a record;
That it may be in future days
  an eternal witness:
This is a rebellious people,
  deceitful children,
Children who refuse
  to obey the law of the Lord.
They say to the seers, "Have no visions";
  to the prophets, "Do not descry for us what is right;
  speak flatteries to us, conjure up illusions.
Out of the way! Out of our path!
  Let us hear no more
  of the Holy One of Israel."

Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel:
  Because you reject this word,
And put your trust in what is crooked and devious,
  and depend on it,
This guilt of yours shall be
  like a descending rift
Bulging out in a high wall
  whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant.
It crashes like a potter's jar
  smashed beyond rescue,
And among its fragments cannot be found
  a sherd to scoop fire from the hearth
  or dip water from the cistern.

For thus said the Lord God,
  the Holy One of Israel:
By waiting and by calm you shall be saved,
  in quiet and in trust your strength lies.
  But this you did not wish.
"No," you said,
  "Upon horses we will flee."
  --Very well, flee!
"Upon swift steeds we will ride."
  --Not so swift as your pursuers.
A thousand shall tremble at the threat of one;
  if five threaten you, you shall flee,
Until you are left like a flagstaff on the mountaintop,
  like a flag on the hill.
Yet the Lord is waiting to show you favor,
  and he rises to pity you;
For the Lord is a God of justice:
  blessed are all who wait for him!


RESPONSORY          Isaiah 30:15, 18
Turn back, be at peace,
and you shall be saved.
- Your strength shall lie in quiet and in trust.

The Lord is waiting to show you his favor.
Happy are all who trust in him.
- Your strength shall lie in quiet and in trust.


SECOND READING

From the Explanations of the Psalms by Saint Ambrose, bishop
(Ps. 48, 13-14: CSEL 64, 367-368)

The man Christ Jesus, the one mediator between God and Men

Brother cannot redeem brother, but a man will redeem man. No one can give to God the ransom for himself nor the price of his soul's redemption. Christ is saying: What have I to fear in the day of evil? What can do me harm if I do not need a redeemer but am myself the redeemer of all mankind? Shall I free others, yet tremble for myself? See, I shall make all things new, so as to surpass even the love and devotion of brothers. Where a brother, born of the womb, cannot redeem, suffering as he does from the infirmity of a common nature, yet a man will redeem, that man of whom it is written: The Lord will send them a man who will save them; the man who said of himself: You seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you.

He is a man, yet who will recognize him? Why will no one recognize him? Because, as there is one God, so there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He alone will redeem man, showing love greater even than that of brothers. He poured out his blood for strangers, as no one is able to do for a brother. He did not spare his own body in redeeming us from sin, but gave himself as the redemption of all, and Paul the apostle is a true witness to him: I speak the truth and do not lie.

But why will this man be the only redeemer? Because no one can equal him in the love he showed in laying down his life for his own poor servants. Nor can anyone equal him in sinlessness, for all men are ruled by sin, and all are victims of the fall of the first Adam. He alone is chosen to redeem, for he alone cannot be subject to that age-old sin. So let us understand by "the man" the one who took upon himself the condition of man in order to crucify in his own flesh the sin of all, and to cancel by his own blood the debt owed by all: the Lord Jesus.

You may ask: How can we say that brother cannot redeem when the man we are discussing has said: I shall declare your name to my brothers? But it was not as our brother but as the man Christ Jesus, in whom God dwelt, that he forgave our sins. For it is written that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. God was in the man Christ Jesus, of whom alone it was said: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It was not, therefore, as a brother but as the Lord that he dwelt among us in the flesh.


RESPONSORY          Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34
He surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked.
- He bore the crimes of many
and prayed all the while for sinners.

Jesus prayed: Father, forgive them;
they do not know what they are doing.
- He bore the crimes of many
and prayed all the while for sinners.


COLLECT
O God, who have prepared for those who love you
good things which no eye can see,
fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of your love,
so that, loving you in all things and above all things,
we may attain your promises,
which surpass every human desire.
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.



The English translation of Psalm Responses, Alleluia Verses, Gospel Verses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); the English translation of Antiphons, Invitatories, Responsories, Intercessions, Psalm 95, the Canticle of the Lamb, Psalm Prayers, Non-Biblical Readings from The Liturgy of the Hours © 1973, 1974, 1975, ICEL; excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission.