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: Let God arise, let his enemies flee before him.

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.)

Who can tell the pleasure,
Who recount the treasure,
By Your word imparted
To the simple hearted?

Word of mercy giving
Succour to the living;
Word of Life supplying
Comfort to the dying.

O that we, discerning
Its most holy learning
Lord may love and fear You
Evermore be near you.
Text: Henry Williams Baker; Melody: Ravenshaw 66.66, M. Weisse, W.H. Monk; Midi: Cyberhymnal


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: Let God arise, let his enemies flee before him.

                           I
Let God arise, let his foes be scattered.
Let those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is blown away so will they be blown away;
like wax that melts before the fire,
so the wicked shall perish at the presence of God.

But the just shall rejoice at the presence of God,
they shall exult and dance for joy.
O sing to the Lord, make music to his name;
make a highway for him who rides on the clouds.
Rejoice in the Lord, exult at his presence.

Father of the orphan, defender of the widow,
such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in;
he leads the prisoners forth into freedom;
but rebels must dwell in a parched land.

When you went forth, O God, at the head of your people,
when you marched across the desert, the earth trembled:
the heavens melted at the presence of God,
at the presence of God, Israel's God.

You poured down, O God, a generous rain;
when your people were starved you gave them new life.
It was there that your people found a home,
prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor. Glory...

Antiphon 1 Let God arise, let his enemies flee before him.


Antiphon 2 Our God is a saving God; he, the Lord, holds the keys of death.

                            II
The Lord gives the word to the bearers of good tidings:
The Almighty has defeated a numberless army

At home the women already share the spoil.
They are covered with silver as the wings of a dove,
its feathers brilliant with shining gold
and jewels flashing like snow on Mount Zalmon.

The mountains of Bashan are mighty mountains;
high-ridged mountains are the mountains of Bashan.
Why look with envy, you high-ridged mountains,
at the mountain where God has chosen to dwell?
It is there that the Lord shall dwell for ever.

The chariots of God are thousands upon thousands.
The Lord has come from Sinai to the holy place.
You have gone up on high; you have taken captives,
receiving men and women in tribute, O God,
even those who rebel, into your dwelling, O Lord.

May the Lord be blessed day after day.
He bears our burdens, God our savior;
this God of ours is a God who saves.
The Lord our God holds the keys of death.
And God will smite the head of his foes,
the crown of those who persist in their sins.

The Lord said: I will bring them back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depth of the sea.
Then your feet will tread in their blood
and the tongues of your dogs take their share of the foe." Glory...

Antiphon 2 Our God is a saving God; he, the Lord, holds the keys of death.


Antiphon 3 Kingdoms of earth, sing praise to God; make music in honor of the Lord.

                         III
They see your solemn procession, O God,
the procession of my God, of my king, to the sanctuary:
the singers in the forefront, the musicians coming last,
between them, maidens sounding their timbrels.

In festive gatherings, bless the Lord;
bless God, O you who are Israel's sons."
There is Benjamin, least of the tribes, at the head,
Judah's princes, a mighty throng,
Zebulun's princes, Naphtali's princes.

Show forth, O God, show forth your might,
your might, O God, which you have shown for us.
For the sake of your temple high in Jerusalem
may nations come to you bringing their tribute.

Threaten the wild beast that dwells in the reeds,
the bands of the mighty and rulers of the peoples.
Let them bow down offering silver.
Scatter the peoples who delight in war.
Envoys will make their way from Egypt;
Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God.

Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, praise the Lord
who rides on the heavens, the ancient heavens.
He thunders his voice, his mighty voice.
Come, acknowledge the power of God.

His glory is on Israel; his might is in the skies.
God is to be feared in his holy place.
He is the Lord, Israel's God.
He gives strength and power to his people.

Blessed be God! Glory...

Antiphon 3 Kingdoms of earth, sing praise to God; make music in honor of the Lord.


I will listen to what the Lord God is saying
- He tells of peace to his people.


FIRST READING

From the beginning of the book of the prophet Habakkuk           1:1-2:4a

A prayer in time of desolation

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet received in vision.

How long, O Lord? I cry for help
  but you do not listen!
I cry out to you, "Violence!"
  but you do not intervene.
Why do you let me see ruin;
  why must I look at misery?
Destruction and violence are before me;
  there is strife, and clamorous discord.
This is why the law is benumbed,
  and judgment is never rendered:
Because the wicked circumvent the just;
  this is why judgment comes forth perverted.

Look over the nations and see,
  and be utterly amazed!
For a work is being done in your days
  that you would not have believed, were it told.
For see, I am raising up Chaldea,
  that bitter and unruly people,
That marches the breadth of the land
  to take dwellings not his own.

Terrible and dreadful is he,
  from himself derive his law and his majesty.
Swifter than leopards are his horses,
  and keener than wolves at evening.
His horses prance,
  his horsemen come from afar:
They fly like the eagle hastening to devour;
  each comes for the rapine,
Their combined onset is that of a stormwind
  that heaps up captives like sand.

He scoffs at kings,
  and princes are his laughingstock;
He laughs at any fortress,
  heaps up a ramp, and conquers it.
Then he veers like the wind and is gone--
  this culprit who makes his own strength his god!
Are you not from eternity, O Lord,
  my holy God, immortal?
O Lord you have marked him for judgment,
  O Rock, you have readied him for punishment!

Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil,
  and the sight of misery you cannot endure.
Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence
  while the wicked man devours
  one more just than himself?
You have made man like the fish of the sea,
  like creeping things without a ruler.
 
He brings them all up with his hook,
  he hauls them away with his net,
He gathers them in his seine;
  and so he rejoices and exults.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net,
  and burns incense to his seine;
For thanks to them his portion is generous,
  and his repast sumptuous.
Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword
  to slay peoples without mercy?

I will stand at my guard post,
  and station myself upon the rampart,
And keep watch to see what he will say to me,
  and what answer he will give to my complaint.

Then the Lord answered me and said:
  Write down the vision
Clearly upon the tablets,
  so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time,
  presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
If it delays, wait for it,
  it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity;
  but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.


RESPONSORY          Hebrews 10:37-38,39
A little while longer, a very little while
and the promised one will come.
He will not delay.
- My just one will live by faith.

We are not people who shrink back and are lost;
we live by faith that we might be saved.
- My just one will live by faith.


SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot
(Sermo 5 de diversis,1-4; Opera omnia. Edit. Cisterc. 6, 1[1970] 98-103)

I shall stand upon my watchtower to see what the Lord will say to me

We read in the gospel that when the Lord was teaching his disciples and urged them to share in his passion by the mystery of eating his body, some said: This is a hard saying, and from that time they no longer followed him. When he asked the disciples whether they also wished to go away, they replied: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

I assure you, my brothers, that even to this day it is clear to some that the words which Jesus speaks are spirit and life, and for this reason they follow him. To others these words seem hard, and so they look elsewhere for some pathetic consolation. Yet wisdom cries out in the streets, in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, to call back those who take this path. Finally, he says: For forty years I have been close to this generation, and I said: They have always been faint-hearted. You also read in another psalm: God has spoken once. Once, indeed, because for ever. His is a single, uninterrupted utterance, because it is continuous and unending.

He calls upon sinners to return to their true spirit and rebukes them when their hearts have gone astray, for it is in the true heart that he dwells and there he speaks, fulfilling what he taught through the prophet: Speak to the heart of Jerusalem. You see, my brothers, how the prophet admonishes us for our advantage: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. You can read almost the same words in the gospel and in the prophet. For in the gospel the Lord says: My sheep hear my voice. And in the psalm blessed David says: You are his people (meaning, of course, the Lord’s) and the sheep of his pasture. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Hear also the prophet Habakkuk in today’s reading. Far from hiding the Lord’s reprimands, he dwells on them with attentive and anxious care. He says: I will stand upon my watch-tower and take up my post on the ramparts, keeping watch to see what he will say to me and what answer I will make to those who try to confute me. I beg you, my brothers, stand upon our watch-tower, for now is the time for battle. Let all our dealings be in the heart, where Christ dwells, in right judgement and wise counsel, but in such a way as to place no confidence in those dealings, nor rely upon our fragile defences.