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 worship the Lord, our mighty God.

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

With hearts renewed by living faith,
We lift our thoughts in grateful prayer
To God our gracious Father,
Whose plan it was to make us sons
Through his own Son's redemptive death,
That rescued us from darkness.  
Lord, God, Savior,
Give us strength to mold our hearts in your true likeness,
Sons and servants of our Father.

So rich God's grace in Jesus Christ,
That we are called as sons of light
To bear the pledge of glory.
Through him in whom all fullness dwells,
We offer God our gift of self
In union with the Spirit.
Lord, God, Savior,
Give us strength to mold our hearts in your true likeness,
Sons and servants of our Father.
Text: Jack May, S.J.; Tune: 887.887.48.48 Frankfort; Philip Nicolai, 1599, arr. by J.S. Bach


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: Let my cry come to you; do not hide your face from me.

                 I
O Lord, listen to my prayer
and let my cry for help reach you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear towards me
and answer me quickly when I call.

For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones burn away like a fire.
My heart is withered like the grass.
I forget to eat my bread.
I cry with all my strength
and my skin clings to my bones.

I have become like a pelican in the wilderness
like an owl in desolate places.
I lie awake and I moan
like some lonely bird on a roof.
All day long my foes revile me;
those who hate me use my name as a curse.

The bread I eat is ashes;
my drink is mingled with tears.
In your anger, Lord, and your fury
you have lifted me up and thrown me down.
My days are like a passing shadow
and I wither away like the grass.  Glory...

Antiphon 1 Let my cry come to you; do not hide your face from me.


Antiphon 2 Be attentive, Lord, to the prayer of the helpless.

                    II
But you, O Lord, will endure for ever
and your name from age to age.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion:
for this is the time to have mercy;
yes, the time appointed has come
for your servants love her very stones,
are moved with pity even for her dust.

The nations shall fear the name of the Lord
and all the earth's kings your glory,
when the Lord shall build up Zion again
and appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
he will not despise their prayers.

Let this be written for ages to come
that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.
He looked down from heaven to the earth
that he might hear the groans of the prisoners
and free those condemned to die.

The sons of your servants shall dwell untroubled
and their race shall endure before you
that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Zion
and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem,
when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together
to pay their homage to the Lord.  Glory...

Antiphon 2 Be attentive, Lord, to the prayer of the helpless.


Antiphon 3 You, O Lord, established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

                      III
He has broken my strength in mid-course;
he has shortened the days of my life.
I say to God: "Do not take me away
before my day are complete,
you, whose days last from age to age.

Long ago you founded the earth
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish but you will remain.
They will are wear out like a garment.
You will change them like clothes that are changed.
But you neither change, nor have an end."  Glory...

Antiphon 3 You, O Lord, established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.


Listen my people to my teaching.
- Give ear to the words I speak.


FIRST READING

From the beginning of the book of the prophet Zechariah       1:1-2:4

Vision of the rebuilding of Jerusalem

In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

The Lord was indeed angry with your fathers. . . and say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Be not like your fathers whom the former prophets warned: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn from your evil ways and from your wicked deeds. But they would not listen or pay attention to me, says the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, can they live forever? But my words and my decrees, which I entrusted to my servants the prophets, did not these overtake your fathers? Then they repented and admitted: "The Lord of hosts has treated us according to our ways and deeds, just as he had determined he would."

In the second year of Darius, on the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, the eleventh month, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, in the following way: I had a vision during the night. There appeared the driver of a red horse, standing among myrtle trees in a shady place, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

Then I asked, "What are these, my lord?"; and the angel who spoke with me answered me, "I will show you what these are." The man who was standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, "These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth." And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, "We have patrolled the earth; see, the whole earth is tranquil and at rest!"

Then the angel of the Lord spoke out and said, "O Lord of hosts, how long will you be without mercy for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that have felt your anger these seventy years?" To the angel who spoke with me, the Lord replied with comforting words.

And the angel who spoke with me said to me, Proclaim: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am deeply moved for the sake of Jerusalem and Zion, and I am exceedingly angry with the complacent nations; whereas I was but a little angry, they added to the harm. Therefore, says the Lord: I will turn to Jerusalem in mercy; my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched over Jerusalem. Proclaim further: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion, and again choose Jerusalem.
 
I raised my eyes and looked; there were four horns. Then I asked the angel who spoke with me what these were. He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah and Israeland Jerusalem."

Then the Lord showed me four blacksmiths. And I asked, "What are these coming to do?" And he said, "Here are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man raised his head any more; but these have come to terrify them: to cast down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah."


RESPONSORY          Zechariah 1:16; Revelations 21:23
I turn to Jerusalem in compassion;
- there my house shall be rebuilt.

The city had no need of the sun or the moon for light,
for its lamp was the Lamb.
- There my house shall be rebuilt.


SECOND READING

From an instruction by St. Columban, Abbot
(Instr. De compunctione, 12, 2-3; Opera, Dublin 1957, pp. 112-114)

Light everlasting in the temple of the eternal high priest

How blessed, how fortunate, are those servants whom the Lord will find watchful when he comes. Blessed is the time of waiting when we stay awake for the Lord, the Creator of the universe, who fills all things and transcends all things.

How I wish he would awaken me, his humble servant, from the sleep of slothfulness, even though I am of little worth. How I wish he would enkindle me with that fire of divine love. The flames of his love burn beyond the stars; the longing for his overwhelming delights and the divine fire ever burn within me!

How I wish I might deserve to have my lantern always burning at night in the temple of my Lord, to give light to all who enter the house of my God. Give me, I pray you, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and my God, that love that does not fail so that my lantern, burning within me and giving light to others, may be always lighted and never extinguished.

Jesus, our most loving Savior, be pleased to light our lanterns, so that they might burn for ever in your temple, receiving eternal light from you, the eternal light, to lighten our darkness and to ward off from us the darkness of the world.

Give your light to my lantern, I beg you, my Jesus, so that by its light I may see that holy of holies which receives you as the eternal priest entering among the columns of your great temple. May I ever see you only, look on you, long for you; may I gaze with love on you alone, and have my lantern shining and burning always in your presence.

Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. So may your love pervade our whole being, possess us completely, and fill all our senses, that we may know no other love but love for you who are everlasting. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land and sea cannot extinguish it in us: many waters could not extinguish love.

May this saying be fulfilled in us also, at least in part by your gift, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


RESPONSORY          Isaiah 60:19-20
The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor shall the brightness of the moon shine on you at night.
- The Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and your God shall be your glory.

Your sun shall never set,
nor shall your moon withdraw.
- The Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and your God shall be your glory.


COLLECT
May your grace, O Lord, we pray,
at all times go before us and follow after
and make us always determined
to carry out good works.
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.