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 give thanks to the Lord, for his great love is without end.

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

In ancient times God spoke to man
through prophets and in varied ways
But now he speaks through Christ his Son
His radiance through eternal days.

To God the Father of the world
His Son through whom he made all things,
and Holy Spirit, bond of love,
All glad creation glory sings.
Text: Stanbrook Abbey; Melody: Herr Jesu Christ


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: Rise up Lord, and come to my aid.

                  I
O Lord, plead my cause against my foes;
fight those who fight me.
Take up your buckler and shield;
arise to help me.
O Lord, say to my soul:
I am your salvation.

But my soul shall be joyful in the Lord
and rejoice in his salvation.
My whole being will say:
Lord, who is like you?

Lying witnesses arise
and accuse me unjustly.
They repay me evil for good;
my soul is forlorn. Glory...

Antiphon 1 Rise up Lord, and come to my aid.

Antiphon 2 All powerful Lord, stand by me and defend me.

                  II
When they were sick I went into mourning,
afflicted with fasting.
My prayer was ever on my lips,
as for a brother, a friend.
I went as though mourning a mother,
bowed down with grief.

Now that I am in trouble they gather,
they gather and mock me.
They take me by surprise and strike me
and tear me to pieces.
They provoke me with mockery on mockery
and gnash their teeth. Glory..

Antiphon 2 All powerful Lord, stand by me and defend me.


Antiphon 3 My tongue will speak of your goodness all the day long.

                   III
O Lord, how long will you look on?
Come to my rescue!
Save my life from these raging beasts,
my soul from these lions.
I will thank you in the great assembly,
amid the throng I will praise you.

Do not let my lying foes
rejoice over me.
Do not let those who hate me unjustly
wink eyes at each other.

O Lord, you have seen, do not be silent,
do not stand afar off!
Awake, stir to my defense,
to my cause, O God!

Let there be joy for those who love my cause.
Let them say without end:
Great is the Lord who delights
Then my tongue shall speak of your justice,
and all day long of your praise. Glory..

Antiphon 3 My tongue will speak of your goodness all the day long.


My son, take my words to heart.
- Do as I say and you will live.


FIRST READING

From the book of the prophet Baruch       1:14-2:5; 3:1-8

The prayer and confession of sin of a penitent people

Read out publicly this scroll which we send you, in the house of the Lord, on the feast day and during the days of assembly:

"Justice is with the Lord, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our fathers, have sinned in the Lord's sight and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God, nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.

"From the time the Lord led our fathers out of the land of Egypt until the present day, we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God, and only too ready to disregard his voice. And the evils and the curse which the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant, at the time he led our fathers forth from the land of Egypt to give us the land flowing with milk and honey, cling to us even today. For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us, but each one of us went off after the devices of our own wicked hearts, served other gods, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.
 
"And the Lord fulfilled the warning he had uttered against us: against our judges, who governed Israel, against our kings and princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah. He brought down upon us evils so great that there has not been done anywhere under heaven what has been done in Jerusalem, as was written in the law of Moses: that one after another of us should eat the flesh of his son or of his daughter. He has made us subject to all the kingdoms round about us, a reproach and a horror among all the nations round about to which the Lord has scattered us. We are brought low, not raised up, because we sinned against the Lord, our God, not heeding his voice.
 
"Lord Almighty, God of Israel, afflicted souls and dismayed spirits call to you. Hear, O Lord, for you are a God of mercy; and have mercy on us, who have sinned against you: for you are enthroned forever, while we are perishing forever. Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hear the prayer of Israel's few, the sons of those who sinned against you; they did not heed the voice of the Lord, their God, and the evils cling to us.

"Remember at this time not the misdeeds of our fathers, but your own hand and name: for you are the Lord our God; and you, O Lord, we will praise! For this, you put into our hearts the fear of you: that we may call upon your name, and praise you in our captivity, when we have removed from our hearts all the wickedness of our fathers who sinned against you. Behold us today in our captivity, where you scattered us, a reproach, a curse, and a requital for all the misdeeds of our fathers, who withdrew from the Lord, our God."


RESPONSORY          Ephesians 2:4-5; see Baruch 2:12
God is rich in mercy,
and because he loved us so much,
- even though we were dead in sin,
he brought us to life in Christ.

We have sinned, been ungodly,
and have broken all your commandments,
O Lord our God.
- Even though we were dead in sin,
he brought us to life in Christ.


SECOND READING

From a letter to Proba by Saint Augustine, bishop
(Ep. 130,14.27-15.28: CSEL 44,71-73)

The Spirit pleads for us

The person who asks for and seeks this one thing from the Lord makes his petition confidently and serenely. He has no fear that, when he receives it, it may harm him, for if this is absent, anything else he duly receives brings no benefit at all. This is the one, true and only life of happiness, that, immortal and incorruptible in body and spirit, we should contemplate the Lord's graciousness for ever. It is for the sake of this one thing that everything else is sought and without impropriety requested. The person who has this will have all that he wants; in heaven, he will be unable to want, because he will be unable to possess anything that is unfitting.

In heaven is the fountain of life, that we should now thirst for in prayer as long as we live in hope and do not yet see the object of our hope, under the protection of hiswings in whose presence is all our desire, so that we may drink our fill from the plenty of his house and be given drink from the running stream of his delights, for with him is the fountain of life, and in his light we shall see light, when our desire will be satisfied with good things, and there will be nothing to ask for with sighs but only what we possess with joy.

Yet, since this is that peace that surpasses all understanding, even when we ask for it in prayer we do not know how to pray for what is right. Certainly we do not know something if we cannot think of it as it really is; whatever comes to mind we reject, repudiate, find fault with; we know that this is not what we are seeking, even if we do not yet know what kind of thing it really is.

There is then within us a kind of instructed ignorance, instructed, that is, by the Spirit of God who helps our weakness. When the Apostle said: If we hope for something we do not see, we look forward to it with patience, he added, In the same way the Spirit helps our weakness; we do not know what it is right to pray for, but the Spirit himself pleads with sights too deep for words. He who searches hearts knows what the Spirit means, for he pleads for the saints according to God's will.

We must not understand by this that the Holy Spirit of God pleads for the saints as if he were someone different from what God is: in the Trinity the Spirit is the unchangeable God and one God with the Father and the Son. Scripture says: He pleads for the saints because he moves the saints to plead, just as it says: The Lord your God tests you, to know if you love him, in this sense, that he does it to enable you to know. So the Spirit moves the saints to plead with sighs too deep for words by inspiring in them a desire for the great and as yet unknown reality that we look forward to with patience. How can words express what we desire when it remains unknown? If we were entirely ignorant of it we would not desire it; again, we would not desire it or seek it with sighs, if we were able to see it.


RESPONSORY          Romans 8:26; Zechariah 12:10
We do not know how we should pray;
- the Spirit will plead on our behalf
with sighs too deep to express.

On that day, says the Lord,
I will pour out a spirit of compassion and prayer
on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
- the Spirit will plead on our behalf
with sighs too deep to express.


COLLECT
Almighty ever-living God,
grant that we may always conform our will to yours
and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
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.