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 God who holds the world and its wonders in his creating hand.

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

Lord Jesus, once you spoke to men
Upon the mountain, in the plain;
O help us listen now as then,
And wonder at your words again.

We all have secret fears to face,
Our minds and motives to amend;
We seek your truth, we need your grace.
Our living Lord and present Friend.

The Gospel speaks, and we receive
Your light, your love, your own command.
O help us live what we believe
In daily work of heart and hand.
Text: H.C.A. Gaunt; Melody: Winchester


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: Whoever humbles himself, like a little child, will be greater in the kingdom of heaven.

O Lord, my heart is not proud
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great
nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul
in silence and peace.
A weaned child on its mother's breast,
even so is my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
both now and forever. Glory...

Antiphon 1 Whoever humbles himself, like a little child, will be greater in the kingdom of heaven.

Antiphon 2 With simplicity of heart, I have joyfully offered everything to you, my God.

                    I
O Lord, remember David
and all the many hardships he endured,
the oath he swore to the Lord,
his vow to the Strong One of Jacob.

I will not enter the house where I live
nor go the bed where I rest.
I will give no sleep to my eyes,
to my eyelids I will give no slumber
till I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Strong One of Jacob."

At Ephrata we heard of the ark;
we found it in the plains of Yearim.
Let us go to the place of his dwelling;
let us go to kneel at his footstool."

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest,
you and the ark of your strength.
Your priests shall be clothed with holiness;
your faithful shall ring out their joy.
For the sake of David your servant
do not reject your anointed.

Antiphon 2 With simplicity of heart, I have joyfully offered everything to you, my God.


Antiphon 3 The Lord has sworn an oath to David; his kingdom will stand for ever.

                 II
The Lord swore an oath to David;
he will not go back on this word:
"A son, the fruit of your body,
will I set upon your throne.

If they keep my covenant in truth
and my laws that I have taught them,
their sons too shall rule
on your throne from age to age."

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling:
This is my resting-place for ever;
here have I chosen to live.

I will greatly bless her produce,
I will fill her poor with bread.
I will clothe her priests with salvation
and her faithful shall ring out their joy.

There David's stock will flower;
I will prepare a lamp for my anointed.
I will cover his enemies with shame
but on him my crown shall shine." Glory...

Learn where prudence is,
  where strength, where understanding;
That you may know also
  where are length of days, and life,
  where light of the eyes, and peace.
Who has found the place of wisdom,
  who has entered into her treasuries?

O Israel, how vast is the house of God,
  how broad the scope of his dominion:
Vast and endless,
  high and immeasurable!
In it were born the giants,
  renowned at the first,
  stalwarts, skilled in war.
Not these did God choose,
  nor did he give them the way of understanding;
They perished for lack of prudence,
  perished through their folly.

Who has gone up to the heavens and taken her,
  or brought her down from the clouds?
Who has crossed the sea and found her,
  bearing her away rather than choice gold?
None knows the way to her,
  nor has any understood her paths.

Yet he who knows all things knows her;
  he has probed her by his knowledge--
He who established the earth for all time,
  and filled it with four-footed beasts;
He who dismisses the light, and it departs,
  calls it, and it obeys him trembling;
Before whom the stars at their posts
  shine and rejoice;
When he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!"
  shining with joy for their Maker.

Such is our God;
  no other is to be compared to him:
He has traced out all the way of understanding,
  and has given her to Jacob, his servant,
  to Israel, his beloved son.
Since then she has appeared on earth,
  and moved among men.

She is the book of the precepts of God,
  the law that endures forever;
All who cling to her will live,
  but those will die who forsake her.
Turn, O Jacob, and receive her:
  walk by her light toward splendor.
Give not your glory to another,
  your privileges to an alien race.
Blessed are we, O Israel;
  for what pleases God is known to us!


RESPONSORY          Romans 11:33; Baruch 3:32,37
How deep are the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
- How unsearchable his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

The one who knows all things knows wisdom
and has given her to Jacob, his servant.
- How unsearchable his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!


SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop
(Sermo 117: PL. 52, 520-521)

The Word, the Wisdom of God was made flesh

The holy Apostle has told us that the human race takes its origin from two men, Adam and Christ; two men equal in body but unequal in merit, wholly alike in their physical structure but totally unlike in the very origin of their being. The first man, Adam, he says, became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving Spirit.

The first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also received his soul, to give him life. The last Adam was formed by his own action; he did not have to wait for life to be given him by someone else, but was the only one who could give life to all. The first Adam was formed from valueless clay, the second Adam came forth from the precious womb of the Virgin. In the case of the first Adam, earth was changed into flesh; in the case of the second Adam, flesh was raised up to be God.

What more need be said? The second Adam stamped his image on the first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role, and the name, of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he had made in his own image. The first Adam, the last Adam; the first had a beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as he himself says: I am the first and the last.

I am the first, that is, I have no beginning. I am the last, that is, I have no end. But what was spiritual, says the Apostle, did not come first, what was living came first, then what is spiritual. The earth comes before its fruit, but the earth is not so valuable as its fruit. The earth exacts pain and toil; its fruit bestows subsistence and life. The prophet rightly boasted of this fruit: Our earth has yielded its fruit. What is this fruit? The fruit referred to in another place: I will place upon your throne one who is the fruit of your body. The first man, says the Apostle, was made from the earth and belongs to the earth; the second man is from heaven, and belongs to heaven.

The man made from the earth is the pattern of those who belong to the earth; the man from heaven is the pattern of those who belong to heaven. How is it that these last, though they do not belong to heaven by birth, will yet belong to heaven, men who do not remain what they were by birth but persevere in being what they have become by rebirth? The reason is, brethren, that the heavenly Spirit, by the mysterious infusion of his light, gives fertility to the womb of the virginal font. The Spirit brings forth as men belonging to heaven those whose earthly ancestry brought them forth as men belonging to the earth, and in a condition of wretchedness; he gives them the likeness of their Creator. Now that we are reborn, refashioned in the image of our Creator, we must fulfill what the Apostle commands: So, as we have worn the likeness of the man of earth, let us also wear the likeness of the man of heaven.

Now that we are reborn, as I have said, in the likeness of our Lord, and have indeed been adopted by God as his children, let us put on the complete image of our Creator so as to be wholly like him, not in the glory that he alone possesses, but in innocence, simplicity, gentleness, patience, humility, mercy, harmony, those qualities in which he chose to become, and to be, one with us.


RESPONSORY          Romans 5:18,12
Just as one man's offense brought condemnation on all men,
- so one just act brought all men acquittal and life.

Just as sin entered the world through one man
and through sin death.
- So one just act brought all men acquittal and life.


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.