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 sing joyful songs to the Lord.

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 God who reigns above,
the God of all creation,
the God of power, the God of love,
the God of our salvation;
with healing balm my soul he fills,
and every faithless murmur stills:
to God all praise and glory.

What God's almighty power hath made,
his gracious mercy keepeth;
by morning glow or evening shade
his watchful eye ne'er sleepeth.
Within the kingdom of his might,
lo! all is just and all is right:
to God all praise and glory.

Then all my gladsome way along
I sing aloud thy praises,
that men may hear the grateful song
my voice unwearied raises:
be joyful in the Lord, my heart!
Both soul and body bear your part!
To God all praise and glory.

O ye who name Christ's holy name
give God all praise and glory;
let all who know his power proclaim
aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from its throne,
the Lord is God, and he alone:
to God all praise and glory.
Text: Johann J. Schutz; Melody: Mit Freuden Zart 87.87.887


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: How good is the God of Israel to the pure of heart!

                I
How good God is to Israel,
to those who are pure of heart.
Yet my feet came close to stumbling,
my steps had almost slipped
for I was filled with envy of the proud
when I saw how the wicked prosper.

For them there are no pains;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They do not share in men's sorrows;
they are not stricken like others.

So they wear their pride like a necklace,
they clothe themselves with violence.
Their hearts overflow with malice,
their minds seethe with plots.

They scoff; they speak with malice;
from on high they plan oppression.
They have set their mouths in the heavens
and their tongues dictate to the earth.

So the people turn to follow them
and drink in all their words.
They say: How can God know?
Does the Most High take any notice?"
Look at them, such are the wicked,
but untroubled, they grow in wealth.  Glory...

Antiphon 1 How good is the God of Israel to the pure of heart!


Antiphon 2 Their laughter will turn to weeping, their merriment to grief.

 
                    II
How useless to keep my heart pure
and wash my hands in innocence,
when I was stricken all day long,
suffered punishment day after day.

Then I said: If I should speak like that,
I should betray the race of your sons."

I strove to fathom this problem,
too hard for my mind to understand,
until I pierced the mysteries of God
and understood what becomes of the wicked.

How slippery the paths on which you set them;
you make them slide to destruction.
How suddenly they come to their ruin,
wiped out, destroyed by terrors.
Like a dream one wakes from, O Lord,
when you wake you dismiss them as phantoms.  Glory...

Antiphon 2 Their laughter will turn to weeping, their merriment to grief.


Antiphon 3 Those who depart from you will perish; my joy is to remain with you, my God.

                          III
And so when my heart grew embittered
and when I was cut to the quick,
I was stupid and did not understand,
no better than a beast in your sight.

Yet I was always in your presence;
you were holding me by my right hand.
You will guide me by your counsel
and so you will lead me to glory.

What else have I in heaven but you?
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.
My body and my heart faint for joy;
God is my possession for ever.

All those who abandon you shall perish;
you will destroy all those who are faithless.
To be near God is my happiness.
I have made the Lord God my refuge.
I will tell of your works
at the gates of the city of Zion.  Glory...

"The mystery about which the king has inquired, the wise men, enchanters, magicians, and astrologers could not explain to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what is to happen in days to come; this was the dream you saw as you lay in bed.

"To you in your bed there came thoughts about what should happen in the future, and he who reveals mysteries showed you what is to be. To me also this mystery has been revealed; not that I am wiser than any other living person, but in order that its meaning may be made known to the king, that you may understand the thoughts in your own mind.

"In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you. The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron, its feet partly iron and partly tile.

"While you looked at the statue, a stone which was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces. The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

"This was the dream; the interpretation we shall also give in the king's presence. You, O king, are the king of kings; to you the God of heaven has given dominion and strength, power and glory; men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell, he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all; you are the head of gold. Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours, then a third kingdom, of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others, just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.

"The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter's tile and partly of iron, mean that it shall be a divided kingdom, but yet have some of the hardness of iron. As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile, and the toes partly iron and partly tile, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. The iron mixed with clay tile means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage, but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

"In the lifetime of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever. That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain without a hand being put to it, which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold. The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future; this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure."

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell down and worshiped Daniel and ordered sacrifice and incense offered to him. To Daniel the king said, "Truly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries; that is why you were able to reveal this mystery."


RESPONSORY          Daniel 2:44; see Luke 20:17, 18
The God of heaven shall establish a kingdom
which will never be destroyed;
it will overwhelm and absorb all the kingdoms of the earth,
- and God's kingdom shall stand for ever.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the keystone of the building.
If this stone should fall on anyone,
it will crush him.
- And God's kingdom shall stand for ever.


SECOND READING

From a homily written in the second century
(Cap. 3:1-4, 5:7,1-6: Funk 1, 149-152)

Let us confess our faith in God by deeds

Great is the mercy that Jesus Christ has shown us. The first benefit that we owe to his mercy is that we who are living do not sacrifice to dead gods or worship them, but have, through Christ, attained a knowledge of the Father. What else is knowledge of the Father but the recognition of his through whom this knowledge comes to us? He himself declares: Everyone who acknowledges me, I in my turn will acknowledge in the presence of the Father. This then will be our reward if we acknowledge him through whom we have been saved. But how shall we show that we acknowledge him? By doing what he says, by not disobeying his commands, and by honoring him not only with our lips but with our whole heart and our whole mind. For he says in Isaiah: This people pays me lip service, but its heart is far from me.

Let us not only call him Lord, for that will not save us. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will be saved, he warns, but only the man who does what is right. So then, brothers, let us show our faith in him by our deeds, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, by not finding fault with one another, or being envious. Instead, let us be chaste, merciful and kind. We should also have compassion for one another, and not be covetous. We have to prove that we believe in him by performing such actions as these and by avoiding whatever is contrary to them, since we fear God rather than men. Should we fail to do so, we have the Lord’s warning: If you do not keep my commandments, even though I had pressed you to my heart, I will thrust you away from me and say to you: Out of my sight, you whose deeds are evil; you are complete strangers to me.

Therefore, my brothers, let us enter the lists in the knowledge that the contest is imminent. Many men travel far to contend for a crown that soon fades, yet not all of them win, but only those who have strained every nerve and completed fairly. Let us so contend that we may all be crowned. Let us run a straight course in the race of the Christian life, setting out in great numbers to take part in it, and then striving for the crown with all our might. Even if we are not all able to win, at least let us draw near to victory.

Now we must surely know that even when the contest is for a wreath that lasts but a day, if anyone is found to be breaking the rules, he is flogged and driven off the racecourse. What do you suppose, then, will be the fate of the man who breaks the rules in the contest of the Christian life? Of those who have not kept the seal of their baptism unbroken Scripture says: The worm does not die and the fire is never extinguished. They will be a spectacle to all men.


RESPONSORY          1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 1 John 2:28
You have turned away from idolatry
to serve the living and true God,
and now you await the coming of his Son from heaven,
the one whom he raised from the dead:
- Jesus, our deliverer from the wrath that is to come.

Now, my children, live in him
so that when he appears
you may be fully confident
and not turn away from him in shame at his coming.
- Jesus, our deliverer from the wrath that is to come.


COLLECT
Almighty and merciful God,
graciously keep from us all adversity,
so that, unhindered in mind and body alike,
we may pursue in freedom of heart
the things that are yours.
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.