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 our mighty King and 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

Lord, your word abiding
And our footsteps guiding
Gives us joy forever
Shall desert us never.

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: The Lord is just, he will defend the poor.

                    I
Lord, why do you stand afar off
and hide yourself in times of distress?
The poor man is devoured by the pride of the wicked:
he is caught in the schemes that others have made.

For the wicked man boasts of his heart's desires;
the covetous blasphemes and spurns the Lord.
In his pride the wicked says: "He will not punish.
There is no God." Such are his thoughts.

His path is ever untroubled;
your judgment is far from his mind.
His enemies he regards with contempt.
He thinks: "Never shall I falter:
misfortune shall never be my lot."

His mouth is full of cursing, guile, oppression;
mischief and deceit are under his tongue.
He lies in wait among the reeds;
the innocent he murders in secret.

His eyes are on the watch for the helpless man.
He lurks in hiding like a lion in his lair;
he lurks in hiding to seize the poor;
he seizes the poor man and drags him away.

He crouches, preparing to spring,
and the helpless fall beneath such strength.
He thinks in his heart: "God forgets,
he hides his face, he does not see."

Antiphon 1 The Lord is just, he will defend the poor.

Antiphon 2 Lord, you know the burden of my sorrow.

                     II

Arise then, Lord, lift up your hand!
O God, do not forget the poor!
Why should the wicked spurn the Lord
and think in his heart: "God will not punish"?

But you have seen the trouble and sorrow,
you note it, you take it in hand.
The helpless trusts himself to you;
for you are the helper of the orphan.

Break the power of the wicked and the sinner!
Punish their wickedness till nothing remains!
The Lord is king for ever and ever.
The heathen shall perish from the land he rules.

Lord, you hear the prayer of the poor;
you strengthen their hearts; you turn your ear
to protect the rights of the orphan and oppressed:
so that mortal man may strike terror no more. Glory...

Antiphon 2 Lord, you know the burden of my sorrow.


Antiphon 3 The words of the Lord are true, like silver from the furnace.

May the Lord destroy all lying lips,
the tongue that speaks high-sounding words,
those who say: "Our tongue is our strength;
our lips are our own, who is our master?"

"For the poor who are oppressed and the needy who groan
I myself will arise," says the Lord,
"I will grant them the salvation for which they thirst."

The words of the Lord are words without alloy,
silver from the furnace, seven times refined.

It is you, O Lord, who will take us in your care
and protect us for ever from this generation.
See how the wicked prowl on every side,
while the worthless are prized highly by the sons of men. Glory....

Antiphon 3 The words of the Lord are true, like silver from the furnace.


The Lord teaches the humble His way
- He guides the gentle hearted along the right path.


FIRST READING

From the book of the prophet Zechariah       9:1-10:2

Salvation is promised to Zion

    An oracle:
The word of the Lord is upon the land of Hadrach,
  and Damascus is its resting place,
For the cities of Aram are the Lord's,
  as are all the tribes of Israel,
Hamath also, on its border,
  Tyre too, and Sidon, however wise they be.
Tyre built herself a stronghold,
  and heaped up silver like dust,
  and gold like the mire of the streets.
Lo, the Lord will strip her of her possessions,
  and smite her power on the sea,
  and she shall be devoured by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid;
  Gaza also: she shall be in great anguish;
  Ekron, too, for her hope shall come to nought.
The king shall disappear from Gaza,
  and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited,
  and the baseborn shall occupy Ashdod.
I will destroy the pride of the Philistine
  and take from his mouth his bloody meat,
  and his abominations from between his teeth:
He also shall become a remnant for our God,
  and shall be like a family in Judah,
  and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
I will encamp by my house as a guard
  that none may pass to and fro;
No oppressor shall pass over them again,
  for now I have regard for their affliction.

Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
  shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
  a just savior is he,
Meek, and riding on an ass,
  on a colt, the foal of an ass.
He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,
  and the horse from Jerusalem;
The warrior's bow shall be banished,
  and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea,
  and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you, for the blood of your covenant with me,
  I will bring forth your prisoners from the dungeon.
In the return to the fortress
  of the waiting prisoners,
This very day, I will return you
  double for your exile.
For I will bend Judah as my bow,
  I will arm myself with Ephraim;
I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
  against your sons, O Yavan,
  and I will use you as a warrior's sword.
The Lord shall appear over them,
  and his arrow shall shoot forth as lightning;
The Lord God shall sound the trumpet,
  and come in a storm from the south.

The Lord of hosts shall be a shield over them,
  they shall overcome sling stones
  and trample them underfoot;
They shall drink blood like wine,
  till they are filled with it like libation bowls,
  like the corners of the altar.
And the Lord, their God, shall save them on that day,
  his people, like a flock.
For they are the jewels in a crown
  raised aloft over his land.
For what wealth is theirs, and what beauty!
  grain that makes the youths flourish,
  and new wine, the maidens!

Ask of the Lord rain in the spring season!
  It is the Lord who makes storm clouds.
And sends men the pouring rain;
  for everyone, grassy fields.
For the teraphim speak nonsense,
  the diviners have false visions:
Deceitful dreams they tell,
  empty comfort they offer.
This is why they wander like sheep,
  wretched: they have no shepherd.


RESPONSORY          Zechariah 9:9; John 12:14
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem.
- Look now, your king, the just one who will save you, is coming;
he is lowly and seated on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus found a donkey and mounted it,
as Scripture says:
- Look now, your king, the just one who will save you, is coming;
he is lowly and seated on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.


SECOND READING

From a discourse by Saint Andrew of Crete, bishop
(Orat. 9, in ramos palmarum: PG 97, 1002)

Behold, your king is coming to you, the Holy One, the Savior

Let us say to Christ: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Let us wave before him like palm branches the words inscribed above him on the cross. Let us show him honor, not with olive branches but with the splendor of merciful deeds to one another. Let us spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that entering with the whole of his being, he may draw the whole of our being into himself and place the whole of his in us. Let us say to Zion in the words of the prophet: Have courage, daughter of Zion, do not be afraid. Behold, your king comes to you, humble and mounted on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

He is coming who is everywhere present and pervades all things; he is coming to achieve in you his work of universal salvation. He is coming who came to call to repentance not the righteous but sinners, coming to recall those who have strayed into sin. Do not be afraid then: God is in the midst of you, and you shall not be shaken.

Receive him with open, outstretched hands, for it was on his own hands that he sketched you. Receive him who laid your foundations on he palms of his hands. Receive him who laid your foundations on the palms of his hands. Receive him, for he took upon himself all that belongs to us except sin, to consume what is ours in what is his. Be glad, city of Zion, our mother, and fear not. Celebrate your feasts. Glorify him for his mercy, who has come to us in you. Rejoice exceedingly, daughter of Jerusalem, sing and leap for joy. Be enlightened, be enlightened, we cry to you, as holy Isaiah trumpeted, for the light has come to you and the glory of the Lord has risen over you.

What kind of light is this? It is that which enlightens every man coming into the world. It is the everlasting light, the timeless light revealed in time, the light manifested in the flesh although hidden by nature, the light that shone round the shepherds and guided the Magi. It is the light that was in the world from the beginning, through which the world was made, yet the world did not know it. It is that light which came to its own, and its own people did not receive it.

And what is this glory of the Lord? Clearly it is the cross on which Christ was glorified, he, the radiance of the Father’s glory, even as he said when he faced his passion: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him, and will glorify him at once. The Glory of which he speaks here is his lifting up on the cross, for Christ’s glory is his cross and his exaltation upon it, as he plainly says: When I have been lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.


RESPONSORY          Psalm 118: 26, 27, 23
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
- The Lord our God has let his light shine upon us.

The Lord has done this,
and it is wonderful to our eyes.
- The Lord our God has let his light shine upon us.


COLLECT
Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God,
the constant gladness of being devoted to you,
for it is full and lasting happiness
to serve with constancy
the author of all that is good.
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.