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, for he is our 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

Eternal Father, through your Word
You gave new life to Adam's race,
Transformed them into sons of light,
New creatures by your saving grace.

To you who stooped to sinful man
We render homage and all praise:
To Father, Son and Spirit blest
Whose gift to man is endless days.
Text: Stanbrook Abbey; Melody Erhalt uns, Herr L.M.; Midi: Cyberhymnal.


PSALMODY

Antiphon 1: The word of the Lord is a strong shield for all who put their trust in him.

               I
As for God, his ways are perfect;
the word of the Lord, purest gold.
He indeed is the shield
of all who make him their refuge.

For who is God but the Lord?
Who is a rock but our God?
the God who girds me with strength
and makes the path safe before me.

My feet you make swift as the deer's;
you have made me stand firm on the heights.
You have trained my hands for battle
and my hands to bend the heavy bow. Glory...

Antiphon 1 The word of the Lord is a strong shield for all who put their trust in him.


Antiphon 2 Your strong right hand has upheld me, Lord.

             II
You gave me your saving shield;
you upheld me, trained me with care.
You gave me freedom for my steps;
my feet have never slipped.

I pursued and overtook my foes,
never turning back till they were slain.
I smote them so they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.

You girded me with strength for battle;
you made my enemies fall beneath me,
you made my foes take flight;
those who hated me I destroyed.

They cried, but there was no one to save them;
they cried to the Lord, but in vain.
I crushed them fine as dust before the wind;
trod them down like dirt in the streets.

You saved me from the feuds of the people
and put me at the head of the nations.
People unknown to me served me:
when they heard of me they obeyed me.

Foreign nations came to me cringing:
foreign nations faded away.
They came trembling out of their strongholds. Glory...

Antiphon 2 Your strong right hand has upheld me, Lord.


Antiphon 3 May the living God, my Savior, be praised for ever.

              III
Long life to the Lord, my rock!
Praised be the God who saves me,
the God who gives me redress
and subdues people under me.

You saved me from my furious foes.
You set me above my assailants.
You saved me from violent men,
so I will praise you, Lord, among the nations:
I will sing a psalm to your name.

He has given great victories to his king
and shown his love for his anointed,
for David and his sons for ever. Glory...

Psalm Prayer: Lord God, our strength and salvation, put in us the flame of your love and make our love for you grow to a perfect love which reaches to our neighbor.

Antiphon 3 May the living God, my Savior, be praised for ever.


Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see
- the wonders of your law.


FIRST READING

From the book of Job       38:1-30

God confounds Job

Then the Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:

Who is this that obscures divine plans
  with words of ignorance?
Gird up your loins now, like a man;
  I will question you, and you tell me the answers!

Where were you when I founded the earth?
  Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its size; do you know?
  Who stretched out the measuring line for it?
Into what were its pedestals sunk,
  and who laid the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus
  and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

And who shut within doors the sea,
  when it burst forth from the womb;
When I made the clouds its garment
  and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
When I set limits for it
  and fastened the bar of its door,
And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther,
  and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning
  and shown the dawn its place
For taking hold of the ends of the earth,
  till the wicked are shaken from its surface?
The earth is changed as is clay by the seal,
  and dyed as though it were a garment;
But from the wicked the light is withheld,
  and the arm of pride is shattered.

Have you entered into the sources of the sea,
  or walked about in the depths of the abyss?
Have the gates of death been shown to you,
  or have you seen the gates of darkness?

Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
  Tell me, if you know all:
Which is the way to the dwelling place of light,
  and where is the abode of darkness,
That you may take them to their boundaries
  and set them on their homeward paths?
You know, because you were born before them,
  and the number of your years is great!

Have you entered the storehouse of the snow,
  and seen the treasury of the hail
Which I have reserved for times of stress,
  for the days of war and of battle?
Which way to the parting of the winds,
  whence the east wind spreads over the earth?

Who has laid out a channel for the downpour
  and for the thunderstorm a path
To bring rain to no man's land,
  the unpeopled wilderness;
To enrich the waste and desolate ground
  till the desert blooms with verdure?

Has the rain a father;
  or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Out of whose womb comes the ice,
  and who gives the hoarfrost its birth in the skies,
When the waters lie covered as though with stone
  that holds captive the surface of the deep?

Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer what I ask.
 - The pot has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make this shape?


SECOND READING

The Moral Reflections on Job by Saint Gregory the Great, Pope
(Lib. 29,2-4: PL 76, 478-480)

The Church moves forward like the advancing dawn

Since the daybreak or the dawn is changed gradually from darkness into light, the Church, which comprises the elect, is fittingly styled daybreak or dawn. While she is being led from the night of infidelity to the light of faith, she is opened gradually to the splendor of heavenly brightness, just as dawn yields to the day after darkness. The Song of Songs says aptly: Who is this who moves forward like the advancing dawn? Holy Church, inasmuch as she keeps searching for the rewards of eternal life, has been called the dawn. While she turns her back on the darkness of sins, she begins to shine with the light of righteousness.

This reference to the dawn conjures up a still more subtle consideration. The dawn intimates that the night is over; it does not yet proclaim the full light of day. While it dispels the darkness and welcomes the light, it holds both of them, the one mixed with the other, as it were. Are not all of us who follow the truth in this life daybreak and dawn? While we do some things which already belong to the light, we are not free from the remnants of darkness. In Scripture the Prophet says to God: No living being will be justified in your sight. Scripture also says: In many ways all of us give offense.

When he writes, the night is passed. Paul does not add, the day is come, but rather, the day is at hand. Since he argues that after the night has passed, the day as yet is not come but is rather at hand, he shows that the period before full daylight and after darkness is without doubt the dawn, and that he himself is living in that period.

It will be fully day for the Church of the elect when she is no longer darkened by the shadow of sin. It will be fully day for her when she shines with the perfect brilliance of interior light. This dawn is aptly shown to be an ongoing process when Scripture says: And you showed the dawn its place. A thing which is shown its place is certainly called from one place to another. What is the place of the dawn but the perfect clearness of eternal vision? When the dawn has been brought there, it will retain nothing belonging to the darkness of night. When the Psalmist writes: My soul thirsts for the living God; when shall I go and see the face of God?, does he not refer to the effort made by the dawn to reach its place? Paul was hastening to the place which he knew the dawn would reach when he said he wished to die and to be with Christ. He expressed the same idea when he said: For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.


RESPONSORY          
Whenever I think of you, I give thanks to God.
 - I am confident that he who has begun the good work in you
will bring it to fulfillment on the day of Christ Jesus.

My prayer is that your love may grow more and more
in both knowledge and insight.
 - I am confident that he who has begun the good work in you
will bring it to fulfillment on the day of Christ Jesus.


COLLECT
O God, whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech you,
all that might harm us
and grant all that works for our 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.