Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
December 8
______
Lord open our lips
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One
Have mercy on us (3x)

Opening Sentence:
Now the Lord speaks, who created you, Jacob, who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine.’ - Isaiah 43:1

Troparia:
Today the bonds of barrenness are loosed;/ for God listened to Joachim and Anna./ He promised them - although it was beyond hope -/ that they should bear a divine child./ From this child was born incarnate the Infinite God,/ Who told the Angel to cry to her:/ Rejoice, full of grace; the Lord is with thee.

Antiphon: Come, let us celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord.

Venite (Psalm 95:1-7)

Come let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

Antiphon: Come, let us celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; let us worship her Son, Christ the Lord.

The Psalms

Antiphon: O Mother, how pure you are, you are untouched by sin; yours was the privilege to carry God within you.

Psalm 63:2-9

¹ O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
my soul thirsts for you,
² My flesh also faints for you, *
as in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
³ So would I gaze upon you in your holy place, *
that I might behold your power and your glory.
⁴ Your loving-kindness is better than life itself *
and so my lips shall praise you.
⁵ I will bless you as long as I live *
and lift up my hands in your name.
⁶ My soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, *
and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
⁷ When I remember you upon my bed *
and meditate on you in the watches of the night.
⁸ For you have been my helper *
and under the shadow of your wings will I rejoice.
⁹ My soul clings to you; *
your right hand shall hold me fast.

Antiphon: O Mother, how pure you are, you are untouched by sin; yours was the privilege to carry God within you.

Antiphon: Sinless Virgin, let us follow joyfully in your footsteps; draw us after you in the fragrance of your holiness.

Psalm 149

Sing a new song to the Lord, *
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its maker, *
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing *
and make music with timbrel and harp.

For the Lord takes delight in his people. *
He crowns the poor with salvation.
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, *
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips *
and a two-edged sword in their hand,

to deal out vengeance to the nations *
and punishment on all the peoples;
to bind their kings in chains *
and their nobles in fetters of iron;
to carry out the sentence pre-ordained; *
this honor is for all his faithful.

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.

Antiphon: Sinless Virgin, let us follow joyfully in your footsteps; draw us after you in the fragrance of your holiness.
Amen.

First Reading

Zechariah 2:1-5

I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then I asked, "Where are you going?" He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him, and said to him, "Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and animals in it. For I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the LORD, and I will be the glory within it."

Canticle
Antiphon: The Lord God Most High has blessed you, Virgin Mary, above all the women of the earth.

Canticle – Daniel 3:57-88, 56

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord. *
You heavens, bless the Lord.
All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord. *
All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord. *
Stars of heaven, bless the Lord.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord. *
All you winds, bless the Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the Lord. *
Cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord. *
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord. *
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord. *
Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.

Let the earth bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Mountains and hills, bless the Lord. *
Everything growing from the earth, bless the Lord.
You springs, bless the Lord. *

Seas and rivers, bless the Lord.
You dolphins and all water creatures, bless the Lord. *
All you birds of the air, bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord. *
You sons of men, bless the Lord.

O Israel, bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.
Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord. *
Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord. *
Holy men of humble heart, bless the Lord.
Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord. *
Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. *
Let us praise and exalt him above all forever.
Blessed are you, Lord, in the firmament of heaven. *
Praiseworthy and glorious and exalted above all forever.

Antiphon: The Lord God Most High has blessed you, Virgin Mary, above all the women of the earth.

Second Reading

1 John 3:1-10

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.

Second Canticle
Benedictus

Antiphon: The Lord God said to the serpent: I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring; she will crush your head, alleluia.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies, *
from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

Free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

To give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Antiphon:The Lord God said to the serpent: I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring; she will crush your head, alleluia.

Responsory

The God of power has given me his strength.
- The God of power has given me his strength.
He has kept me in the way of holiness.
- And has given me his strength.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
-The God of power has given me his strength.

Collect
Father, you prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy mother of your Son. You let her share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by his death, and kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Help us by her prayers to live in your presence without sin.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Kontakion:
Today creation celebrates Anna's conception which was effected by God./ For she conceived the Maiden who conceived the Word/ Who is beyond all words. Intercessions

Let us glorify our Savior, who chose the Virgin Mary for his mother. Let us ask him:
(R.) May your mother intercede for us, Lord.

Sun of Justice, the immaculate Virgin was the white dawn announcing your rising,
- grant that we may always live in the light of your coming. (R.)

Savior of the world, by your redeeming might you preserved your mother beforehand from all stain of sin,
- keep watch over us, lest we sin.(R.)

You are our redeemer, who made the Immaculate Virgin Mary your purest home and the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit,
- make us temples of your Spirit for ever. (R.)

King of kings, you lifted up your mother, body and soul, into heaven;
-help us to fix our thoughts on things above.(R.)

Our Father…

Closing Prayer:
God, by her Immaculate Conception you made the Virgin a fit habitation for your Son. You preserved her from the stain of the Fall by the merits of your Son's future death: through her intercession, make us pure and permit us to come to you at last.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

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