ST. MATTTHIAS
Apostle
Evening Prayer
Lord, open my lips.
- And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy on us
Gk. Hagios Theos, hagios ischyros, hagios athanatos,
Eleison imas
Latin. Sanctus Deus, sanctus fortis, sanctus et immortalis
Miserere nobis.
Antiphon: Christ, the cornerstone, has built his church upon apostles and prophets; Come let us adore him.
I give you a new commandment: † Love one another;
as I have love you, so you are to love one another
There is no † greater love than this:
to lay down your life for your friends.
Whoever acknowledges † me before men
I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
Happy are those † who have suffered persecution for a right cause:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You will be hated † for your allegiance to me,
but whoever holds out to the end will be saved.
Antiphon: Christ, the cornerstone, has built his church upon apostles and prophets; Come let us adore him.
HYMN
Except in Eastertide:
Their faith in Christ the Lord prevailed;
their hope, a light that never failed;
their love ablaze o'er pathways trod
To lead them to the eternal God.
In them the Father's glory shone,
in them the will of God the Son,
in them exults the Holy Ghost,
through them rejoice the heav'enly host.
To thee, Redeemer, now we cry,
that thou wouldst join to them on high
thy servants, who this grace implore,
for ever and for evermore.
Melody: King's Majesty L.M. Music: Graham George, 1941 Text: Saint Ambrose, d. 397 Translator: J.M. Neale, d. 1866
In Eastertide:
Th'apostles gathered Easter night
behind the doors they locked in fright;
yet in their midst the Lord appeared
by "Peace" to banish all they feared.
He showed his wounded hands and side,
which to him truly testified;
and food consumed, to demonstrate
his real and risen human state.
Th'apostles then, with hearts set free
from terror and perplexity,
learned how the Scriptures were fulfilled
when Christ's redeeming blood was spilled.
To you, O Christ, our risen Lord,
due praise your people now accord;
and to the Father tribute bring,
as by the Spirit here we sing. Amen.
Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in roles of service for the faithful to build up the body of Christ, till we become one in faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, and form that perfect man who is Christ come to full stature. - Ephesians 4:13
PSALMODY
Antiphon: There is no greater love than this: / to lay down your life for your friends.
Exultate, justi
Psalm 33
it is good for the just to sing praises.
play to him upon the psaltery and lyre.
sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.
and all his works are sure.
the loving-kindness of the LORD fills the whole earth.
by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts.
and stores up the depths of the sea.
let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.
he commanded, and it stood fast.
he thwarts the designs of the peoples.
and the designs of his heart from age to age.
happy the people he has chosen to be his own!
and beholds all the people in the world.
on all who dwell on the earth.
and understands all their works.
a strong man is not delivered by his great strength.
for all its strength it cannot save.
on those who wait upon his love,
and to feed them in time of famine.
he is our help and our shield.
for in his holy Name we put our trust.
as we have put our trust in you.
Antiphon:There is no greater love than this: / to lay down your life for your friends.
FIRST READING 1 Samuel 12:1-5
Samuel said to all Israel, ‘I have listened to you in all that you have said to me, and have set a king over you. See, it is the king who leads you now; I am old and grey, but my sons are with you. I have led you from my youth until this day. Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you.’ They said, ‘You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from the hand of anyone.’ He said to them, ‘The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.’ And they said, ‘He is witness.’
SECOND READING Acts 20:17-35
From Miletus Paul sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. When they came to him, he said to them:
‘You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus. And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.
‘And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again. Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” ’
RESPONSORY
Apolytikion in the Third Tone
O Holy Apostle Matthias,
intercede to our merciful God,
that He may grant our souls forgiveness of sins.
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Truly, into all the world thy sound hath gone forth as a brightly-beaming sun;
and it enlighteneth by grace the Church of all nations on the earth,
O wonderworking Matthias, Apostle of Christ.
MAGNIFICAT (Canticle of Mary)
Antiphon: Happy are the peacemakers, † happy are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
INTERCESSIONS
Through the intercession of St Matthias, let us pray:
Be mindful of your Church, O Lord.
You chose Matthias, the faithful, to take the place of Judas, the betrayer:
- make us faithful, Lord.
Father, you wanted your Son to be seen first by the apostles after the resurrection from the dead.
- We ask you to make us his witnesses to the farthest corners of the world.
You sent your Son to preach your good news to the poor,
- help us to preach this Gospel to every creature.
You sent your Son to sow the seed of unending life,
- grant that we who work at sowing the seed may share the joy of the harvest.
You sent your Son to reconcile all to you through his blood,
- help us all to work toward achieving this reconciliation.
You chose to entrust to us the promise of salvation through the work of your Apostles:
may your promise be fulfilled in the resurrection of the dead.
Our Father…
COLLECT
O God, who assigned Saint Matthias
a place in the college of Apostles,
grant us, through his intercession,
that, rejoicing at how your love has been allotted to us,
we may merit to be numbered among the elect.
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.
Almighty God,
who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve:
Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be guided and governed by faithful and true pastors;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers, and may he not forsake us nor cast us off. Amen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saints |
|
|||||||||