ST. STEPHEN
Evening Prayer
When Stephen preached against the laws
And by those laws was tried,
He had no friend to plead his cause,
No spokesman at his side;
But only in his heart a flame
And in his eyes a light
Wherewith God's daybreak to proclaim
And rend the veils of night.
When Stephen, young and doomed to die,
Fell crushed beneath the stones,
He had no curse nor vengeful cry
For those who broke his bones;
But only in his heart a flame
And on his lips a prayer
That God, in sweet forgiveness' name
Should understand and spare.
Or:
A Child is born in Bethlehem, alleluia;
O come, rejoice Jerusalem, alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain:
Let grateful hearts now sing,
A song of joy and holy praise
To Christ the new-born King.
Though found within a manger poor, alleluia,
His Kingdom shall for e'er endure, alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain
As brother in the flesh he came, alleluia,
Our King whose name we now proclaim, alleluia, alleluia.
Refrain
Melody: Gregorian, Mode I; Music: Traditional, Gregorian; Text: Puer Natus in Bethlehem; Translator: J.W. Hewitt, 1959, alt.
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.
If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness:
for this we revere you.
My soul is waiting for the Lord.
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.
Let the watchman count on daybreak
and Israel on the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its iniquity. Glory...
Antiphon: With the Lord is unfailing love; great is his power to save.
Antiphon: In the beginning, before time began, the Word was God; today he is born, the Savior of the world.
Canticle Colossians 1:12-20
Let us give thanks to the Father
for having made you worthy
to share the lot of the saints
in light.
He rescued us
from the power of darkness
and brought us
into the kingdom of his beloved Son.
Through him we have redemption,
the forgiveness of our sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the first-born of all creatures.
In him everything in heaven and on earth was created,
things visible and invisible.
All were created through him;
all were created for him.
He is before all else that is.
In him everything continues in being.
It is he who is head of the body, the church;
he who is the beginning,
the first-born of the dead,
so that primacy may be his in everything.
It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in him
and, by means of him, to reconcile everything in his person,
both on earth and in the heavens,
making peace through the blood of his cross. Glory...
Antiphon: In the beginning, before time began, the Word was God; today he is born, the Savior of the world.
READING
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