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STAND
Invitatory
Leader: Lord, + open my lips.
All: And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Leader: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
Psalm 95
A call to praise God
Encourage each other daily while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13).
Leader: Come, let us sing to the Lord
All: and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.
Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
The Lord is God, the mighty God,
the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the highest mountains as well.
He made the sea; it belongs to him,
the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.
Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
Come, then, let us bow down and worship,
bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.
For he is our God and we are his people,
the flock he shepherds.
Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did
in the wilderness,
when at Meriba and Massah
they challenged me and provoked me,
Although they had seen all of my works.
Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
Forty years I endured that generation.
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray
and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger,
“They shall not enter into my rest.”
Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
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.
Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.Hymn
Now Christ, O Sun of righteousness,
Let dawn our darkened spirits bless:
The light of grace to us restore
While day to earth returns once more.
To us you give the accepted time,
Give, too, a heart that mourns for crime,
Let those by mercy now be cured
Whom loving-kindness long endured.
Spare not, we pray, to send us here
Some penance kindly but severe,
So let your gift of pardoning grace
Our grievous sinfulness efface.
Soon will that day, your day, appear
And all things with its brightness cheer:
We will rejoice in it, as we
return thereby to grace, and thee.
Let all the world from shore to shore
O gracious Trinity, adore;
Right soon your loving pardon grant,
That we our new-made song may chant. Amen.
Tune: Beatus Vir L.M.
Music: Slovak Hymn
Text: Iam, Christe, sol iustitiae, tenth century or possibly Ambrosian
Translation: The Primer of 1706, attributed to John Dryden, 1631-1701SIT
Psalmody
Leader: Lord, send forth your light and your truth.
Psalm 43
Longing for the Temple
I have come into the world to be its light (John 12:46).
Leader: Defend me, O God, and plead my cause
Side 1: against a godless nation.
From deceitful and cunning men
rescue me, O God.
Side 2: Since you, O God, are my stronghold,
why have you rejected me?
Why do I go mourning
oppressed by the foe?
Side 1: O send forth your light and your truth;
let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain
to the place where you dwell.
Side 2: And I will come to the altar of God,
the God of my joy.
My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp,
O God, my God.
Side 1: Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.
Side 2: Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
All: as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.
Leader: Lord, All: send forth your light and your truth.
Leader: Lord, keep us safe all the days of our life.
Canticle: Isaiah 38:10-14, 17b-20
Anguish of a dying man and joy in his restoration
I was living, I was dead . . . and I hold the keys of death (Revelation 1:17-18).
Leader: Once I said,
Side 1: “In the noontime of life I must depart!
To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned
for the rest of my years.”
Side 2: I said, “I shall see the Lord no more
in the land of the living.
No longer shall I behold my fellow men
among those who dwell in the world.”
Side 1: My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent,
is struck down and borne away from me;
you have folded up my life, like a weaver
who severs the last thread.
Side 2: Day and night you give me over to torment;
I cry out until the dawn.
Like a lion he breaks all my bones;
day and night you give me over to torment.
Side 1: Like a swallow I utter shrill cries;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes grow weak, gazing heavenward:
O Lord, I am in straits; be my surety!
Side 2: You have preserved my life
from the pit of destruction,
When you cast behind your back
all my sins.
Side 1: For it is not the nether world that gives you thanks,
nor death that praises you;
Neither do those who go down into the pit
await your kindness.
Side 2: The living, the living give you thanks,
as I do today.
Fathers declare to their sons,
O God, your faithfulness.
Side 1: The Lord is our savior;
we shall sing to stringed instruments
In the house of the Lord
all the days of our life.
Side 2: Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
All: as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.
Leader: Lord, All: keep us safe all the days of our life.
Leader: To you, O God, our praise is due in Zion.
Psalm 65
Solemn thanksgiving
Zion represents heaven (Origen).
Leader: To you our praise is due
Side 1: in Zion, O God.
To you we pay our vows,
you who hear our prayer.
Side 2: To you all flesh will come
with its burden of sin.
Too heavy for us, our offenses,
but you wipe them away.
Side 1: Blessed is he whom you choose and call
to dwell in your courts.
We are filled with the blessings of your house,
of your holy temple.
Side 2: You keep your pledge with wonders,
O God our savior,
the hope of all the earth
and of far distant isles.
Side 1: You uphold the mountains with your strength,
you are girded with power.
You still the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves
and the tumult of the peoples.
Side 2: The ends of the earth stand in awe
at the sight of your wonders.
The lands of sunrise and sunset
you fill with your joy.
Side 1: You care for the earth, give it water;
you fill it with riches.
Your river in heaven brims over
to provide its grain.
Side 2: And thus you provide for the earth;
you drench its furrows,
you level it, soften it with showers,
you bless its growth.
Side 1: You crown the year with your goodness.
Abundance flows in your steps,
in the pastures of the wilderness it flows.
Side 2: The hills are girded with joy,
the meadows covered with flocks,
the valleys are decked with wheat.
They shout for joy, yes they sing.
Side 1: Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
All: as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.
Leader: To you, All: O God, our praise is due in Zion.Reading
Joel 2:12-13
Lector: Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.Responsory
Lector: God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.
All: God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.
Lector: From those who would trap me with lying words
All: and from the hunter’s snare.
Lector: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
All: God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.STAND
Gospel Canticle
Leader: You have one teacher, and he is in heaven: Christ your Lord.
Canticle of Zechariah
Luke 1:68-79
The Messiah and his forerunner
Leader: Blessed + be the Lord, the God of Israel;
All: 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 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.
Leader: You have All: one teacher, and he is in heaven: Christ your Lord.Intercessions
Leader: God the Father has given us his only Son, the Word made flesh, to be our food and our life. Let us thank him and pray:
All: May the word of Christ dwell among us in all its richness.
Leader: Help us this Lenten season to listen more frequently to your word,
All: that we may celebrate the solemnity of Easter with greater love for Christ, our paschal sacrifice.
Leader: May your Holy Spirit be our teacher,
All: that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.
Leader: Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of your Anointed One,
All: that our lives may reveal him more effectively.
Leader: Purify and renew your Church in this time of salvation,
All: that it may give an ever greater witness to you.The Lord's Prayer
Leader: Remember us, Lord, when you come to your kingdom and teach us how to pray:
Leader: Our Father, All: who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.Concluding Prayer
Leader: Lord, watch over your Church,
and guide it with your unfailing love.
Protect us from what could harm us
and lead us to what will save us.
Help us always,
for without you we are bound to fail.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen.Dismissal
If a priest or deacon presides, he dismisses the people:
Leader: The Lord be with you.
All: And with your spirit.
Leader: May almighty God bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.
Leader: Go in peace.
All: Thanks be to God.
In the absence of a priest or deacon and in individual recitation, Morning Prayer concludes:
Leader: May the Lord + bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
All: Amen.