INVITATORY
The Invitatory is said when this is the first ‘hour’ of the day.
Lord, + open my lips.
— And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
The antiphon is repeated. In individual recitation, the antiphon may be said only at the beginning of the psalm; it need not be repeated after each strophe.
Psalm 95
A call to praise God
Encourage each other daily while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13).
Come, let us sing to the Lord *
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.”
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
If the Invitatory is not said, then the following is used:
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
During the night or at dawn:
While dark and gloomy night conceals
the colors of all things on earth,
we praise and humbly beg you, Lord,
who judge with justice ev’ry heart:
Remove from us our sins and faults
and wash away all filth of mind;
bestow, O Christ, your grace on us,
to ward off all reproach and blame.
Behold the dull and worldly soul,
weighed down in sin and stung by guilt;
and yet, Redeemer, she desires
to turn from gloom and seek your face.
Drive far from us the darkened cloud
that grips the inmost heart and soul,
that we may find true peace and joy,
established in your blessed light.
O Christ, to you, most loving King,
and to the Father glory be,
one with the Spirit Paraclete,
from age to age for evermore.
Tune: ALFRETON, 8 8 8 8
Music: from the Supplement to the New Version of Psalms, 1708
or Mode IV, melody 67; Liber Hymnarius, Solesmes, 1983*
Text: Nox atra rerum contegit, 6-7th c., © 2023 ICEL
During the day:
O Christ, your servants humbly pray:
Grant us your favor and your help;
let not the evil of this world
enslave and overcome our faith.
Keep far from us unholy thoughts,
all envy, jealousy, and spite:
let us return no harm for harm
but conquer evil with the good.
Lord, guard our hearts and keep them free
from anger, pride, and sly deceit;
keep far from us all selfish greed,
the root from which all evils flow.
Let charity, unfeigned and true,
preserve the pledge and bonds of peace;
may chastity be pure and strong,
upheld by firm and lasting trust.
O Christ, to you, most loving King,
and to the Father glory be,
one with the Spirit Paraclete,
from age to age for evermore. Amen.
Tune: As above
Text: Christe, precamur adnuas, 7-8th c., © 2023 ICEL
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 Look on us, Lord, and see how we are despised.
Psalm 89:39-53
Lament for the fall of David’s dynasty
He has raised up for us a mighty Savior born of the house of David his servant (Luke 1:69).
IV
And yet you have rejected and spurned *
and are angry with the one you have anointed.
You have broken your covenant with your servant *
and dishonored his crown in the dust.
You have broken down all his walls *
and reduced his fortresses to ruins.
He is despoiled by all who pass by: *
he has become the taunt of his neighbors.
You have exalted the right hand of his foes; *
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
You have made his sword give way, *
you have not upheld him in battle.
You have brought his glory to an end; *
you have hurled his throne to the ground.
You have cut short the years of his youth; *
you have heaped disgrace upon him.
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.
Ant. Look on us, Lord, and see how we are despised.
Ant. 2 I am the root and stock of David; I am the morning star.
V
How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself for ever? *
How long will your anger burn like a fire?
Remember, Lord, the shortness of my life *
and how frail you have made the sons of men.
What man can live and never see death? *
Who can save himself from the grasp of the grave?
Where are your mercies of the past, O Lord, *
which you have sworn in your faithfulness to David?
Remember, Lord, how your servant is taunted, *
how I have to bear all the insults of the peoples.
Thus your enemies taunt me, O Lord, *
mocking your anointed at every step.
Blessed be the Lord for ever. Amen, amen!
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.
Psalm Prayer
Lord, God of mercy and fidelity, you made a new and lasting pact with men and sealed it in the blood of your Son. Forgive the folly of our disloyalty and make us keep your commandments, so that in your new covenant we may be witnesses and heralds of your faithfulness and love on earth, and sharers of your glory in heaven.
Ant. I am the root and stock of David; I am the morning star.
Ant. 3 Our years wither away like grass, but you, Lord God, are eternal.
Psalm 90
May we live in the radiance of God
There is no time with God: a thousand years, a single day: it is all one (2 Peter 3:8).
O Lord, you have been our refuge *
from one generation to the next.
Before the mountains were born †
or the earth or the world brought forth, *
you are God, without beginning or end.
You turn men back into dust *
and say: “Go back, sons of men.”
To your eyes a thousand years †
are like yesterday, come and gone, *
no more than a watch in the night.
You sweep men away like a dream, *
like grass which springs up in the morning.
In the morning it springs up and flowers: *
by evening it withers and fades.
So we are destroyed in your anger, *
struck with terror in your fury.
Our guilt lies open before you; *
our secrets in the light of your face.
All our days pass away in your anger. *
Our life is over like a sigh.
Our span is seventy years *
or eighty for those who are strong.
And most of these are emptiness and pain. *
They pass swiftly and we are gone.
Who understands the power of your anger *
and fears the strength of your fury?
Make us know the shortness of our life *
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever? *
Show pity to your servants.
In the morning, fill us with your love; *
we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Give us joy to balance our affliction *
for the years when we knew misfortune.
Show forth your work to your servants; *
let your glory shine on their children.
Let the favor of the Lord be upon us: †
give success to the work of our hands, *
give success to the work of our hands.
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.
Psalm Prayer
Eternal Father, you give us life despite our guilt and even add days and years to our lives in order to bring us wisdom. Make us love and obey you, so that the work of our hands may always display what your hands have done, until the day we gaze upon the beauty of your face.
Ant. Our years wither away like grass, but you, Lord God, are eternal.
In you is the source of life.
— In your light we see light itself.
READINGS
FIRST READING
From the beginning of the book of Lamentations
1:1-12, 18-20
Jerusalem abandoned
How lonely she is now,
the once crowded city!
Widowed is she
who was mistress over nations;
The princess among the provinces
has been made a toiling slave.
Bitterly she weeps at night,
tears upon her cheeks,
With not one to console her
of all her dear ones;
Her friends have all betrayed her
and become her enemies.
Judah has fled into exile
from oppression and cruel slavery;
Yet where she lives among the nations
she finds no place to rest:
All her persecutors come upon her
where she is narrowly confined.
The roads to Zion mourn
for lack of pilgrims going to her feasts;
All her gateways are deserted,
her priests groan,
Her virgins sigh;
she is in bitter grief.
Her foes are uppermost,
her enemies are at ease;
The Lord has punished her
for her many sins.
Her little ones have gone away,
captive before the foe.
Gone from daughter Zion
is all her glory:
Her princes, like rams
that find no pasture,
Have gone off without strength
before their captors.
Jerusalem is mindful of the days
of her wretched homelessness,
When her people fell into enemy hands,
and she had no one to help her;
When her foes gloated over her,
laughed at her ruin.
Through the sin of which she is guilty,
Jerusalem is defiled;
All who esteemed her think her vile
now that they see her nakedness;
She herself groans
and turns away.
Her filth is on her skirt;
she gave no thought how she would end.
Astounding is her downfall,
with no one to console her.
Look, O Lord, upon her misery,
for the enemy has triumphed!
The foe stretched out his hand
to all her treasures;
She has seen those nations
enter her sanctuary
Whom you forbade to come
into your assembly.
All her people groan,
searching for bread;
They give their treasures for food,
to retain the breath of life.
“Look O Lord, and see
how worthless I have become!
“Come, all you who pass by the way,
look and see
Whether there is any suffering like my suffering,
which has been dealt me
When the Lord afflicted me
on the day of his blazing wrath.
“The Lord is just;
I had defied his command.
Listen, all you peoples,
and behold my suffering:
My maidens and my youths
have gone into captivity.
“I cried out to my lovers,
but they failed me.
My priests and my elders
perished in the city;
Where they sought food for themselves,
they found it not.
“Look, O Lord, upon my distress:
all within me is in ferment,
My heart recoils within me
from my monstrous rebellion.
In the streets the sword bereaves,
at home death stalks.”
RESPONSORY
Job 16:17; Lamentations 1:16, 18, 12
My eyes grow dark from weeping,
for my comforter is far from me.
Listen, all you peoples:
— Is there any sorrow like my sorrow?
All you people who pass by,
look and see.
— Is there any sorrow like my sorrow?
SECOND READING
From a discourse on the psalms by Saint Bruno, priest
(Ps. 83: edit. Cartusiæ de Pratis, 1891, 376-377)
If I should forget you Jerusalem
How beautiful are your tabernacles! My soul longs to reach the courts of the Lord, the fullness of the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the Lord. He then explains why he desires to enter the courts of the Lord. It is because they are blessed who dwell in your house, the heavenly Jerusalem, Lord, God of the heavenly powers, my King and my God. It is as if he were to say: Who does not long to enter your courts since you are God, the Creator and King and Lord of hosts, and all who dwell in your house are blessed? For him courts and house are the same. When he says blessed, he means that they enjoy as much happiness as can be conceived. Clearly they are blessed because out of their devoted love they will praise you for ever, that is, for all eternity. For they would not offer praise for all eternity unless they were blessed for all eternity.
Now even though we may have faith, hope and love, none of us can attain this state of blessedness by ourselves. Rather, blessed is the man—he alone attains blessedness—whose help is from you in rising to the heights of happiness on which he has set his heart. In other words, he alone can be said to come to true blessedness who, having resolved in his heart to rise to this state of happiness by the many stages of the virtues and good works, receives the help of your grace. No one can rise up by himself as the Lord testifies: No one ascends into heaven, of his own power, except the Son of Man who is in heaven.
Thus he contemplates this journey, living as he does in a vale of tears, for this life is lowly and full of tears and sorrow. The life of heaven, by contrast, is called a mountain of joy.
But since the psalmist said: Blessed is the man whose help comes from you, someone might ask: Does God really help us in this? And the answer is that God does help the blessed. For our lawgiver Christ, who gave us the law, gives now and will continue to give his blessings, the abundant gifts of grace, by which he will bless his own, that is, raise them to beatitude. By these blessings, then, they will rise from strength to strength. One day in the heavenly Zion they will see Christ as the God of gods, as the one who, being God, will deify his own. Or, again, those who are to be the new Zion will see in spirit the God of gods—the Trinity. In other words, then their minds will see God, who cannot be seen in this life. For then God will be all in all.
RESPONSORY
1 John 3:2-3
We are already God’s children;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed to us.
— We know that when he appears
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
All who hope in him
must purify themselves
as Christ is pure.
— We know that when he appears
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Let us pray.
God our Father,
you redeem us
and make us your children in Christ.
Look upon us,
give us true freedom
and bring us to the inheritance you promised.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
Or:
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ
may receive true freedom
and an everlasting inheritance.
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.
— Amen.
ACCLAMATION
Let us praise the Lord.
— And give him thanks.
******
Psalm 24
The Lord’s entry into his temple
Christ opened heaven for us in the manhood he assumed (Saint Irenaeus).
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness, *
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas; *
on the waters he made it firm.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? *
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart, †
who desires not worthless things, *
who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbor.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord *
and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him, *
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
O gates, lift high your heads; †
grow higher, ancient doors. *
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Who is the king of glory? †
The Lord, the mighty, the valiant, *
the Lord, the valiant in war.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
O gates, lift high your heads; †
grow higher, ancient doors. *
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Who is he, the king of glory? †
He, the Lord of armies, *
he is the king of glory.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Psalm 67
People of all nations will worship the Lord
You must know that God is offering his salvation to all the world (Acts 28:28).
O God, be gracious and bless us *
and let your face shed its light upon us.
So will your ways be known upon earth *
and all nations learn your saving help.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Let the nations be glad and exult *
for you rule the world with justice.
With fairness you rule the peoples, *
you guide the nations on earth.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
The earth has yielded its fruit *
for God, our God, has blessed us.
May God still give us his blessing *
till the ends of the earth revere him.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Psalm 100
The joyful song of those entering God’s temple
The Lord calls his ransomed people to sing songs of victory (Saint Athanasius).
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. †
Serve the Lord with gladness. *
Come before him, singing for joy.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Know that he, the Lord, is God. †
He made us, we belong to him, *
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Go within his gates, giving thanks. †
Enter his courts with songs of praise. *
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
Indeed, how good is the Lord, †
eternal his merciful love. *
He is faithful from age to age.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Ant. Come, let us worship the Lord, for he is our God.
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.
Tune: Erhalt uns, Herr L.M.
Music: Geistliche Lieder, 1543
Text: © Stanbrook Abbey, used with permission