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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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:
Sublime Creator of all things,
our Lord and ruler, turn your gaze;
deliver us, immersed in sleep,
from harmful dreams and indolence.
O holy Christ, we beg of you:
Forgive us all our sinful deeds;
we break the silent hours of night
and rise to give you thanks and praise.
We lift our hearts and hands in prayer
and keep our vigil through the night,
as David in the Psalms prescribed
and Paul made known in word and deed.
You see the evil we have done;
we lay before you hidden faults
and pour forth prayers with sighs and tears:
Forgive us, Lord, for we have sinned.
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: ALFRETON, 8 8 8 8
Music: from the Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms, 1708
or Mode IV, melody 67; Liber Hymnarius, Solesmes, 1983
Text: Rerum creator optime, 6-7th c., © 2023 ICEL
During the day:
We offer you exultant praise,
all-wise, all-knowing Lord our God,
who see our inmost mind and heart
and by your grace sustain our life.
Good Shepherd, as you tend your flocks,
you also seek the sheep that stray;
unite us to your faithful fold
in pastures filled with richest food,
Lest terror at the judge’s ire
should join us to the wicked goats;
but by your judgment may we be
the sheep of your eternal fold.
To you, Lord Jesus, glory be,
all vict’ry, honor, pow’r, and praise,
Redeemer reigning over all
from age to age for evermore. Amen.
Tune: As above
Text: Scientiarum Domino, 13-14th c., © 2023 ICEL
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 I love you Lord; you are my strength.
Psalm 18:2-30
Thanksgiving for salvation and victory
At that time there was a violent earthquake (Revelation 11:15).
I
I love you, Lord, my strength, *
my rock, my fortress, my savior.
My God is the rock where I take refuge; *
my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold.
The Lord is worthy of all praise: *
when I call I am saved from my foes.
The waves of death rose about me; *
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
the snares of the grave entangled me; *
the traps of death confronted me.
In my anguish I called to the Lord; *
I cried to God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice; *
my cry came to his ears.
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. I love you Lord; you are my strength.
Ant. 2 The Lord has saved me; he wanted me for his own.
II
Then the earth reeled and rocked; *
the mountains were shaken to their base:
they reeled at his terrible anger. *
Smoke came forth from his nostrils
and scorching fire from his mouth: *
coals were set ablaze by its heat.
He lowered the heavens and came down, *
a black cloud under his feet.
He came enthroned on the cherubim, *
he flew on the wings of the wind.
He made the darkness his covering, *
the dark waters of the clouds, his tent.
A brightness shone out before him *
with hailstones and flashes of fire.
The Lord thundered in the heavens; *
The Most High let his voice be heard.
He shot his arrows, scattered the foe, *
flashed his lightnings and put them to flight.
The bed of the ocean was revealed; *
the foundations of the world were laid bare
at the thunder of your threat, O Lord, *
at the blast of the breath of your anger.
From on high he reached down and seized me; *
he drew me forth from the mighty waters.
He snatched me from my powerful foe, *
from my enemies whose strength I could not match.
They assailed me in the day of my misfortune, *
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me forth into freedom, *
he saved me because he loved 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.
Ant. The Lord has saved me; he wanted me for his own.
Ant. 3 Lord, kindle a light for my guidance and scatter my darkness.
III
He rewarded me because I was just. *
repaid me, for my hands were clean,
for I have kept the way of the Lord *
and have not fallen away from my God.
For his judgments are all before me: *
I have never neglected his commands.
I have always been upright before him; *
I have kept myself from guilt.
He repaid me because I was just *
and my hands were clean in his eyes.
You are loving with those who love you: *
you show yourself perfect with the perfect.
With the sincere you show yourself sincere, *
but the cunning you outdo in cunning.
For you save a humble people *
but humble the eyes that are proud.
You, O Lord, are my lamp, *
my God who lightens my darkness.
With you I can break through any barrier, *
with my God I can scale any wall.
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, our strength and salvation, put in us the flame of your love and make our love for you grow to a perfect love which reaches to our neighbor.
Ant. Lord, kindle a light for my guidance and scatter my darkness.
All wondered at the words of grace.
— Which came from the mouth of the Lord.
READINGS
FIRST READING
From the book of the prophet Jeremiah
2:1-13, 20-25
The infidelity of God’s people
This word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear!
I remember the devotion of your youth,
how you loved me as a bride,
Following me in the desert,
in a land unsown.
Sacred to the Lord was Israel,
the first fruits of his harvest;
Should anyone presume to partake of them,
evil would befall him, says the Lord.
Listen to the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob!
All you clans of the house of Israel.
Thus says the Lord:
What fault did your fathers find in me
that they withdrew from me,
Went after empty idols,
and became empty themselves?
They did not ask, “Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the desert,
through a land of wastes and gullies,
Through a land of drought and darkness,
through a land which no one crosses,
where no man dwells?”
When I brought you into the garden land
to eat its goodly fruits,
You entered and defiled my land,
you made my heritage loathsome.
The priests asked not,
“Where is the Lord?”
Those who dealt with the law knew me not:
the shepherds rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
and went after useless idols.
Therefore will I yet accuse you, says the Lord,
and even your children’s children I will accuse.
Pass over to the coast of the Kittim and see,
send to Kedar and carefully inquire:
Where has the like of this been done?
Does any other nation change its gods?—
yet they are not gods at all!
But my people have changed their glory
for useless things.
Be amazed at this, O heavens,
and shudder with sheer horror, says the Lord.
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.
Long ago you broke your yoke,
you tore off your bonds.
“I will not serve,” you said.
On every high hill, under every green tree,
you gave yourself to harlotry.
I had planted you, a choice vine
of fully tested stock;
How could you turn out obnoxious to me,
a spurious vine?
Though you scour it with soap,
and use much lye,
The stain of your guilt is still before me,
says the Lord God.
How can you say, “I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals”?
Consider your conduct in the Valley,
recall what you have done:
A frenzied she-camel, coursing near and far,
breaking away toward the desert,
Snuffing the wind in her ardor—
who can restrain her lust?
No beasts need tire themselves seeking her;
in her month they will meet her.
Stop wearing out your shoes
and parching your throat!
But you say, “No use! no!
I love these strangers,
and after them I must go.”
RESPONSORY
Jeremiah 2:21; Matthew 21:43; Isaiah 5:7
I planted you, a choice vine, sprung from the soundest stock.
Now you have turned into a vine degenerate and repulsive to me.
— So the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce a rich harvest.
I looked for justice and I saw only bloodshed,
for righteousness, and I heard only a cry of distress.
— So the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce a rich harvest.
SECOND READING
From an instruction by Saint Columban, abbot
(Instr. 13, De Christo fonte vitæ, 1-2: Opera, Dublin 1957, 116-118)
Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink his fill
My dear brethren, listen to my words. You are going to hear something that must be said. You quench your soul’s thirst with drafts of the divine fountain. I now wish to speak of this. Revive yourself, but do not extinguish your thirst. Drink, I say, but do not entirely quench your thirst, for the fountain of life, the fountain of love calls us to him and says: Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Understand well what you drink. Jeremiah would tell us; the fountain of life would himself tell us: For they abandoned me, the fountain of living water, says the Lord. The Lord himself, our God Jesus Christ, is the fountain of life, and accordingly he invites us to himself as to a fountain, that we may drink. Whoever loves him, drinks him; he drinks who is filled with the Word of God, he drinks who loves him fully and really desires him. He drinks who is on fire with the love of wisdom.
Consider the source of the fountain; bread comes down to us from the same place, since the same one is the bread and the fountain, the only-begotten Son, our God, Christ the Lord, for whom we should always hunger. We may even eat him out of love for him, and devour him out of desire, longing for him eagerly. Let us drink from him, as from a fountain, with an abundance of love. May we drink him with the fullness of desire, and may we take pleasure in his sweetness and savor.
For the Lord is sweet and agreeable; rightly then let us eat and drink of him yet remain ever hungry and thirsty, since he is our food and drink, but can never be wholly eaten and consumed. Though he may be eaten, he is never consumed; one can drink of him and he is not diminished because our bread is eternal and our fountain is sweet and everlasting. Hence the prophet says: You who thirst, go to the fountain. He is the fountain for those who are thirsty but are never fully satisfied. Therefore he calls to himself the hungry whom he raised to a blessed condition elsewhere. They were never satisfied in drinking; the more they drank, the greater their thirst.
It is right, brothers, that we must always long for, seek and love the Word of God on high, the fountain of wisdom. According to the Apostle’s words all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him, and he calls the thirsty to drink.
If you thirst, drink of the fountain of life; if you are hungry, eat the bread of life. Blessed are they who hunger for this bread and thirst for this fountain, for in so doing they will desire ever more to eat and drink. For what they eat and drink is exceedingly sweet and their thirst and appetite for more is never satisfied. Though it is ever tasted it is ever more desired. Hence the prophet-king says: Taste and see how sweet, how agreeable is the Lord.
RESPONSORY
John 7:37-38
Jesus stood up, and cried out:
— If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Streams of living water will flow
from the heart of whoever believes in me.
— If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Let us pray.
Father,
help us to seek the values
that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world.
In our desire for what you promise
make us one in mind and heart.
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, who cause the minds of the faithful
to unite in a single purpose,
grant your people to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, amid the uncertainties of this world,
our hearts may be fixed on that place
where true gladness is found.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
O gates, lift high your heads; †
grow higher, ancient doors. *
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
Who is the king of glory? †
The Lord, the mighty, the valiant, *
the Lord, the valiant in war.
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
O gates, lift high your heads; †
grow higher, ancient doors. *
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
Who is he, the king of glory? †
He, the Lord of armies, *
he is the king of glory.
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
Indeed, how good is the Lord, †
eternal his merciful love. *
He is faithful from age to age.
Ant. Come, let us worship before the Lord, our maker.
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 before the Lord, our maker.
God, whose almighty word
Chaos and darkness heard
And took their flight:
Hear us, we humbly pray,
And where the Gospel day
Sheds not its glorious ray
Let there be light!
Savior, who came to bring,
On your redeeming wing,
Healing and sight—
Health to the sick in mind,
Sight to the inly blind—
O now to all mankind
Let there be light!
Spirit of truth and love,
Life-giving, holy dove,
Speed on your flight;
Move on the waters’ face,
Bearing the lamp of grace,
And in earth’s darkest place
Let there be light!
Holy and blessed Three,
Glorious Trinity,
Wisdom, Love, Might,
Boundless as ocean-tide
Rolling in fullest pride,
Through the world, far and wide
Let there be light!
Tune: Moscow 664.6664
Music: Felice De Giardini, 1716-1796
Text: John Marriott, 1780-1825, adapted by Anthony G. Petti