Vespers (Evening Prayer)
INTRODUCTION
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
Hymn
O Christ, the Father’s only Son,
Whose death for all redemption won,
Before the worlds, of God Most High,
Begotten all ineffably.
The Father’s Light and Splendour thou,
Their endless Hope to thee that bow;
Accept the prayers and praise today
That through the world thy servants pay.
Salvation’s Author, call to mind
Thou took’st the form of humankind,
When of the Virgin undefiled
Thou in man’s flesh becam’st a Child.
Thus testifies the present day
Through every year in long array,
That thou, salvation’s source alone,
Proceedest from the Father’s throne.
All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.
Psalm 29 (30)
Thanksgiving for rescue from death
Lord, I cried to you for help and you have healed me: I will thank you for ever.
Lord, I will give you all praise, for you have rescued me
and not let my foes triumph over me.
My Lord God, I cried to you
and you healed me.
Lord, you led my soul out from the underworld,
gave me life so that I would not sink into the abyss.
Sing to the Lord, his holy ones,
and proclaim the truth of his holiness.
His anger lasts a moment,
but his favour for a lifetime.
At night there are tears,
but in the morning, joy.
Once I was secure. I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
Lord, by your
favour you had given me strength, set me high;
but then you turned your face from me
and I was shaken.
I cried to you, Lord,
and prayed to my God.
“What use is my life,
when I sink into decay?
Will dust proclaim you,
or make known your faithfulness?”
The Lord heard and took pity on me.
The Lord became my helper.
You have turned my weeping into dancing,
torn off my sackcloth and clothed me in joy,
It is my glory to sing to you and never cease:
Lord, my God, I will proclaim your goodness for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Lord, I cried to you for help and you have healed me: I will thank you for ever.
Psalm 31 (32)
The joy of the forgiven
Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt.
Blessed is he whose sins are forgiven,
whose transgressions are hidden away.
Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no blame,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silent,
my bones grew old
as I groaned all day long.
While your hand lay heavy on me,
by day and by night,
my strength was dried up as if by summer heat.
I made my sin known to you,
and I did not hide my faults.
I said “I will bear witness against myself before the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
This is why every saint will pray to you in due time,
and even in the great flood he will not be touched.
You are my refuge, you will preserve me from trouble,
you will surround me with cries of deliverance.
I will give you understanding and teach you the path you are to follow;
I will keep watch over you.
Do not be like the horse and the mule,
without understanding:
if you approach them with bit or bridle,
they will not come near.
Many are the sufferings of the wicked,
but the Lord’s mercy will protect those who trust in him.
Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you just.
Shout for joy, you upright of heart.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt.
Canticle
Apocalypse 11
The Judgement
The Lord has given him power and honour and empire, and all peoples will serve him.
We thank you,
Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were,
that you have taken up your great power and begun to reign.
The nations were angered,
but your anger came, the time for the dead to be judged,
the time to reward the prophets and saints, your servants,
and those who feared your name, both great and small.
Now have come the salvation and might and kingdom of our God,
and the power of his Anointed,
for the accuser of our brethren has been brought down,
who accused them day and night in the sight of God.
But they vanquished him through the blood of the Lamb
and through their own witness.
They did not cling to life,
even in the face of death.
Therefore rejoice, heavens,
and you who dwell in them.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
The Lord has given him power and honour and empire, and all peoples will serve him.
Short Reading
1 John 1:5,7
©
God is light; there is no darkness in him at all. If we live our lives in the light, as he is in the light, we are in union with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Short Responsory
The Word became flesh.
– The Word became flesh.
And he lived among us.
– The Word became flesh.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– The Word became flesh.
Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
Let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord, for the eternal salvation has appeared in the world, alleluia.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation.
For he has shown me such favour –
me, his lowly handmaiden.
Now all generations will call me blessed,
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
His name is holy,
his mercy lasts for generation after generation
for those who revere him.
He has put forth his strength:
he has scattered the proud and conceited,
torn princes from their thrones;
but lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord, for the eternal salvation has appeared in the world, alleluia.
Prayers and intercessions
With the birth of Christ, God’s holy people blossomed into flower. Let us pray with gratitude to our Saviour.
– May your birth give joy to the world.
Christ, our life, you came to be the head of the Church:
give growth to your body and build it up in love.
– May your birth give joy to the world.
We adore you, Christ, as God and Man:
share with us your life with the Father.
– May your birth give joy to the world.
Through the incarnation you became our mediator:
unite the ministers of the Church more closely to yourself and make their entire lives a ministry of grace.
– May your birth give joy to the world.
Your birth in our flesh reveals the new plan of salvation:
may all men come to know the God who lives among them.
– May your birth give joy to the world.
The power of death was broken when you became man:
free the faithful departed from all the bonds of sin.
– May your birth give joy to the world.
Our Father, 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.
Almighty God,
your Son’s manhood, born of the Virgin,
was a new creation, untainted by our sinful condition.
Renew us, then, in Christ
and cleanse us from all trace of sin.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
