Morning Prayer (Lauds)
If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.
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.
Hymn
Creator of the earth and skies,
To whom the words of life belong,
Grant us thy truth to make us wise;
Grant us thy power to make us strong.
Like theirs of old, our life is death,
Our light is darkness, till we see
The eternal Word made flesh and breath,
The God who walked by Galilee.
We have not known thee: to the skies
Our monuments of folly soar,
And all our self-wrought miseries
Have made us trust ourselves the more.
We have not loved thee: far and wide
The wreckage of our hatred spreads,
And evils wrought by human pride
Recoil on unrepentant heads.
For this, our foolish confidence,
Our pride of knowledge and our sin,
We come to thee in penitence;
In us the work of grace begin.
Psalm 107 (108)
Praise of the Lord and a plea for help
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
My heart is ready, O God –
my heart is ready.
I shall sing and make music.
Awake, my glory!
Rise up, harp and lyre!
We will awaken the dawn.
I will proclaim you to the peoples, O Lord,
sing of you to the nations:
for your kindness is great, it reaches the heavens;
great is your faithfulness, high as the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory stretch over the earth.
Give deliverance to your beloved,
let your right hand bring safety – answer my prayer!
God has spoken from his holy place:
“I shall triumph, dividing Shechem,
measuring off the vale of Succoth.
Mine is Gilead, mine is Manasseh;
Ephraim my helmet, Judah my sceptre.
But Moab shall be my wash-basin,
on Edom I will place my sandal;
I will cry in triumph over the Philistine.”
Who shall lead me to the fortified city?
Who shall lead me to Edom?
Surely you, God – although you rejected us.
Will you not come out, O God, with our armies?
Give us help in our troubles,
for vain is the help of man.
With God we shall triumph –
he will trample our enemies.
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.
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
Canticle
Isaiah 61-62
The prophet rejoices over the new Jerusalem
The Lord has clothed me in a garment of justice and salvation.
I will rejoice with joy in the Lord,
and my spirit shall be joyful in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation
and wrapped me round with the robe of justice,
like a bridegroom decked with a crown,
like a bride adorned with her jewels.
Just as the earth sends up its shoots,
and the garden makes its seeds to sprout,
so the Lord God will make justice spring up
and praise before all the nations.
For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,
for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still
until her justice comes forth as brightness,
and her salvation is lit up like a torch.
And the Gentiles shall see your justice,
and all the kings see your glory.
You shall be called by a new name,
chosen by the mouth of the Lord.
You shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
No longer called “Forsaken,”
your land no longer called “Desolate,”
you will be called “My pleasure in her,”
and your land “The Wedded”;
for the Lord has been well pleased with you,
and your land will receive its bridegroom.
For as a young man takes a virgin to wife,
so will your sons take you;
and as a husband takes joy in his spouse,
so your God will rejoice at you.
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 clothed me in a garment of justice and salvation.
Psalm 145 (146)
The blessedness of those who hope in the Lord
I will praise my God all my days.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life,
make music to my God as long as I exist.
Do not trust in princes to save you,
they are only sons of men.
One day their breath will leave them, they will return to the ground;
on that day perish all their plans.
Happy the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth and all that is in them,
who keeps faith for ever,
who gives justice to the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord frees prisoners,
he gives light to the blind,
he raises the fallen.
The Lord loves the upright, cares for strangers,
sustains orphans and widows;
but the wicked he sends astray.
The Lord will reign for all ages,
your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.
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.
I will praise my God all my days.
Short Reading
Deuteronomy 7:6,8-9
©
It is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the earth. It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know then that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who is true to his covenant and his graciousness for a thousand generations towards those who love him and keep his commandments.
Short Responsory
It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
And from the evil word.
– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
Canticle
Benedictus
The Messiah and his forerunner
When you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption.
He has raised up the sign of salvation
in the house of his servant David,
as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones,
his prophets through the ages:
to rescue us from our enemies
and all who hate us,
to take pity on our fathers,
to remember his holy covenant
and the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
that he would give himself to us,
that we could serve him without fear
– freed from the hands of our enemies –
in uprightness and holiness before him,
for all of our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High:
for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path,
to let his people know their salvation,
so that their sins may be forgiven.
Through the bottomless mercy of our God,
one born on high will visit us
to give light to those who walk in darkness,
who live in the shadow of death;
to lead our feet in the path of peace.
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.
When you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites.
Prayers and intercessions
As we begin the season of Lent, we give thanks to God the Father for this time of grace. Let us ask him to cleanse our hearts and strengthen us in love through the Holy Spirit.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
Lord, your word is life;
may our lives be nourished and sustained by every word you speak.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
In the life of Jesus you have shown us the way of love;
teach us to follow this way in the great and small events of life.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
Grant us a spirit of self-denial,
and move us to help our brothers in their need.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
Let us bear witness in our bodies to the death of your Son,
for in his body you have brought us to life.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
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.
Support us, Lord, as with this Lenten fast
we begin our Christian warfare,
so that in doing battle against the spirit of evil
we may be armed with the weapon of self-denial.
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.
