Thursday 5 December 2019
Thursday of the 1st week of Advent
Vespers (Evening Prayer)
Introduction (without Invitatory)
If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, use the version with the Invitatory Psalm instead.
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
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come then and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of kings.
Then cleansed be every Christian breast,
And furnished for so great a guest!
Yea, let us each his heart prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.
For thou art our salvation, Lord,
Our refuge and our great reward;
Without thy grace our souls must fade,
And wither like a flower decayed.
Stretch forth thine hand, to heal our sore,
And make us rise to fall no more;
Once more upon thy people shine,
And fill the world with love divine.
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
Whose Advent sets thy people free,
Whom, with the Father, we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore.
________
Psalm 29 (30)
Thanksgiving for rescue from death
“Christ gives thanks to his Father after his glorious resurrection” (Cassian).
Lord, I cried to you for help and you have healed me: I will thank you for ever.
I will práise you, Lórd, yóu have réscued me *
and have nót let my énemies rejóice óver me.
O Lórd, I críed to you for hélp *
and yóu, my Gód, have héaled me.
O Lórd, you have ráised my sóul from the déad, *
restóred me to lífe from those who sínk into the gráve.
Sing psálms to the Lórd, you who lóve him, *
give thánks to his hóly náme.
His ánger lasts a móment; his fávour all through lífe. *
At níght there are téars, but jóy comes with dáwn.
I sáid to mysélf in my good fórtune: *
‘Nóthing will éver distúrb me.’
Your fávour had sét me on a móuntain fástness, *
then you híd your fáce and I was pút to confúsion.
To yóu, Lórd, I críed, *
to my Gód I máde appéal:
‘What prófit would my déath be, my góing to the gráve? *
Can dúst give you práise or procláim your trúth?’
The Lórd lístened and had píty. *
The Lórd cáme to my hélp.
For mé you have chánged my móurning into dáncing, *
you remóved my sáckcloth and clóthed me with jóy.
So my sóul sings psálms to you uncéasingly. *
O Lord my Gód, I will thánk you for éver.
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-prayer
Lord, hear our cry and save us. We weep in the evening as if our Lord were asleep, but let us rejoice in the morning as he is raised up among us. Rescued from sadness and clothed in rejoicing, may we gloriously sing your praises for ever.
Or:
God our Father, glorious in giving life, and even more glorious in restoring it, when his last night on earth came, your Son shed tears of blood, but dawn brought incomparable gladness. Do not turn away from us, or we shall fall back into dust, but rather turn our mourning into joy by raising us up with Christ.
________
Psalm 31 (32)
The joy of the forgiven
“David says that a man is blessed if God considers him righteous, irrespective of good deeds” (Rom 4:6).
Happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt.
Happy the mán whose offénce is forgíven, *
whose sín is remítted.
O háppy the mán to whom the Lórd †
impútes no gúilt, *
in whose spírit is no gúile.
I kept it sécret and my fráme was wásted. *
I gróaned all day lóng,
for níght and dáy your hánd *
was héavy upón me.
Indéed my stréngth was dried úp *
as by the súmmer’s héat.
But nów I have acknówledged my síns; *
my gúilt I did not híde.
I sáid: ‘Í will conféss *
my offénce to the Lórd.’
And yóu, Lórd, have forgíven *
the gúilt of my sín.
So let évery good mán pray to yóu *
in the tíme of néed.
The flóods of wáter may reach hígh *
but hím they shall not réach.
Yóu are my híding place, O Lórd; †
you sáve me from distréss. *
You surróund me with críes of delíverance.
Í will instrúct you and téach you *
the wáy you should gó;
Í will gíve you cóunsel *
with my éye upón you.
Be not like hórse and múle, unintélligent, *
needing brídle and bít,
élse they wíll not appróach you. *
Many sórrows has the wícked
but hé who trústs in the Lórd, *
loving mércy surróunds him.
Rejóice, rejóice in the Lórd, *
exúlt, you júst!
O cóme, ríng out your jóy, *
all you úpright of héart.
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.
Psalm-prayer
You desired, Lord, to keep from us your indignation and so did not spare Jesus Christ, who was wounded for our sins. We are your prodigal children but confessing our sins we come back to you. Embrace us that we may rejoice in your mercy together with Christ your beloved Son.
________
Canticle
Apocalypse 11
The Judgement
The Lord has given him power and honour and empire, and all peoples will serve him.
We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, *
who are and who were,
that you have taken your great power *
and begun to reign.
The nations raged, *
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged, *
for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name, *
both small and great.
Now the salvation and the power †
and the kingdom of our God *
and the authority of his Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, *
who accuses them day and night before our God.
And they have conquered him *
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony, *
for they loved not their lives even unto death.
Rejoice, then, O heaven, *
and you that dwell therein.
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
James 5:7-8,9
Be patient, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains! You too have to be patient; do not lose heart, because the Lord’s coming will be soon. The Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates.
________
Short Responsory
Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
Let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.
– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
________
Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
My soul glórifies the Lórd, *
my spirit rejóices in Gód, my Sáviour.
He looks on his sérvant in her lówliness; *
henceforth all áges will cáll me bléssed.
The Almíghty works márvels for me. *
Hóly his náme!
His mércy is from age to áge, *
on thóse who féar him.
He púts forth his árm in stréngth *
and scátters the proud-héarted.
He casts the míghty from their thrónes *
and ráises the lówly.
He fills the stárving with good thíngs, *
sends the rích away émpty.
He protects Ísrael, his sérvant, *
remémbering his mércy,
the mercy prómised to our fáthers, *
to Ábraham and his sóns for éver.
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.
You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Let us pray to Christ, the great light promised by the prophets to those dwelling in the shadow of death:
– Come, Lord Jesus!
You enlighten all men:
open the hearts of your people to a wider world.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
Son of God, in you we see the Father:
come to reveal to us what true love means.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
Christ Jesus, you come to us as man:
may the welcome we give you make us sons of God.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
You open the gates of liberty and life:
bring the dead into everlasting freedom.
– Come, Lord Jesus!
________
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.
________
Show forth your power, O Lord, and come.
Come in your great strength and help us.
Be merciful and forgiving,
and hasten the salvation which only our sins delay.
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.
Copyright © 1996-2019 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.