Saturday 1 February 2020
Saturday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(First Vespers of tomorrow, The Presentation of the Lord)
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.
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Hymn
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
To his feet your tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me his praise should sing?
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise the everlasting King.
Praise him for his grace and favour,
To our fathers in distress;
Praise him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide and swift to bless,
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise him! Praise him!
Glorious in his faithfulness.
Fatherlike, he tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame he knows;
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise him! Praise him!
Widely as his mercy flows.
Angels, help us to adore him;
Ye behold him face to face;
Sun and moon bow down before him,
Dwellers all in time and space.
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise him! Praise him!
Praise with us the God of grace.
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Psalm 112 (113)
Praise of the Lord's name
“He put down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly” (Lk 1:52).
The parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!
High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?
From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes,
yes, with the princes of his people.
To the childless wife he gives a home
and gladdens her heart with children.
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 parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Psalm-prayer
Almighty Father, we praise and bless your name and ask you to join us together through your enduring love in the bosom of Mother Church.
Or:
Lord Jesus, Word of God, surrendering the brightness of your glory you became man so that we might be raised from the dust to share your very being. May there be innumerable children of the Church to offer homage to your name from the rising of the sun to its setting.
________
Psalm 147 (147B)
God, the foundation of Jerusalem
“Come, and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has chosen” (Rev 21:9).
Sion, prepare your marriage chamber: behold, your king, Christ, is coming to you.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Sion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates
he has blessed the children within you.
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.
He showers down snow white as wool,
he scatters hoar-frost like ashes.
He hurls down hailstones like crumbs.
The waters are frozen at his touch;
he sends forth his word and it melts them:
at the breath of his mouth the waters flow.
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.
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.
Sion, prepare your marriage chamber: behold, your king, Christ, is coming to you.
Psalm-prayer
Lord, you established peace within the borders of Jerusalem. Give the fullness of peace now to your faithful people. May peace rule us in this life and possess us in eternal life. You are about to fill us with the best of wheat; grant that what we see dimly now as in a mirror, we may come to perceive clearly in the brightness of your truth.
Or:
All-powerful God, it is through your Church, generously endowed with gifts of grace and fortified by the Holy Spirit, that you send out your word to all nations. Strengthen your Church with the best of all food and make her dauntless in faith. Multiply her children to celebrate with one accord the mysteries of your love at the altar on high.
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Canticle
Philippians 2
Christ, God's servant
Blessed are you, Simeon, lover of truth: you received Christ the Lord, who was to bring freedom to his people.
Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
He emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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.
Blessed are you, Simeon, lover of truth: you received Christ the Lord, who was to bring freedom to his people.
________
Short Reading
Hebrews 10:5-7
This is what he said, on coming into the world: You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin. Then I said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book, ‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
________
Short Responsory
The Lord has made known his saving power.
– The Lord has made known his saving power.
Which he prepared in the sight of all the peoples.
– The Lord has made known his saving power.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– The Lord has made known his saving power.
________
Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
The old man held the child, but the child was his king; the virgin bore the child, yet remained a virgin after the birth; she adored as her God the child she bore.
My soul glorifies the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.
He looks on his servant in her lowliness;
henceforth all ages will call me blessed.
The Almighty works marvels for me.
Holy his name!
His mercy is from age to age,
on those who fear him.
He puts forth his arm in strength
and scatters the proud-hearted.
He casts the mighty from their thrones
and raises the lowly.
He fills the starving with good things,
sends the rich away empty.
He protects Israel, his servant,
remembering his mercy,
the mercy promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his sons 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.
The old man held the child, but the child was his king; the virgin bore the child, yet remained a virgin after the birth; she adored as her God the child she bore.
________
Prayers and intercessions
We celebrate the presentation of Jesus in the temple. He has established a new covenant and is himself the temple of the living God. Let us acclaim him as our Saviour:
– Our eyes have seen your salvation.
You are the true light that enlightens all men:
help us to know and accept you as our Lord and God.
– Our eyes have seen your salvation.
You are the glory of your Church:
in the fidelity of your people, let men see your saving power.
– Our eyes have seen your salvation.
Your Holy Spirit rested on Simeon and he recognized your coming:
let your Spirit dwell with us, that we may recognize you in our lives.
– Our eyes have seen your salvation.
At your presentation, Simeon prophesied that our Lady would be pierced to the heart:
grant us the constancy and love she showed at the foot of the cross.
– Our eyes have seen your salvation.
Many have seen your promise and died in your peace:
may they share now the glory you prepared for all the nations.
– Our eyes have seen your salvation.
________
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, ever-living God,
on this day your Only-Begotten Son
was presented in the Temple,
in flesh and blood like ours.
Purify us in mind and heart
that we may meet you in your glory.
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 © 1996-2020 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.