Thursday 20 February 2020
Thursday of week 6 in Ordinary Time
Office of Readings
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
Where true love is dwelling, God is dwelling there:
Love’s own loving Presence love does ever share.
Love of Christ has made us out of many one;
In our midst is dwelling God’s eternal Son.
Give him joyful welcome, love him and revere:
Cherish one another with a love sincere.
________
Psalm 43 (44)
In time of defeat
“In all these trials, we triumph through the power of him who has shown his love for us” (Rom 8:37).
It was you who saved us, Lord: we will praise your name without ceasing.
We heard with our own ears, O God,
our fathers have told us the story
of the things you did in their days,
you yourself, in days long ago.
To plant them you uprooted the nations;
to let them spread you laid peoples low.
No sword of their own won the land;
no arm of their own brought them victory.
It was your right hand, your arm
and the light of your face; for you loved them.
It is you, my king, my God,
who granted victories to Jacob.
Through you we beat down our foes;
in your name we trampled down our aggressors.
For it was not in my bow that I trusted
nor yet was I saved by my sword:
it was you who saved us from our foes,
it was you who put our foes to shame.
All day long our boast was in God
and we praised your name without ceasing.
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.
It was you who saved us, Lord: we will praise your name without ceasing.
________
Psalm 43 (44)
Spare us, Lord, do not let your people be put to shame.
Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us;
you no longer go forth with our armies.
You make us retreat from the foe
and our enemies plunder us at will.
You make us like sheep for the slaughter
and scatter us among the nations.
You sell your own people for nothing
and make no profit by the sale.
You make us the taunt of our neighbours,
the laughing-stock of all who are near.
Among the nations, you make us a byword,
among the peoples a thing of derision.
All day long my disgrace is before me;
my face is covered with shame
at the voice of the taunter, the scoffer,
at the sight of the foe and avenger.
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.
Spare us, Lord, do not let your people be put to shame.
________
Psalm 43 (44)
Arise, Lord! Redeem us because of your love.
This befell us though we had not forgotten you,
though we had not been false to your covenant,
though we had not withdrawn our hearts;
though our feet had not strayed from your path.
Yet you have crushed us in a place of sorrows
and covered us with the shadow of death.
Had we forgotten the name of our God
or stretched out hands to another god,
would not God have found this out,
he who knows the secrets of the heart?
It is for you that we face death all day long
and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep?
Arise, do not reject us for ever!
Why do you hide your face
and forget our oppression and misery?
For we are brought down low to the dust;
our body lies prostrate on the earth.
Stand up and come to our help!
Redeem us because of your love!
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.
Arise, Lord! Redeem us because of your love.
Psalm-prayer
Lord, rise up and come to our aid; with your strong arm lead us to freedom, as you mightily delivered our forefathers. Since you are the king who knows the secrets of our hearts, fill them with the light of truth.
Or:
Lord Jesus, you foretold that we would share in the persecutions that brought you to a violent death. The Church formed at the cost of your precious blood is even now conformed to your Passion; may it be transformed, now and eternally, by the power of your resurrection.
________
℣. Lord, to whom shall we go?
℟. You have the words of eternal life.
________
First Reading
Proverbs 10:6-32
The blessings of the Lord are on the head of the virtuous man,
premature mourning stops the mouths of the wicked.
The virtuous man is remembered with blessings,
the wicked man’s name rots away.
The heart that is wise is obedient to instruction,
the gabbling fool is heading for ruin.
He walks secure whose ways are honourable,
but he who follows crooked ways is soon discovered.
A wink of the eye, and a man makes trouble,
a bold rebuke, and a man makes peace.
The mouth of the virtuous man is a life-giving fountain,
violence lurks in the mouth of the wicked.
Hatred provokes disputes,
love covers over all offences.
On the lips of a discerning man is wisdom found,
on the back of a fool, the stick.
Wise men store up knowledge,
but the mouth of a fool makes ruin imminent.
The rich man’s wealth is his stronghold,
poverty is the poor man’s undoing.
The virtuous man’s wage affords him life,
but destruction is all the wicked man earns.
The path of life is to abide by discipline,
and he who ignores correction goes astray.
The lips of just men silence hatred,
he who voices slander is a fool.
A flood of words is never without its fault,
he who has his lips controlled is a prudent man.
The virtuous man’s tongue is purest silver,
the heart of the wicked is of trumpery value.
The lips of the virtuous man nourish a multitude,
but fools die in poverty.
The blessing of the Lord is what brings riches,
to this hard toil has nothing to add.
The joy of the fool lies in doing wrong,
but the joy of the man of discernment in acquiring wisdom.
What the wicked man fears overtakes him,
what the virtuous desires comes to him as a present.
When the storm is over, the wicked man is no more,
but the virtuous stands firm for ever.
As vinegar to the teeth, smoke to the eyes,
so the sluggard to the one who sends him.
The fear of the Lord adds length to life,
the years of the wicked will be cut short.
The hope of virtuous men is all joy,
the expectations of the wicked are frustrated.
The Lord is a stronghold for the man of honest life,
for evildoers nothing but ruin.
The virtuous man will never be moved from his own place,
but the land will offer no home for the wicked.
The mouth of the virtuous man utters wisdom,
the deceitful tongue shall be torn out.
The lips of the virtuous man drip with kindness,
the mouth of the wicked with deceit.
Responsory
Ps 37:30-31, 112:6-7
℟. The just man’s mouth utters wisdom and his lips speak what is right;* the law of his God is in his heart.
℣. The just man will be remembered for ever; he has no fear of evil news.* The law of his God is in his heart.
________
Second Reading
The Explanations of the Psalms by Saint Ambrose: Psalm 36
Open your lips, and let God's word be heard
We must always meditate on God’s wisdom, keeping it in our hearts and on our lips. Your tongue must speak justice, the law of God must be in your heart. Hence Scripture tells you: You shall speak of these commandments when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down, and when you get up. Let us then speak of the Lord Jesus, for he is wisdom, he is the word, the Word indeed of God.
It is also written: Open your lips, and let God’s word be heard. God’s word is uttered by those who repeat Christ’s teaching and meditate on his sayings. Let us always speak this word. When we speak about wisdom, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about virtue, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about justice, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about peace, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about truth and life and redemption, we are speaking of Christ.
Open your lips, says Scripture, and let God’s word be heard. It is for you to open, it is for him to be heard. So David said: I shall hear what the Lord says in me. The very Son of God says: Open your lips, and I will fill them. Not all can attain to the perfection of wisdom as Solomon or Daniel did, but the spirit of wisdom is poured out on all according to their capacity, that is, on all the faithful. If you believe, you have the spirit of wisdom.
Meditate, then, at all times on the things of God, and speak the things of God, when you sit in your house. By house we can understand the Church, or the secret place within us, so that we are to speak within ourselves. Speak with prudence, so as to avoid falling into sin, as by excess of talking. When you sit in your house, speak to yourself as if you were a judge. When you walk along the way, speak, so as never to be idle. You speak along the way if you speak in Christ, for Christ is the way. When you walk along the way, speak to yourself, speak to Christ. Hear him say to you: I desire that in every place men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarrelling. When you lie down, speak so that the sleep of death may not steal upon you. Listen and learn how you are to speak as you lie down: I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
When you get up or rise again, speak of Christ, so as to fulfil what you are commanded. Listen and learn how Christ is to awaken you from sleep. Your soul says: I hear my brother knocking at the door. Then Christ says to you: Open the door to me, my sister, my spouse. Listen and learn how you are to awaken Christ. Your soul says: I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, awaken or reawaken the love of my heart. Christ is that love.
Responsory
℟. God gave us all Christ Jesus to be our wisdom, our justification, our sanctification, and our atonement,* so that the scripture might be fulfilled. If anyone boasts, let him make his boast in the Lord.
℣. We have all received something out of his abundance, grace answering to grace,* so that the scripture might be fulfilled. If anyone boasts, let him make his boast in the Lord.
________
Let us pray.
To those who love you, Lord,
you promise to come with your Son
and make your home within them.
Come, then, with your purifying grace
and make our hearts a place where you can dwell.
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.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
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.