Saturday 21 March 2020
Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent
(First Vespers of tomorrow, 4th Sunday of Lent)
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.
________
Hymn
Sole hope of all the world and Lord,
Bestower of the great reward,
Receive the prayers thy servants raise
Mixed with meet psalms and chants of praise.
And though our conscience doth proclaim
Our deep transgressions and our shame,
Cleanse us, O God, we humbly plead,
From sins of thought and word and deed.
Our sins remember thou no more;
Forgive: thou art of mighty pow’r:
So take upon thee, Lord, our care
That pure in heart we make our prayer.
Therefore accept, O Lord, this tide
Of fast which thou hast sanctified,
That we may reach by mystic ways
The sacraments of Easter days.
________
Psalm 121 (122)
Jerusalem, the holy city
“You have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb 12:22).
Let us enter God’s house with rejoicing.
I rejoiced when I heard them say:
‘Let us go to God’s house.’
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built as a city
strongly compact.
It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
For Israel’s law it is,
there to praise the Lord’s name.
There were set the thrones of judgement
of the house of David.
For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
‘Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls,
in your palaces, peace!’
For love of my brethren and friends
I say: ‘Peace upon you!’
For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good.
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 enter God’s house with rejoicing.
Psalm-prayer
When you rose from the dead, Lord Jesus, you formed the Church into your new body and made of her the new Jerusalem, united in your Spirit. Give us peace in our day. Make all nations come to your Church to share your gifts in fellowship, that they may render you thanks without end and come to your eternal city.
________
Psalm 129 (130)
Out of the depths
“He will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).
Sleepers, awake: rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.
If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness:
for this we revere you.
My soul is waiting for the Lord.
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.
Let the watchman count on daybreak
and Israel on the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its iniquity.
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.
Sleepers, awake: rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
Psalm-prayer
Listen with compassion to our prayers, Lord. The forgiveness of sins is yours. Do not look on the wrong we have done, but grant us your merciful kindness.
Or:
God of might and compassion, you sent your Word into the world, a watchman to announce to men the dawn of salvation. Do not leave us in the depths of our sins but listen to your Church pleading with you. Respond to her trust, and pour out in her the fullness of your redeeming grace.
________
Canticle
Philippians 2
Christ, God's servant
God loved us so much that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life in Christ.
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.
God loved us so much that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life in Christ.
________
Short Reading
2 Corinthians 6:1-4
We beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation. We do nothing that people might object to, so as not to bring discredit on our function as God’s servants. Instead, we prove we are servants of God in all circumstances.
________
Short Responsory
Hear us, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.
– Hear us, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.
Listen, Christ, to the prayers of those who cry to you.
– Hear us, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– Hear us, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.
________
Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?’ ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned,’ Jesus answered: ‘he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’ (Year A)
Or: God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
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.
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?’ ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned,’ Jesus answered: ‘he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’ (Year A)
Or: God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Let us proclaim the greatness of God and pray to him, for he cares for all men.
– Give salvation, Lord, to those you have redeemed.
God of all truth, grant every good gift to the college of bishops
and preserve in the faith of the apostles the people you have entrusted to them.
– Give salvation, Lord, to those you have redeemed.
May all who share in the one bread of life be filled with your love;
may they be united more closely in the body of your Son.
– Give salvation, Lord, to those you have redeemed.
Help us to put aside our selfish ways;
let us put on Christ, the new man.
– Give salvation, Lord, to those you have redeemed.
May sinners share in the blessings of Christ’s atonement;
may they find repentance and forgiveness.
– Give salvation, Lord, to those you have redeemed.
Let the dead praise your goodness in the peace of heaven;
there we hope to glorify your name for ever.
– Give salvation, Lord, to those you have redeemed.
________
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.
________
Lord God, in your surpassing wisdom
you reconcile man to yourself through your Word.
Grant that your Christian people may come with eager faith and ready will
to celebrate the Easter festival.
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.