Thursday 9 April 2020
Maundy Thursday
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.
________
Hymn
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
sing the last, the dread affray;
o’er the cross, the victor’s trophy,
sound the high triumphal lay,
how, the pains of death enduring,
earth’s Redeemer won the day.
When at length the appointed fullness
of the sacred time was come,
he was sent, the world’s Creator,
from the Father’s heavenly home,
and was found in human fashion,
offspring of the virgin’s womb.
Now the thirty years are ended
which on earth he willed to see.
Willingly he meets his passion,
born to set his people free:
on the cross the Lamb is lifted,
there the sacrifice to be.
There the nails and spear he suffers,
vinegar and gall and reed.
From his sacred body piercèd
blood and water both proceed:
precious flood, which all creation
from the stain of sin hath freed.
Faithful Cross, above all other,
one and only noble Tree.
none in foliage, none in blossom,
none in fruit thy peer may be.
Sweet the wood and sweet the iron,
and thy load, most sweet is he.
Bend, O lofty Tree, thy branches,
thy too rigid sinews bend;
and awhile the stubborn harshness,
which thy birth bestowed, suspend;
and the limbs of heaven’s high Monarch
gently on thine arms extend.
Thou alone wast counted worthy
this world’s ransom to sustain,
that a shipwrecked race for ever
might a port of refuge gain,
with the sacred Blood anointed
of the Lamb for sinners slain.
Praise and honour to the Father,
praise and honour to the Son,
praise and honour to the Spirit,
ever Three and ever One:
One in might and One in glory,
while eternal ages run.
________
Psalm 68 (69)
I am consumed with zeal for your house
“They gave him wine to drink mixed with gall” (Mt 27:34).
I am wearied with all my crying as I await my God.
Sáve me, O Gód, *
for the wáters have rísen to my néck.
I have súnk into the múd of the déep *
and there is nó fóothold.
I have éntered the wáters of the déep *
and the wáves overwhélm me.
I am wéaried with áll my crýing, *
my thróat is párched.
My éyes are wásted awáy *
from lóoking for my Gód.
More númerous than the háirs on my héad *
are those who háte me without cáuse.
Thóse who attáck me with líes *
are too múch for my stréngth.
Hów can Í restóre *
what I have néver stólen?
O Gód, you know my sínful fólly; *
my síns you can sée.
Let those who hópe in you nót be put to sháme *
through mé, Lord of hósts:
let not thóse who séek you be dismáyed *
through mé, God of Ísrael.
It is for yóu that I súffer táunts, *
that sháme cóvers my fáce,
that I have becóme a stránger to my bróthers, *
an álien to my ówn mother’s sóns.
I búrn with zéal for your hóuse *
and táunts against yóu fall on mé.
When I afflíct my sóul with fásting *
they máke it a táunt agáinst me.
When I pút on sáckcloth in móurning *
thén they máke me a býword,
the góssip of mén at the gátes, *
the súbject of drúnkards’ sóngs.
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 am wearied with all my crying as I await my God.
________
Psalm 68 (69)
For food they gave me poison, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Thís is my práyer to yóu, *
my práyer for your fávour.
In your great lóve, ánswer me, O Gód, *
with your hélp that never fáils:
réscue me from sínking in the múd; *
sáve me from my fóes.
Sáve me from the wáters of the déep *
lest the wáves overwhélm me.
Dó not let the déep engúlf me *
nor déath clóse its móuth on me.
Lord, ánswer, for your lóve is kínd; *
in your compássion, túrn tówards me.
Do not híde your fáce from your sérvant; *
answer quíckly for Í am in distréss.
Come clóse to my sóul and redéem me; *
ránsom me préssed by my fóes.
You knów how they táunt and deríde me; *
my oppréssors are áll befóre you.
Táunts have bróken my héart; *
I have réached the énd of my stréngth.
I lóoked in váin for compássion, *
for consólers; not óne could I fínd.
For fóod they gáve me póison; *
in my thírst they gave me vínegar to drínk.
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.
For food they gave me poison, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
________
Psalm 68 (69)
Seek the Lord, and he will give life to your soul.
As for mé in my póverty and páin *
let your hélp, O Gód, lift me úp.
I will práise God’s náme with a sóng; *
I will glórify hím with thanksgíving.
A gíft pleasing Gód more than óxen, *
more than béasts prepáred for sácrifice.
The póor when they sée it will be glád *
and Gód-seeking héarts will revíve;
for the Lórd lístens to the néedy *
and does not spúrn his sérvants in their cháins.
Let the héavens and the éarth give him práise, *
the séa and all its líving créatures.
For Gód will bring hélp to Síon †
and rebúild the cíties of Júdah *
and mén shall dwéll there in posséssion.
The sóns of his sérvants shall inhérit it; *
thóse who love his náme shall dwéll there.
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.
Seek the Lord, and he will give life to your soul.
Psalm-prayer
God our Father, to show the way of salvation, you chose that the standard of the cross should go before us, and you fulfilled the ancient prophecies in Christ’s passover from death to life. Do not let us rouse your burning indignation by sin, but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honour of your Church and with grateful love for you.
________
℣. When I am lifted up from the earth,
℟. I shall draw all things to myself.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Hebrews 4:14-5:10
Jesus Christ the great High Priest
Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help.
Every high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honour on himself, but each one is called by God, as Aaron was. Nor did Christ give himself the glory of becoming high priest, but he had it from the one who said to him: You are my son, today I have become your father, and in another text: You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.
During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation and was acclaimed by God with the title of high priest of the order of Melchizedek.
Responsory
Heb 5:7-9
℟. Although he was the son of God, Christ learnt to obey through suffering,* and he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.
℣. During his life on earth, he offered up prayer aloud, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard,* and he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.
________
Second Reading
From an Easter homily by Saint Melito of Sardis, bishop
The Lamb that was slain has delivered us from death and given us life
There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.
He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the hand of Egypt; he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.
He is the One who covered death with shame and cast the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. He is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.
It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonoured in the prophets.
It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay. He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised man from the depths of the tomb.
Responsory
℟. All men have sinned and are far away from God’s saving presence, but by the free gift of God’s grace they are all redeemed through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.* God offered him so that by his death he should become the means by which men’s sins are forgiven, through their faith in him.
℣. Look, there is the Lamb of God: it is he who takes away the sin of the world.* God offered him so that by his death he should become the means by which men’s sins are forgiven, through their faith in him.
________
Let us pray.
Love of you with our whole heart, Lord God, is holiness.
Increase, then, your gifts of divine grace in us,
so that, as in your Son’s death
you made us hope for what we believe,
you may likewise, in his resurrection,
make us come to you, our final end.
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.