Monday 20 April 2020
Monday of the 2nd week of Eastertide
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.
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Hymn
Love’s redeeming work is done,
fought the fight, the battle won.
Lo, our Sun’s eclipse is o’er!
Lo, he sets in blood no more!
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal!
Christ has burst the gates of hell;
death in vain forbids him rise;
Christ has opened paradise.
Lives again our victor King;
where, O death, is now thy sting?
Dying once, he all doth save;
where thy victory, O grave?
Soar we now where Christ has led,
following our exalted Head;
made like him, like him we rise,
ours the cross, the grave, the skies.
Hail the Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to thee by both be given:
thee we greet triumphant now;
hail, the Resurrection thou!
________
Psalm 30 (31)
Trustful prayer in time of adversity
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46).
Hear me, Lord, and come to rescue me.
In yóu, O Lórd, I take réfuge. *
Let me néver be pút to sháme.
In your jústice, sét me frée, *
héar me and spéedily réscue me.
Be a róck of réfuge fór me, *
a míghty strónghold to sáve me,
for yóu are my róck, my strónghold. *
For your náme’s sake, léad me and gúide me.
Reléase me from the snáres they have hídden *
for yóu are my réfuge, Lórd.
Into your hánds I comménd my spírit. *
It is yóu who will redéem me, Lórd.
O Gód of trúth, you detést *
those who wórship fálse and empty góds.
As for mé, I trúst in the Lórd: *
let me be glád and rejóice in your lóve.
Yóu who have séen my afflíction *
and taken héed of my sóul’s distréss,
have not hánded me óver to the énemy, *
but sét my féet at lárge.
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.
Hear me, Lord, and come to rescue me.
________
Psalm 30 (31)
Lord, let your face shine on your servant. Alleluia.
Have mércy on mé, O Lórd, *
for Í am in distréss.
Téars have wásted my éyes, *
my thróat and my héart.
For my lífe is spént with sórrow *
and my yéars with síghs.
Afflíction has bróken down my stréngth *
and my bónes waste awáy.
In the fáce of áll my fóes *
Í am a repróach,
an óbject of scórn to my néighbours *
and of féar to my fríends.
Thóse who sée me in the stréet *
run fár awáy from me.
Í am like a déad man, forgótten, *
like a thíng thrown awáy.
I have héard the slánder of the crówd, *
féar is all aróund me,
as they plót togéther agáinst me, *
as they plán to take my lífe.
But as for mé, I trúst in you, Lórd; *
I say: ‘Yóu are my Gód.
My lífe is in your hánds, delíver me *
from the hánds of those who háte me.
Let your fáce shíne on your sérvant. *
Sáve me in your lóve.’
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, let your face shine on your servant. Alleluia.
________
Psalm 30 (31)
Blessed be the Lord, who has shown me the wonders of his love. Alleluia.
How gréat is the góodness, Lórd, *
that you kéep for those who féar you,
that you shów to thóse who trúst you *
in the síght of mén.
You híde them in the shélter of your présence *
from the plótting of mén;
you kéep them sáfe within your tént *
from dispúting tóngues.
Bléssed be the Lórd who has shówn me †
the wónders of his lóve *
in a fórtified cíty.
‘I am fár remóved from your síght’ *
I sáid in my alárm.
Yet you héard the vóice of my pléa *
when I críed for hélp.
Lóve the Lórd, all you sáints. *
He gúards his fáithful
but the Lórd will repáy to the fúll *
those who áct with príde.
Be stróng, let your héart take cóurage, *
all who hópe in the Lórd.
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 be the Lord, who has shown me the wonders of his love. Alleluia.
Psalm-prayer
God of kindness and truth, you saved your Chosen One, Jesus Christ, and you gave your martyrs strength. Watch over your people who come to you here and strengthen the hearts of those who hope in you, that they may proclaim your saving acts of kindness in the eternal city.
________
℣. My heart and my soul ring out my joy, alleluia.
℟. To God, the living God, alleluia.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Apocalypse 1:1-20
A vision of the Son of Man
This is the revelation given by God to Jesus Christ so that he could tell his servants about the things which are now to take place very soon; he sent his angel to make it known to his servant John, and John has written down everything he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ. Happy the man who reads this prophecy, and happy those who listen to him, if they treasure all that it says, because the Time is close.
From John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come, from the seven spirits in his presence before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-Born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
My name is John, and through our union in Jesus I am your brother and share your sufferings, your kingdom, and all you endure. I was on the island of Patmos for having preached God’s word and witnessed for Jesus; it was the Lord’s day and the Spirit possessed me, and I heard a voice behind me, shouting like a trumpet, ‘Write down all that you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.’ I turned round to see who had spoken to me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands and, surrounded by them, a figure like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white as white wool or as snow, his eyes like a burning flame, his feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of the ocean. In his right hand he was holding seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged, and his face was like the sun shining with all its force.
When I saw him, I fell in a dead faint at his feet, but he touched me with his right hand and said, ‘Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld. Now write down all that you see of present happenings and things that are still to come. The secret of the seven stars you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp-stands is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches themselves.’
Responsory
Rv 1:5-6; Col 1:18
℟. Christ loves us, and by his death he has freed us from our sins.* To him be glory and power for ever and ever, alleluia.
℣. He is the origin of the new creation, the first to return from the dead, to be in all things supreme.* To him be glory and power for ever and ever, alleluia.
________
Second Reading
From an ancient Easter homily by Pseudo-Chrysostom
The spiritual Passover
The Passover we celebrate brings salvation to the whole human race beginning with the first man, who together with all the others is saved and given life.
In an imperfect and transitory way, the types and images of the past prefigured the perfect and eternal reality which has now been revealed. The presence of what is represented makes the symbol obsolete: when the king appears in person no one pays reverence to his statue.
How far the symbol falls short of the reality is seen from the fact that the symbolic Passover celebrated the brief life of the firstborn of the Jews, whereas the real Passover celebrates the eternal life of all mankind. It is a small gain to escape death for a short time, only to die soon afterwards; it is a very different thing to escape death altogether as we do through the sacrifice of Christ, our Passover.
Correctly understood, its very name shows why this is our greatest feast. It is called the Passover because, when he was striking down the firstborn, the destroying angel passed over the houses of the Hebrews, but it is even more true to say that he passes over us, for he does so once and for all when we are raised up by Christ to eternal life.
If we think only of the true Passover and ask why it is that the time of the Passover and the salvation of the firstborn is taken to be the beginning of the year, the answer must surely be that the sacrifice of the true Passover is for us the beginning of eternal life. Because it revolves in cycles and never comes to an end, the year is a symbol of eternity.
Christ, the sacrifice that was offered up for us, is the father of the world to come. He puts an end to our former life, and through the regenerating waters of baptism in which we imitate his death and resurrection, he gives us the beginning of a new life. The knowledge that Christ is the Passover lamb who was sacrificed for us should make us regard the moment of his immolation as the beginning of our own lives. As far as we are concerned, Christ’s immolation on our behalf takes place when we become aware of this grace and understand the life conferred on us by this sacrifice. Having once understood it, we should enter upon this new life with all eagerness and never return to the old one, which is now at an end. As Scripture says: We have died to sin – how then can we continue to live in it?
Responsory
℟. Cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new batch of bread: for Christ our paschal lamb has been sacrificed.* Let us celebrate the festival, therefore, in honour of the Lord, alleluia.
℣. He was put to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.* Let us celebrate the festival, therefore, in honour of the Lord, alleluia.
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Let us pray.
Almighty, ever-living God,
we confidently call you Father as well as Lord.
Renew your Spirit in our hearts:
make us ever more perfectly your children,
so that we may enter upon the inheritance you have promised us.
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.