Thursday 23 April 2020
Thursday of the 2nd week of Eastertide
or Saint George, Martyr
or Saint Adalbert of Prague, Bishop, Martyr
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
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 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. Alleluia.
We héard with our ówn ears, O Gód, *
our fáthers have tóld us the stóry
of the thíngs you díd in their dáys, *
you yoursélf, in dáys long agó.
To plánt them you upróoted the nátions; *
to let them spréad you laid péoples lów.
No swórd of their ówn won the lánd; *
no árm of their ówn brought them víctory.
It was yóur right hánd, your árm *
and the líght of your fáce; for you lóved them.
It is yóu, my kíng, my Gód, *
who gránted víctories to Jácob.
Through yóu we béat down our fóes; *
in your náme we trámpled down our aggréssors.
For it was nót in my bów that I trústed *
nor yét was I sáved by my swórd:
it was yóu who sáved us from our fóes, *
it was yóu who put our fóes to sháme.
All day lóng our bóast was in Gód *
and we práised your náme without céasing.
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. Alleluia.
________
Psalm 43 (44)
Spare us, Lord, do not let your people be put to shame.
Yet nów you have rejécted us, disgráced us; *
you no lónger go fórth with our ármies.
You máke us retréat from the fóe *
and our énemies plúnder us at wíll.
You máke us like shéep for the sláughter *
and scátter us amóng the nátions.
You séll your own péople for nóthing *
and máke no prófit by the sále.
You máke us the táunt of our néighbours, *
the láughing-stock of áll who are néar.
Among the nátions, you máke us a býword, *
among the péoples a thíng of derísion.
All day lóng my disgráce is befóre me; *
my fáce is cóvered with sháme
at the vóice of the táunter, the scóffer, *
at the síght of the fóe and avénger.
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. Alleluia.
This beféll us though we hád not forgótten you, *
though we hád not been fálse to your cóvenant,
though we hád not withdráwn our héarts; *
though our féet had not stráyed from your páth.
Yet you have crúshed us in a pláce of sórrows *
and cóvered us with the shádow of déath.
Had we forgótten the náme of our Gód *
or strétched out hánds to another gód,
would not Gód have fóund this óut, *
he who knóws the sécrets of the héart?
It is for yóu that we face déath all day lóng *
and are cóunted as shéep for the sláughter.
Awáke, O Lord, whý do you sléep? *
Aríse, do not rejéct us for éver!
Whý do you híde your fáce *
and forgét our oppréssion and mísery?
For we are bróught down lów to the dúst; *
our bódy lies próstrate on the éarth.
Stand úp and cóme to our hélp! *
Redéem us becáuse of 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.
Arise, Lord! Redeem us because of your love. Alleluia.
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.
________
℣. God raised our Lord from the dead, alleluia.
℟. He will also raise us by his power, alleluia.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Apocalypse 3:1-22
To the churches at Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea
Write to the angel of the church in Sardis and say, “Here is the message of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know all about you: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead. Wake up; revive what little you have left: it is dying fast. So far I have failed to notice anything in the way you live that my God could possibly call perfect, and yet do you remember how eager you were when you first heard the message? Hold on to that. Repent. If you do not wake up, I shall come to you like a thief, without telling you at what hour to expect me. There are a few in Sardis, it is true, who have kept their robes from being dirtied, and they are fit to come with me, dressed in white. Those who prove victorious will be dressed, like these, in white robes; I shall not blot their names out of the book of life, but acknowledge their names in the presence of my Father and his angels. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia and say, “Here is the message of the holy and faithful one who has the key of David, so that when he opens, nobody can close, and when he closes, nobody can open: I know all about you; and now I have opened in front of you a door that nobody will be able to close – and I know that though you are not very strong, you have kept my commandments and not disowned my name. Now I am going to make the synagogue of Satan – those who profess to be Jews, but are liars, because they are no such thing – I will make them come and fall at your feet and admit that you are the people that I love. Because you have kept my commandment to endure trials, I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is going to come for the whole world, to test the people of the world. Soon I shall be with you: hold firmly to what you already have, and let nobody take your prize away from you. Those who prove victorious I will make into pillars in the sanctuary of my God, and they will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea and say, “Here is the message of the Amen, the faithful, the true witness, the ultimate source of God’s creation: I know all about you: how you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other, but since you are neither, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say to yourself, ‘I am rich, I have made a fortune, and have everything I want’, never realising that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too. I warn you, buy from me the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you really rich, and white robes to clothe you and cover your shameful nakedness, and eye ointment to put on your eyes so that you are able to see. I am the one who reproves and disciplines all those he loves: so repent in real earnest. Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share his meal, side by side with him. Those who prove victorious I will allow to share my throne, just as I was victorious myself and took my place with my Father on his throne. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Responsory
Rv 3:20, 2:7
℟. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,* I will come into his house and eat with him, and he will eat with me, alleluia.
℣. To him who has won the victory I will give the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life that grows in the Garden of God.* I will come into his house and eat with him, and he will eat with me, alleluia.
________
Second Reading
From a sermon by Saint Gaudentius of Brescia, bishop
The inheritance of the new Covenant
The heavenly sacrifice, instituted by Christ, is the most gracious legacy of his new covenant. On the night he was delivered up to be crucified he left us this gift as a pledge of his abiding presence.
This sacrifice is our sustenance on life’s journey; by it we are nourished and supported along the road of life until we depart from this world and make our way to the Lord. For this reason he addressed these words to us: Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life in you.
It was the Lord’s will that his gifts should remain with us, and that we who have been redeemed by his precious blood should constantly be sanctified according to the pattern of his own passion. And so he commanded those faithful disciples of his whom he made the first priests of his Church to enact these mysteries of eternal life continuously. All priests throughout the churches of the world must celebrate these mysteries until Christ comes again from heaven. Therefore let us all, priests and people alike, be faithful to this everlasting memorial of our redemption. Daily it is before our eyes as a representation of the passion of Christ. We hold it in our hands, we receive it in our mouths, and we accept it in our hearts.
It is appropriate that we should receive the body of Christ in the form of bread, because, as there are many grains of wheat in the flour from which bread is made by mixing it with water and baking it with fire, so also we know that many members make up the one body of Christ which is brought to maturity by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, and since it was fitting that he should fulfil all justice, he entered into the waters of baptism to sanctify them. When he left the Jordan he was filled with the Holy Spirit who had descended upon him in the form of a dove. As the evangelist tells us: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.
Similarly, the wine of Christ’s blood, drawn from the many grapes of the vineyard that he had planted, is extracted in the wine-press of the cross. When men receive it with believing hearts, like capacious wineskins, it ferments within them by its own power.
And so, now that you have escaped from the power of Egypt and of Pharaoh, who is the devil, join with us, all of you, in receiving this sacrifice of the saving passover with the eagerness of dedicated hearts. Then in our inmost being we shall be wholly sanctified by the very Lord Jesus Christ whom we believe to be present in his sacraments, and whose boundless power abides for ever.
Responsory
℟. Jesus took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying,* This is my body, which will be given up for you: do this as a memorial of me, alleluia.
℣. This is the bread which came down from heaven: anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.* This is my body, which will be given up for you: do this as a memorial of me, alleluia.
________
Let us pray.
God of mercy,
let the mystery we celebrate at Eastertide
bear fruit for us in every season.
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.