Tuesday 13 October 2020
Tuesday of week 28 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
O God of truth and Lord of power,
whose word their course to things assigns,
whose splendour lights the morning hour,
whose fiery sun at noonday shines:
Within us quench the flames of strife,
the harmful heat of passion quell;
give health of body to our life
and give true peace of soul as well.
In this, most loving Father, hear,
and Christ, co-equal Son, our prayer:
with Holy Ghost, one Trinity,
you reign for all eternity.
________
Psalm 101 (102)
Prayers and vows of an exile
“God comforts us in all our sorrows” (2 Cor 1:4).
Let my cry come to you, Lord: do not hide your face from me.
O Lord, listen to my prayer
and let my cry for help reach you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear towards me
and answer me quickly when I call.
For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones burn away like a fire.
My heart is withered like the grass.
I forget to eat my bread.
I cry with all my strength
and my skin clings to my bones.
I have become like a pelican in the wilderness
like an owl in desolate places.
I lie awake and I moan
like some lonely bird on a roof.
All day long my foes revile me;
those who hate me use my name as a curse.
The bread I eat is ashes;
my drink is mingled with tears.
In your anger, Lord, and your fury
you have lifted me up and thrown me down.
My days are like a passing shadow
and I wither away like the grass.
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 my cry come to you, Lord: do not hide your face from me.
________
Psalm 101 (102)
Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.
But you, O Lord, will endure for ever
and your name from age to age.
You will arise and have mercy on Sion:
for this is the time to have mercy,
(yes, the time appointed has come)
for your servants love her very stones,
are moved with pity even for her dust.
The nations shall fear the name of the Lord
and all the earth’s kings your glory,
when the Lord shall build up Sion again
and appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
he will not despise their prayers.
Let this be written for ages to come
that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.
He looked down from heaven to the earth
that he might hear the groans of the prisoners
and free those condemned to die.
The sons of your servants shall dwell untroubled
and their race shall endure before you,
that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Sion
and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem,
when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together
to pay their homage to the Lord.
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.
Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.
________
Psalm 101 (102)
You founded the earth, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
He has broken my strength in mid-course;
he has shortened the days of my life.
I say to God: ‘Do not take me away
before my days are complete,
you, whose days last from age to age.
‘Long ago you founded the earth
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish but you will remain.
They will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like clothes that are changed.
But you neither change, nor have an end.’
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.
You founded the earth, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
Psalm-prayer
Lord, you live in the hearts of your saints, and so have built up Zion. May you always show your greatness through their good works.
Or:
You remain for ever, Father, undisturbed by change, while our days vanish like shadows and our lives wear out like a garment. Although our lives in this world come to an end, help us to live in Christ’s endless life, and so attain the heavenly Jerusalem, our lasting home.
________
℣. Give heed, my people, to my teaching.
℟. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Zechariah 1:1-2:4
A vision of Jerusalem rebuilt
In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, the word of the Lord was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, ‘Cry out to the remnant of this people and say to them, “The Lord of Hosts says this: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets in the past cried: the Lord of Hosts says this: Turn back from your evil ways and evil deeds. But – it is the Lord who speaks – they would not listen or pay attention to me. Where are your ancestors now? Are those prophets still alive? Did not my words and my orders, with which I charged my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors?” The Lord was stirred to anger against your ancestors.”’ This reduced them to such confusion that they said, ‘The Lord of Hosts has treated us as he resolved to do, and as our ways and deeds deserved.’
On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat), in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, ‘I saw a vision during the night. It was this: a man was standing among the deep-rooted myrtles; behind him were horses, red and sorrel and black and white. I said: What are these, my lord? (And the angel who was talking to me said, “I will explain to you what they are.”) The man standing among the myrtles answered, “They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol throughout the world.” They then spoke to the angel of the Lord standing among the myrtles; they said, “We have been patrolling the world, and see, the whole world is at peace and rest.” The angel of the Lord then spoke and said, “Lord of Hosts, how long will you wait before taking pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, on which you have inflicted your anger for the past seventy years?” The Lord then replied with very consoling words to the angel who was talking to me. The angel who was talking to me then said to me, “Make this proclamation: the Lord of Hosts says this: I feel most jealous love for Jerusalem and Zion, but very bitter anger against the proud nations; for my part I was only a little angry, but they have overstepped all limits. The Lord, then, says this. I turn again in compassion to Jerusalem; my Temple there shall be rebuilt – it is the Lord of Hosts who speaks – and the measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem. Make this proclamation too: the Lord of Hosts says this: My cities are once more going to be very prosperous. The Lord will again take pity on Zion, again make Jerusalem his very own.”’
Then, raising my eyes, I saw a vision. It was this: there were four horns. I said to the angel who was talking to me, ‘What are these horns, my lord?’ He said to me, ‘These are the horns which have scattered Judah (Israel) and Jerusalem’. The Lord then showed me four smiths. And I said, ‘What are these coming to do?’ He said to me, ‘(Those are the horns which have so scattered Judah that no one has dared to raise his head; but) these have come to lay them low (to strike down the horns of the nations who lifted their hands against the land of Judah, in order to scatter it)’.
Responsory
Zc 1:16; Rv 21:23
℟. I turn again in compassion to Jerusalem:* My temple there shall be rebuilt.
℣. The city will have no need of sun or moon for its light; its lamp will be the Lamb.* My temple there shall be rebuilt.
________
Second Reading
From the Instructions of St Columbanus, abbot
Perpetual light in the temple of the eternal High Priest
How happy, how lucky are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes! How blessed it is to be wakeful and watching for God, who created all things, who fills them with being and exceeds all of them in greatness!
I am a lowly creature but I am still his servant, and I hope that he will choose to wake me from slumber. I hope that he will set me on fire with the flame of his divine love, the flame that burns above the stars, so that I am filled with desire for his love and his fire burns always within me!
I hope that I may deserve this, that my little lamp should burn all night in the temple of the Lord and shine on all who enter the house of God! Lord, I beg you in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and my God, give me a love that cannot stumble so that my lamp can be lit but can never go out: let it burn in me and give light to others.
And you, Christ, our gentle saviour, in your kindness light our lamps so that they shine for ever in your temple and lighten our darkness and dispel the shadows of the world.
I beg you, my Jesus, fill my lamp with your light. By its light let me see the holiest of holy places, your own temple where you enter as the eternal High Priest of the eternal mysteries. Let me see you, watch you, desire you. Let me love you as I see you, and before you let my lamp always shine, always burn.
Beloved Saviour, show yourself to us who beg a glimpse of you. Let us know you, let us love you, let us love only you, let us desire you alone, let us spend our days and nights meditating on you alone, let us always be thinking of you. Fill us with love of you, let us love you with all the love that is your right as our God. Let that love fill us and possess us, let it overwhelm our senses until we can love nothing but you, for you are eternal. Give us that love that all the waters of the sea, the earth, the sky cannot extinguish: as it is written, love that no flood can quench, no torrents drown. What is said in the Song of Songs can become true in us (at least in part) if you, our Lord Jesus Christ, give us that grace. To you be glory for ever and for ever. Amen.
Responsory
℟. The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor the moon shine on you when evening falls;* the Lord shall be your everlasting light and your God shall be your glory.
℣. For you, no sun shall set again, nor moon withdraw her light:* the Lord shall be your everlasting light and your God shall be your glory.
________
Let us pray.
Lord God,
open our hearts to your grace.
Let it go before us and be with us,
that we may always be intent upon doing your will.
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.