Friday 6 November 2020
Friday of week 31 in Ordinary Time
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. Alleluia.
________
Hymn
When God made man, he gave him all the earth,
All growing things, with every bird and beast;
Then Adam named them at the Lord’s command,
Subdued the greatest of them, and the least.
In his own image God created man,
And when from dust he fashioned Adam’s face,
The likeness of his only Son was formed:
His Word incarnate, filled with truth and grace.
To God the Father and to Christ his Son
And blessed Spirit heaven and earth give praise.
Creation with tremendous voice cries out:
All holy is the mighty Lord of Days.
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal
________
Psalm 134 (135)
Praise the Lord, the wonder-worker
“You are a chosen race. Sing the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).
The Lord is great: our God is high above all gods.
Praise the name of the Lord,
praise him, servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord
in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise the Lord for the Lord is good.
Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving.
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself
and Israel for his own possession.
For I know the Lord is great,
that our Lord is high above all gods.
The Lord does whatever he wills,
in heaven, on earth, in the seas.
He summons clouds from the ends of the earth;
makes lightning produce the rain;
from his treasuries he sends forth the wind.
The first-born of the Egyptians he smote,
of man and beast alike.
Signs and wonders he worked
in the midst of your land, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
Nations in their greatness he struck
and kings in their splendour he slew.
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, the king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
He let Israel inherit their land;
on his people their land he bestowed.
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.
The Lord is great: our God is high above all gods.
________
Psalm 134 (135)
House of Israel, bless the Lord! Sing a psalm to his name, for he is loving.
Lord, your name stands for ever,
unforgotten from age to age,
for the Lord does justice for his people;
the Lord takes pity on his servants.
Pagan idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths but they cannot speak;
they have eyes but they cannot see.
They have ears but they cannot hear;
there is never a breath on their lips.
Their makers will come to be like them
and so will all who trust in them!
Sons of Israel, bless the Lord!
Sons of Aaron, bless the Lord!
Sons of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear him, bless the Lord!
From Sion may the Lord be blessed,
he who dwells in Jerusalem!
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.
House of Israel, bless the Lord! Sing a psalm to his name, for he is loving.
Psalm-prayer
Father, your name and your memory last for ever. We stand to pray in your house and praise you with psalms of joy. We ask you in your kindness to have mercy on us in our lowliness.
Or:
Father, you shattered the powers of darkness, with all their evil plots, to give strength to your servants and make them magnanimous in the struggle for eternal life. Have mercy on us and do not permit us to be deceived by false idols. May we praise your name for ever and receive the eternal gift of our inheritance.
________
Canticle
Apocalypse 15
A hymn of adoration
All the peoples will come and adore you, Lord.
Great and wonderful are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the ages!
Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord?
For you alone are holy.
All nations shall come and worship you,
for your judgements have been revealed.
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.
All the peoples will come and adore you, Lord.
________
Short Reading
James 1:2-4
My brothers, you will always have your trials but, when they come, try to treat them as a happy privilege; you understand that your faith is only put to the test to make you patient, but patience too is to have its practical results so that you will become fully-developed, complete, with nothing missing.
________
Short Responsory
Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
– Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
He has made us a line of kings, priests to serve God.
– Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
________
Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
The Lord has come to help us, his servants: he has remembered his mercy.
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.
The Lord has come to help us, his servants: he has remembered his mercy.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Father, Christ prayed that we be forgiven through his passion. As you accepted him, accept his prayer for all sinners.
– Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Through his beloved disciple, Jesus gave us Mary to be our mother;
with her we pray to you for all her children.
– Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Father, heed the anguish of those who cry out to you with your Son:
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
– Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Help us to hear the cry, ‘I thirst’;
help us to see your Son, even in the least of his brothers.
– Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
To the man dying with him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you, this day you will be with me in Paradise.’
Father, let these words be heard again by those who die tonight.
– Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
We pray for those who have gone before us, signed with the sign of the cross:
may they rise with Christ in power when his voice resounds again through the universe: ‘It is consummated.’
– Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
________
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.
________
Holy Father and Lord,
you willed that Christ your Son
should be the price of our salvation.
Give us grace so to live
that through sharing his sufferings
we may be strengthened by the power of his resurrection.
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.