Saturday 5 December 2020
Saturday of the 1st week of Advent
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
The Advent of our God
With eager prayers we greet
And singing haste upon the road
His glorious gift to meet.
The everlasting Son
Scorns not a Virgin’s womb;
That we from bondage may be won
He bears a bondsman’s doom.
Daughter of Zion, rise
To meet thy lowly King;
Let not thy stubborn heart despise
The peace he deigns to bring.
In clouds of awful light,
As Judge he comes again,
His scattered people to unite,
With them in heaven to reign.
Let evil flee away
Ere that dread hour shall dawn.
Let this old Adam day by day
God’s image still put on.
Praise to the Incarnate Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With God the Father, ever One,
To all eternity.
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Psalm 104 (105)
The Lord is faithful to his promises
“The Apostles tell the peoples of the wonderful deeds God wrought in his coming to us” (St Athanasius).
Sing to the Lord; tell all his wonderful works.
Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.
Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgements he spoke.
O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God:
his judgements prevail in all the earth.
He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
He confirmed it for Jacob as a law,
for Israel as a covenant for ever.
He said: ‘I am giving you a land,
Canaan, your appointed heritage.’
When they were few in number,
a handful of strangers in the land,
when they wandered from country to country,
from one kingdom and nation to another,
he allowed no one to oppress them;
he admonished kings on their account:
‘Do not touch those I have anointed;
do no harm to any of my prophets.’
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.
Sing to the Lord; tell all his wonderful works.
________
Psalm 104 (105)
The Lord did not forget the just man who was sold as a slave: he released him from the power of sinful men.
But he called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
Then the king sent and released him
the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed,
to instruct his princes as he pleased
and to teach his elders wisdom.
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 did not forget the just man who was sold as a slave: he released him from the power of sinful men.
________
Psalm 104 (105)
The Lord remembered his holy word, and he brought out his people with joy.
So Israel came into Egypt;
Jacob lived in the country of Ham.
He gave his people increase;
he made them stronger than their foes,
whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceitfully with his servants.
Then he sent Moses his servant
and Aaron the man he had chosen.
Through them he showed his marvels
and his wonders in the country of Ham.
He sent darkness, and dark was made
but Egypt resisted his words.
He turned the waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
Their land was alive with frogs,
even in the halls of their kings.
He spoke; the dog-fly came
and gnats covered the land.
He sent hailstones in place of the rain
and flashing fire in their land.
He struck their vines and fig-trees;
he shattered the trees through their land.
He spoke; the locusts came,
young locusts, too many to be counted.
They ate up every blade in the land;
they ate up all the fruit of their fields.
He struck all the first-born in their land,
the finest flower of their sons.
He led out Israel with silver and gold.
In his tribes were none who fell behind.
Egypt rejoiced when they left
for dread had fallen upon them.
He spread a cloud as a screen
and fire to give light in the darkness.
When they asked for food he sent quails;
he filled them with bread from heaven.
He pierced the rock to give them water;
it gushed forth in the desert like a river.
For he remembered his holy word,
which he gave to Abraham his servant.
So he brought out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.
And he gave them the land of the nations.
They took the fruit of other men’s toil,
that thus they might keep his precepts,
that thus they might observe his laws.
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 remembered his holy word, and he brought out his people with joy.
Psalm-prayer
Abraham, Joseph and Moses prefigured your plan, Father, to redeem mankind from slavery and to lead them into the land of promise. Through the death and resurrection of your Son, your Church fulfils these promises. Grant us living water from the rock and bread from heaven, that we may survive our desert pilgrimage and thank you eternally for your kindness.
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℣. The Lord makes his word known to Jacob,
℟. To Israel his laws and decrees.
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Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Isaiah 21:6-12
The watchman announces the ruin of Babylon
This is what the Lord has said to me,
‘Go and post the watchman,
and let him report what he sees.
‘If he sees cavalry,
horsemen two by two,
men mounted on camels,
let him observe, closely observe.’
The look-out shouts,
‘On a watchtower, Lord,
I stand all day;
and at my post
I keep guard all night.’
Look, here come the cavalry,
horsemen two by two.
They spoke to me; they said,
‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
and all the images of her gods
are shattered on the ground.’
You who are threshed,
you who are winnowed,
what I have learnt
from the Lord of Hosts,
from the God of Israel,
I am telling you now.
Oracle on Edom:
Someone shouts to me from Seir,
‘Watchman, what time of night?
Watchman, what time of night?’
The watchman answers,
‘Morning is coming, then night again.
If you want to, why not ask,
turn round, come back?’
Responsory
Rv 18:2,4-5
℟. The angel cried aloud, Babylon, great Babylon is fallen. And now I heard another voice from heaven say,* Come out of her, my people, that you may not be involved in her guilt.
℣. Her guilt mounts up to heaven: the Lord has kept her sins in remembrance.* Come out of her, my people, that you may not be involved in her guilt.
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Second Reading
From a treatise on the value of patience, by St Cyprian
What we do not see, we hope for
Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord our teacher: Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And again: If you persevere in my word, you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary.
We do not seek glory now, in the present, but we look for future glory, as Saint Paul instructs us when he says: By hope we were saved. Now hope which is seen is not hope; how can a man hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience. Patient waiting is necessary if we are to be perfected in what we have begun to be, and if we are to receive from God what we hope for and believe.
In another place the same Apostle instructs and teaches the just, and those active in good works, and those who store up for themselves treasures in heaven through the reward God gives them. They are to be patient also, for he says: Therefore while we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith. But let us not grow weary in doing good, for we shall reap our reward in due season.
Paul warns us not to grow weary in good works through impatience, not to be distracted or overcome by temptations and so give up in the midst of our pilgrimage of praise and glory, and allow our past good deeds to count for nothing because what was begun falls short of completion.
Finally the Apostle, speaking of charity, unites it with endurance and patience. Charity, he says, is always patient and kind; it is not jealous, is not boastful, is not given to anger, does not think evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He shows that charity can be steadfast and persevering because it has learned how to endure all things.
And in another place he says: Bear with one another lovingly, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He shows that neither unity nor peace can be maintained unless the brethren cherish each other with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of harmony by means of patience.
Responsory
℟. He will come in the end, he will not deceive:* wait, he will surely come without delay.
℣. Only a little while now, a very little while, and the One that is coming will have come.* Wait, he will surely come without delay.
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Let us pray.
Lord, to free man from his sinful state
you sent your only Son into this world.
Grant to us who in faith and love wait for his coming
your gift of grace
and the reward of true freedom.
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.
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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.