Thursday 10 December 2020
Thursday of the 2nd week of Advent
or Our Lady of Loreto
Morning Prayer (Lauds)
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
Hark! a herald voice is calling
Through the shadows of the night
‘Cast away the dreams of darkness
Christ descends with heavenly light.’
Wakened by the solemn warning,
Let the earthbound soul arise;
Christ, her sun, all sloth dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.
Lo, the Lamb, so long expected,
Comes with pardon down from heav’n;
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiv’n;
So, when next he comes with glory,
And his judgement-day draws near,
Faithful he may find his servants,
Watching till their Lord appear.
Honour, glory, might, and blessing
To the Father and the Son,
With the everlasting Spirit,
While eternal ages run.
________
Psalm 79 (80)
Lord, tend your vine
“Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20).
Lord, rouse up your might and come to our help.
O shepherd of Israel, hear us,
you who lead Joseph’s flock,
shine forth from your cherubim throne
upon Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh.
O Lord, rouse up your might,
O Lord, come to our help.
God of hosts, bring us back;
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
Lord God of hosts, how long
will you frown on your people’s plea?
You have fed them with tears for their bread,
an abundance of tears for their drink.
You have made us the taunt of our neighbours,
our enemies laugh us to scorn.
God of hosts, bring us back;
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
to plant it you drove out the nations.
Before it you cleared the ground;
it took root and spread through the land.
The mountains were covered with its shadow,
the cedars of God with its boughs.
It stretched out its branches to the sea,
to the Great River it stretched out its shoots.
Then why have you broken down its walls?
It is plucked by all who pass by.
It is ravaged by the boar of the forest,
devoured by the beasts of the field.
God of hosts, turn again, we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.
Men have burnt it with fire and destroyed it.
May they perish at the frown of your face.
May your hand be on the man you have chosen,
the man you have given your strength.
And we shall never forsake you again;
give us life that we may call upon your name.
God of hosts, bring us back;
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
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, rouse up your might and come to our help.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, eternal shepherd, you so tend the vineyard you planted that now it extends its branches even to the farthest coast. Look down on your Church and come to us. Help us remain in your Son as branches on the vine, that, planted firmly in your love, we may testify before the whole world to your great power working everywhere.
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Canticle
Isaiah 12
The rejoicing of a redeemed people
“If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (Jn 7:37)
The Lord has done marvellous things: let them be made known to the whole world.
I thank you, Lord: you were angry with me,
but your anger has passed and you give me comfort.
Truly, God is my salvation,
I trust, I shall not fear.
For the Lord is my strength, my song,
he is my saviour.
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!
Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples.
Declare the greatness of his name,
sing a psalm to the Lord!
For he has done glorious deeds:
make them known to all the earth!
People of Zion, sing and shout for joy,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
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 done marvellous things: let them be made known to the whole world.
________
Psalm 80 (81)
Solemn renewal of the covenant
“Take care that no one among you has a wicked, disbelieving heart” (Heb 3:12).
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Ring out your joy to God our strength,
shout in triumph to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song and sound the timbrel,
the sweet-sounding harp and the lute;
blow the trumpet at the new moon,
when the moon is full, on our feast.
For this is Israel’s law,
a command of the God of Jacob.
He imposed it as a rule on Joseph,
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
A voice I did not know said to me:
‘I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load.
You called in distress and I saved you.
‘I answered, concealed in the storm cloud;
at the waters of Meribah I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning.
O Israel, if only you would heed!
‘Let there be no foreign god among you,
no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
‘But my people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.
‘O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.
‘The Lord’s enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.’
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.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, open our mouths to proclaim your glory. Help us to leave sin behind and to rejoice in professing your name.
Or:
Father, you rescued your people from slavery and acquired, through the passion of your Son, a new people united in his body and signed with his holiness. Make us faithful to your covenant and obedient to your commandments, so that we may have in your finest bread food for this life and a foretaste of eternity and be able to walk in your ways until we reach our home.
________
Short Reading
Isaiah 45:8
Send victory like a dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain it down. Let the earth open for salvation to spring up. Let deliverance, too, bud forth which I, the Lord, shall create.
________
Short Responsory
The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.
– The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.
His glory will appear in your midst.
– The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.
________
Canticle
Benedictus
The Messiah and the one who was sent before him
I will help you, says the Lord; I am your rescuer, the Holy One of Israel.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!
He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy men,
those who were his prophets from of old.
A saviour who would free us from our foes,
from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us,
that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
As for you, little child,
you shall be called a prophet of God, the Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
to prepare his ways before him,
To make known to his people their salvation
through forgiveness of all their sins,
the loving-kindness of the heart of our God
who visits us like the dawn from on high.
He will give light to those in darkness,
those who dwell in the shadow of death,
and guide us into the way of peace.
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.
I will help you, says the Lord; I am your rescuer, the Holy One of Israel.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Though the Lord’s coming is at hand, we must have patience: for he will come in his own time, in his own way.
– Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you are coming.
We live in a world weighed down by unbelief:
Lord, increase our faith.
– Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you are coming.
Upon the richness and complexity of man’s thoughts, among the theories and philosophies of our world today,
let your coming shed its own glorious light.
– Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you are coming.
Give us the strong faith of the apostles,
and their fervour in preaching your Word.
– Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you are coming.
Let us love the Church,
which continues to proclaim to all ages the reality of your coming.
– Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you are coming.
________
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.
________
Clear a pathway, Lord, in our hearts
to make ready for your only Son,
so that when he comes
we may serve you in sincerity of heart.
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.
________
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.