Friday 11 December 2020
Friday of the 2nd week of Advent
or Saint Damasus I, Pope
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
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come then and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of kings.
Then cleansed be every Christian breast,
And furnished for so great a guest!
Yea, let us each his heart prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.
For thou art our salvation, Lord,
Our refuge and our great reward;
Without thy grace our souls must fade,
And wither like a flower decayed.
Stretch forth thine hand, to heal our sore,
And make us rise to fall no more;
Once more upon thy people shine,
And fill the world with love divine.
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
Whose Advent sets thy people free,
Whom, with the Father, we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore.
________
Psalm 114 (116A)
Thanksgiving
“We must experience many hardships before we can enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Lord, keep my soul from death, my feet from stumbling.
I love the Lord for he has heard
the cry of my appeal;
for he turned his ear to me
in the day when I called him.
They surrounded me, the snares of death,
with the anguish of the tomb;
they caught me, sorrow and distress.
I called on the Lord’s name.
O Lord, my God, deliver me!
How gracious is the Lord, and just;
our God has compassion.
The Lord protects the simple hearts;
I was helpless so he saved me.
Turn back, my soul, to your rest
for the Lord has been good;
he has kept my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
and my feet from stumbling.
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
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, keep my soul from death, my feet from stumbling.
Psalm-prayer
God of power and mercy, through your Son’s passion and resurrection you have freed us from the bonds of death and the anguish of separation from you. Be ever with us on our pilgrimage; then we shall sing rather than weep. Keep our feet from stumbling, so that we may be able to follow you until we come to eternal rest.
________
Psalm 120 (121)
The guardian of the people
“They will never hunger or thirst again; neither the sun nor the scorching wind will ever plague them” (Rev 7:16).
My help shall come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains:
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the Lord
who made heaven and earth.
May he never allow you to stumble!
Let him sleep not, your guard.
No, he sleeps not nor slumbers,
Israel’s guard.
The Lord is your guard and your shade;
at your right side he stands.
By day the sun shall not smite you
nor the moon in the night.
The Lord will guard you from evil,
he will guard your soul.
The Lord will guard your going and coming
both now and 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.
My help shall come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm-prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you have prepared a quiet place for us in your Father’s eternal home. Watch over our welfare on this perilous journey, shade us from the burning heat of day, and keep our lives free of evil until the end.
________
Canticle
Apocalypse 15
A hymn of adoration
Your ways are just and true, King of all the ages.
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.
Your ways are just and true, King of all the ages.
________
Short Reading
2 Peter 3:8-9
With the Lord, ‘a day’ can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways.
________
Short Responsory
Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
Let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.
– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– Come to us and save us, Lord God almighty.
________
Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
Joyfully you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
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.
Joyfully you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
________
Prayers and intercessions
The Lord God said: ‘I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong,’
– Lord our God, come to save us.
Lord God, you made us and sustain us with your love:
help us to recognize that you are in our midst.
– Lord our God, come to save us.
You are close to each one of us:
open our hearts to love you.
– Lord our God, come to save us.
We pray for those who find their lives a burden too heavy to bear:
Lord, be their strength and their hope.
– Lord our God, come to save us.
You are Life, and the enemy of death:
rescue us and all the faithful departed from eternal darkness.
– Lord our God, come to save us.
________
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.
________
Lord, keep us ever alert and watchful
as we await the coming of your Son,
so that, faithful to his teaching,
we may hasten to meet our Saviour with lamps alight.
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.