Friday 26 February 2021
Friday of the 1st week of Lent
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.
________
Hymn
Creator of the earth and skies,
To whom the words of life belong,
Grant us thy truth to make us wise;
Grant us thy power to make us strong.
Like theirs of old, our life is death,
Our light is darkness, till we see
The eternal Word made flesh and breath,
The God who walked by Galilee.
We have not known thee: to the skies
Our monuments of folly soar,
And all our self-wrought miseries
Have made us trust ourselves the more.
We have not loved thee: far and wide
The wreckage of our hatred spreads,
And evils wrought by human pride
Recoil on unrepentant heads.
For this, our foolish confidence,
Our pride of knowledge and our sin,
We come to thee in penitence;
In us the work of grace begin.
________
Psalm 50 (51)
God, have mercy on me
“You must be made new in mind and spirit, and put on the new nature of God’s creating” (Eph 4:23,24).
Lord, you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice offered on your altar.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
My offences truly I know them;
my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.
That you may be justified when you give sentence
and be without reproach when you judge,
O see, in guilt I was born,
a sinner was I conceived.
Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may revive.
From my sins turn away your face
and blot out all my guilt.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.
O rescue me, God, my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
In your goodness, show favour to Sion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
holocausts offered on your altar.
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, you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice offered on your altar.
Psalm-prayer
Father, he who knew no sin was made sin for us, to save us and restore us to your friendship. Look upon our contrite heart and afflicted spirit and heal our troubled conscience, so that in the joy and strength of the Holy Spirit we may proclaim your praise and glory before all the nations.
________
Canticle
Isaiah 45
All peoples, turn to the Lord
“Every knee must bow at the name of Jesus” (Phil 2:10).
All the descendants of Israel shall glory in victory through the Lord.
Truly, God of Israel, the Saviour,
you are a God who lies hidden.
They will be put to shame and disgraced,
all who resist you.
They will take themselves off in dismay,
the makers of idols.
But Israel is saved by the Lord,
saved for evermore.
You will never be ashamed or disgraced
through endless ages.
For this is the word of the Lord,
the creator of heaven,
the God who made earth and shaped it,
he who made it firm.
He did not create it in vain,
he made it to be lived in.
‘I am the Lord, there is no other.
I have not spoken in secret, in some dark place,
I have not said to Jacob’s sons
“Search for me in vain.”
I am the Lord, I speak the truth,
I proclaim what is right.
Assemble, all of you, draw near
you who have escaped from the nations.
They know nothing, who carry around
their idols made of wood
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save them.
State your case and bring your proofs,
consult among yourselves.
Who proclaimed this beforehand,
who foretold it long ago?
Was it not I, the Lord?
There is no god but me,
a God of justice, a saviour.
There is none but me.
Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, there is no other;
by myself I swear it.
It is truth that goes forth from my mouth,
a word beyond recall.
To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.
They will say: “In the Lord alone
are victory and power.
And to him will come in dismay
all who have resisted.
Through the Lord will come victory and glory
for all Israel’s sons.”’
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 descendants of Israel shall glory in victory through the Lord.
________
Psalm 99 (100)
Enter the Temple with joy
“The Lord calls all those he has redeemed to sing a hymn of victory” (St Athanasius).
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy.
Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Go within his gates, giving thanks.
Enter his courts with songs of praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.
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.
Come before the Lord, singing for joy.
Psalm-prayer
With joy and gladness we cry out to you, Lord, and ask you: open our hearts to sing your praises and announce your goodness and truth.
Or:
God, devoted to us as a Father, you created us as a sign of your power and elected us your people to show your goodness. Accept the thanks your children offer that all men may enter your courts praising you in song.
________
Short Reading
Isaiah 53:11-12
By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself. Hence I will grant whole hordes for his tribute, he shall divide the spoil with the mighty, for surrendering himself to death and letting himself be taken for a sinner, while he was bearing the faults of many and praying all the time for sinners.
________
Short Responsory
It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
And from the evil word.
– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
________
Canticle
Benedictus
The Messiah and the one who was sent before him
If your virtue does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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.
If your virtue does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
________
Prayers and intercessions
We give thanks to Christ the Lord, who died on the cross that we might live. Let us pray to him with all our heart.
– Lord Jesus, may your death bring us to life.
Master and Saviour, you have taught us by your life and renewed us by your passion;
do not allow us to grow used to sin.
– Lord Jesus, may your death bring us to life.
You call on us to feed the hungry;
let us deny ourselves some food this day to help our brothers in their need.
– Lord Jesus, may your death bring us to life.
May we accept from your hands this day of Lent;
may we make it yours by deeds of love.
– Lord Jesus, may your death bring us to life.
End the rebellion within our hearts;
make us generous and willing to share.
– Lord Jesus, may your death bring us to life.
________
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.
________
Bend our wills, Lord, so that by this Lenten observance
we may fit ourselves to celebrate the Easter festival;
and as we have all undertaken to subdue the body,
may we all be renewed in spirit.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Copyright © 1996-2021 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.