Thursday 27 May 2021
Thursday of week 8 in Ordinary Time
or Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop
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.
________
Hymn
Where true love is dwelling, God is dwelling there:
Love’s own loving Presence love does ever share.
Love of Christ has made us out of many one;
In our midst is dwelling God’s eternal Son.
Give him joyful welcome, love him and revere:
Cherish one another with a love sincere.
________
Psalm 43 (44):2-9
In time of defeat
“In all these trials, we triumph through the power of him who has shown his love for us” (Rom 8:37).
Their own arm did not bring them victory: this was won by your right hand and the light of your face.
We heard with our own ears, O God,
our fathers have told us the story
of the things you did in their days,
you yourself, in days long ago.
To plant them you uprooted the nations;
to let them spread you laid peoples low.
No sword of their own won the land;
no arm of their own brought them victory.
It was your right hand, your arm
and the light of your face; for you loved them.
It is you, my king, my God,
who granted victories to Jacob.
Through you we beat down our foes;
in your name we trampled down our aggressors.
For it was not in my bow that I trusted
nor yet was I saved by my sword:
it was you who saved us from our foes,
it was you who put our foes to shame.
All day long our boast was in God
and we praised your name without ceasing.
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.
Their own arm did not bring them victory: this was won by your right hand and the light of your face.
________
Psalm 43 (44):10-17
If you return to the Lord, then he will not hide his face from you.
Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us;
you no longer go forth with our armies.
You make us retreat from the foe
and our enemies plunder us at will.
You make us like sheep for the slaughter
and scatter us among the nations.
You sell your own people for nothing
and make no profit by the sale.
You make us the taunt of our neighbours,
the laughing-stock of all who are near.
Among the nations, you make us a byword,
among the peoples a thing of derision.
All day long my disgrace is before me;
my face is covered with shame
at the voice of the taunter, the scoffer,
at the sight of the foe and avenger.
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 you return to the Lord, then he will not hide his face from you.
________
Psalm 43 (44):18-26
Arise, Lord, do not reject us for ever.
This befell us though we had not forgotten you,
though we had not been false to your covenant,
though we had not withdrawn our hearts;
though our feet had not strayed from your path.
Yet you have crushed us in a place of sorrows
and covered us with the shadow of death.
Had we forgotten the name of our God
or stretched out hands to another god,
would not God have found this out,
he who knows the secrets of the heart?
It is for you we face death all day long
and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep?
Arise, do not reject us for ever!
Why do you hide your face from us
and forget our oppression and misery?
For we are brought down low to the dust;
our body lies prostrate on the earth.
Stand up and come to our help!
Redeem us because of your love!
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.
Arise, Lord, do not reject us for ever.
Psalm-prayer
Lord, rise up and come to our aid; with your strong arm lead us to freedom, as you mightily delivered our forefathers. Since you are the king who knows the secrets of our hearts, fill them with the light of truth.
Or:
Lord Jesus, you foretold that we would share in the persecutions that brought you to a violent death. The Church formed at the cost of your precious blood is even now conformed to your Passion; may it be transformed, now and eternally, by the power of your resurrection.
________
℣. Let your face shine on your servant, Lord.
℟. Teach me your decrees.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Job 11:1-20
Zophar's speech
Zophar of Naamath spoke next. He said:
Is babbling to go without an answer?
Is wordiness in man a proof of right?
Do you think your talking strikes men dumb,
will you jeer with no one to refute you?
These were your words, ‘My way of life is faultless,
and in your eyes I am free from blame.’
But if God had a mind to speak,
to open his lips and give you answer,
were he to show you the secrets of wisdom
which put all cleverness to shame –
you would know it is for sin he calls you to account.
Can you claim to grasp the mystery of God,
to understand the perfection of Shaddai?
It is higher than the heavens: what can you do?
It is deeper than Sheol: what can you know?
Its length is longer than the earth,
its breadth is broader than the sea.
If he passes, who can stop him,
or make him yield once he has seized?
For he detects the worthlessness in man,
he sees iniquity and marks it well.
And so the idiot grows wise,
thus a young wild donkey grows tame.
Come, you must set your heart right,
stretch out your hands to him.
Renounce the iniquity that stains your hands,
let no injustice live within your tents.
Then you may face the world in innocence,
unwavering and free from fear.
You will forget your sufferings,
remember them as waters that have passed away.
Your life, more radiant than the noonday,
will make a dawn of darkness.
Full of hope, you will live secure,
dwelling well and safely guarded.
No one will dare disturb you,
and many a man will seek your favour.
But the wicked will look round with weary eyes,
and finding no escape,
the only hope they have is life’s last breath.
Responsory
2 Co 4:8-10
℟. We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair;* we have been persecuted, but never deserted.
℣. Always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body.* We have been persecuted, but never deserted.
________
Second Reading
The Moral Reflections on Job by Pope St Gregory the Great
The law of the Lord is manifold
If only God would show you how manifold is his law. How must we interpret this law of God? How, if not by love? The love that stamps the precepts of right-living on the mind and bids us put them into practice. Listen to Truth speaking of this law: This is my commandment, that you love one another. Listen to Paul: The whole law, he declares, is summed up in love; and again: Help one another in your troubles, and you will fulfil the law of Christ. The law of Christ – does anything other than love more fittingly describe it? Truly we are keeping this law when, out of love, we go to the help of a brother in trouble.
But we are told that this law is manifold. Why? Because love’s lively concern for others is reflected in all the virtues. It begins with two commands, but it soon embraces many more. Paul gives a good summary of its various aspects. Love is patient, he says, and kind; it is never jealous or conceited; its conduct is blameless; it is not ambitious, not selfish, not quick to take offence; it harbours no evil thoughts, does not gloat over other people’s sins, but is gladdened by an upright life.
The man ruled by this love shows his patience by bearing wrongs with equanimity; his kindness by generously repaying good for evil. Jealousy is foreign to him. It is impossible to envy worldly success when he has no worldly desires. He is not conceited. The prizes he covets lie within; outward blessings do not elate him. His conduct is blameless, for he cannot do wrong in devoting himself entirely to love of God and his neighbour. He is not ambitious. The welfare of his own soul is what he cares about. Apart from that he seeks nothing. He is not selfish. Unable to keep anything he has in this world, he is as indifferent to it as if it were another’s. Indeed, in his eyes nothing is his own but what will be so always. He is not quick to take offence. Even under provocation, thought of revenge never crosses his mind. The reward he seeks hereafter will be greater in proportion to his endurance. He harbours no evil thoughts. Hatred is utterly rooted out of a heart whose only love is goodness. Thoughts that defile a man can find no entry. He does not gloat over other people’s sins. No; an enemy’s fall affords him no delight, for loving all men, he longs for their salvation.
On the other hand, he is gladdened by an upright life. Since he loves others as himself, he takes as much pleasure in whatever good he sees in them as if the progress were his own. That is why this law of God is manifold.
Responsory
℟. Leave no claim outstanding against you, except that of mutual love. He who loves his neighbour has satisfied every claim of the law.* The whole law is summed up in love.
℣. The whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’* The whole law is summed up in love.
________
Let us pray.
In your mercy, Lord,
direct the affairs of men so peaceably
that your Church may serve you
in tranquillity and joy.
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.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
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.