Thursday 9 September 2021
Saint Peter Claver
on Thursday of week 23 in Ordinary Time
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.
________
Hymn
All hail the power of Jesus’ name;
Let Angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem
To crown him Lord of all.
Crown him, ye Martyrs of your God,
Who from his altar call;
Praise him whose way of pain ye trod,
And crown him Lord of all.
Hail him, ye heirs of David’s line,
Whom David Lord did call;
The God Incarnate, Man Divine,
And crown him Lord of all.
Let every tribe and every tongue
To him their hearts enthral,
Lift high the universal song,
And crown him Lord of all.
________
Psalm 86 (87)
Jerusalem, mother of all nations
“The Jerusalem which is above is free and is our mother” (Gal 4:26).
Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
On the holy mountain is his city
cherished by the Lord.
The Lord prefers the gates of Sion
to all Jacob’s dwellings.
Of you are told glorious things,
O city of God!
‘Babylon and Egypt I will count
among those who know me;
Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia,
these will be her children
and Sion shall be called “Mother”
for all shall be her children.’
It is he, the Lord Most High,
who gives each his place.
In his register of peoples he writes:
‘These are her children,’
and while they dance they will sing:
‘In you all find their home.’
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.
Glorious things are told of you, O city of God.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, your only Son wept over ancient Jerusalem, soon to be destroyed for its lack of faith. He established the new Jerusalem firmly upon rock and made it the mother of the faithful. Make us rejoice in your Church and grant that all people may be reborn into the freedom of your Spirit.
________
Canticle
Isaiah 40
The good shepherd is God, the Most High
“Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me” (Rev 22:12).
The Lord is coming in power: the prize of his victory is with him.
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or as his counsellor has instructed him?
Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice,
taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the isles
like fine dust.
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
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 is coming in power: the prize of his victory is with him.
________
Psalm 98 (99)
The Lord our God is holy
“You are higher than the Cherubim; you changed the bad state of the earth, when you came in a nature like ours” (St Athanasius).
Exalt the Lord our God; bow down before his holy mountain.
The Lord is king; the peoples tremble.
He is throned on the cherubim; the earth quakes.
The Lord is great in Sion.
He is supreme over all the peoples.
Let them praise his name, so terrible and great,
he is holy, full of power.
You are a king who loves what is right;
you have established equity, justice and right;
you have established them in Jacob.
Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before Sion, his footstool.
He the Lord is holy.
Among his priests were Aaron and Moses,
among those who invoked his name was Samuel.
They invoked the Lord and he answered.
To them he spoke in the pillar of cloud.
They did his will; they kept the law,
which he, the Lord, had given.
O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who forgives;
yet you punished all their offences.
Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before his holy mountain
for the Lord our God is holy.
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.
Exalt the Lord our God; bow down before his holy mountain.
Psalm-prayer
God, you are the source of all holiness. Though no one can see you and live, you give life most generously and in an even greater way restore it. Sanctify your priests through your life-giving Word and consecrate your people in his blood until our eyes see your face.
________
Short Reading
Romans 12:1-2
Think of God’s mercy, my brothers, and worship him, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God. Do not model yourselves on the behaviour of the world around you, but let your behaviour change, modelled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.
________
Short Responsory
The law of God guides him; his mind is fixed on God.
– The law of God guides him; his mind is fixed on God.
His steps will never falter.
– The law of God guides him; his mind is fixed on God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– The law of God guides him; his mind is fixed on God.
________
Canticle
Benedictus
The Messiah and the one who was sent before him
If there is love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples.
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 there is love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Let us praise Christ, the holy God, and ask that we may serve him in justice and holiness all the days of our life.
– Lord, you alone are holy.
You were tempted in every way that we are, but you did not sin;
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.
– Lord, you alone are holy.
You have called us to grow in love until there is no longer fear;
Lord Jesus, make us holy.
– Lord, you alone are holy.
You have told us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world;
Lord Jesus, enlighten our minds and hearts.
– Lord, you alone are holy.
In a world of human need it was your will to serve and not to be served;
let us become like you, Lord Jesus, in the humble service of our brothers.
– Lord, you alone are holy.
You are the radiant brightness of God’s glory, the perfect likeness of his nature;
Lord Jesus, let us see the splendour of your face.
– Lord, you alone are holy.
________
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.
________
God our Father, in Saint Peter Claver you gave a light to your faithful people.
You made him a pastor of the Church
to feed your sheep with his word
and to teach them by his example.
Help us by his prayers to keep the faith he taught
and follow the way of life he showed us.
Grant this 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.