Tuesday 28 September 2021
Tuesday of week 26 in Ordinary Time
or Saint Wenceslaus, Martyr
or Saints Laurence Ruiz and his Companions, Martyrs
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
O God of truth and Lord of power,
whose word their course to things assigns,
whose splendour lights the morning hour,
whose fiery sun at noonday shines:
Within us quench the flames of strife,
the harmful heat of passion quell;
give health of body to our life
and give true peace of soul as well.
In this, most loving Father, hear,
and Christ, co-equal Son, our prayer:
with Holy Ghost, one Trinity,
you reign for all eternity.
________
Psalm 36 (37):1-11
The fate of the evil and the righteous
“Blessed are the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage” (Mt 5:5).
Commit your life to the Lord, and he will act on your behalf.
Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not envy those who do evil,
for they wither quickly like grass
and fade like the green of the fields.
If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.
Commit your life to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon-day sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait in patience;
do not fret at the man who prospers;
a man who makes evil plots
to bring down the needy and the poor.
Calm your anger and forget your rage;
do not fret, it only leads to evil.
For those who do evil shall perish;
the patient shall inherit the land.
A little longer – and the wicked shall have gone.
Look at his place, he is not there.
But the humble shall own the land
and enjoy the fullness 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.
Commit your life to the Lord, and he will act on your behalf.
________
Psalm 36 (37):12-29
Turn away from evil and do good: the Lord will support the just.
The wicked man plots against the just
and gnashes his teeth against him;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked
for he sees that his day is at hand.
The sword of the wicked is drawn,
his bow is bent to slaughter the upright.
Their sword shall pierce their own hearts
and their bows shall be broken to pieces.
The just man’s few possessions
are better than the wicked man’s wealth;
for the power of the wicked shall be broken
and the Lord will support the just.
He protects the lives of the upright,
their heritage will last for ever.
They shall not be put to shame in evil days,
in time of famine their food shall not fail.
But all the wicked shall perish
and all the enemies of the Lord.
They are like the beauty of the meadows,
they shall vanish, they shall vanish like smoke.
The wicked man borrows without repaying,
but the just man is generous and gives.
Those blessed by the Lord shall own the land,
but those he has cursed shall be destroyed.
The Lord guides the steps of a man
and makes safe the path of one he loves.
Though he stumble he shall never fall
for the Lord holds him by the hand.
I was young and now I am old,
but I have never seen the just man forsaken
nor his children begging for bread.
All the day he is generous and lends
and his children become a blessing.
Then turn away from evil and do good
and you shall have a home for ever;
for the Lord loves justice
and will never forsake his friends.
The unjust shall be wiped out for ever
and the children of the wicked destroyed.
The just shall inherit the land;
there they shall live 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.
Turn away from evil and do good: the Lord will support the just.
________
Psalm 36 (37):30-40
Wait for the Lord, keep to his way.
The just man’s mouth utters wisdom
and his lips speak what is right;
the law of his God is in his heart,
his steps shall be saved from stumbling.
The wicked man watches for the just
and seeks occasion to kill him.
The Lord will not leave him in his power
nor let him be condemned when he is judged.
Then wait for the Lord, keep to his way.
It is he who will free you from the wicked,
raise you up to possess the land
and see the wicked destroyed.
I have seen the wicked triumphant,
towering like a cedar of Lebanon.
I passed by again; he was gone.
I searched; he was nowhere to be found.
See the just man, mark the upright,
for the peaceful man a future lies in store,
but sinners shall all be destroyed.
No future lies in store for the wicked.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord,
their stronghold in time of distress.
The Lord helps them and delivers them
and saves them: for their refuge is in him.
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.
Wait for the Lord, keep to his way.
Psalm-prayer
You proclaimed the poor to be blessed, Lord Jesus, for the kingdom of heaven is given to them. Fill us generously with your gifts. Teach us to put our trust in the Father and to seek his kingdom first of all rather than imitate the powerful and envy the rich.
________
℣. Teach me goodness and discernment and knowledge.
℟. I trust in your commands.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
Philippians 1:27-2:11
An exhortation to imitate Christ
Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come to you and see for myself, or stay at a distance and only hear about you, I shall know that you are unanimous in meeting the attack with firm resistance, united by your love for the faith of the gospel and quite unshaken by your enemies. This would be the sure sign that they will lose and you will be saved. It would be a sign from God that he has given you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well. You and I are together in the same fight as you saw me fighting before and, as you will have heard, I am fighting still.
If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:
His state was divine,
yet he did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as men are;
and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all other names
so that all beings in the heavens,
on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Responsory
1 P 2:24; Heb 2:14, 12:2
℟. Christ bore our sins on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for holiness;* that, through his death, he might destroy the devil, who has command over death.
℣. Jesus, on whom our faith depends, endured the cross for the sake of the joy that waited for him,* that, through his death, he might destroy the devil, who has command over death.
________
Second Reading
From a letter of St Polycarp to the Philippians
Christ set us an example in his own person
Let the elders be compassionate, merciful to all, bringing back those that have wandered, caring for all the weak, neglecting neither widow, nor orphan nor poor, but ever providing for that which is good before God and man. Let them refrain from anger, let them show no partiality, let them not judge unjustly. Let the love of money be something alien to them. Let them be slow to believe evil of anyone, let them not be hasty in passing judgement; for they must know that we all owe the debt of sin.
If then we pray the Lord to forgive us, we also ought to forgive, for we stand before the eyes of the Lord and of God, and we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, and each must give an account of himself. So then let us serve him with fear and all reverence, as he himself commanded us, and as the Apostles did, who brought us the Gospel, and as the prophets did, who foretold the coming of our Lord. Let us be zealous for good, refraining from offence. Let us keep away from the false brethren and from those who bear the name of the Lord in hypocrisy and deceive empty-minded men.
For everyone who does not accept that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is an anti-Christ and whoever does not accept the testimony of the Cross is of the devil; and whoever perverts the oracles of the Lord for his own desires and says that there is neither resurrection nor judgement, – that man is the first-born of Satan. So let us leave behind the foolishness of the crowd and their false teaching. Let us turn back to the word which was delivered to us in the beginning, keeping watch in prayer, persevering in fasting, beseeching the all-seeing God to lead us not into temptation, even as the Lord said, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Let us then persevere unceasingly in our hope, and in the pledge of our righteousness, that is in Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, but for our sakes he endured all things so that we might have life in him. Let us then be imitators of his endurance, and if we suffer for his name’s sake let us give glory to him. For this is the example which he gave us in himself, and this is our belief.
Responsory
℟. Let your aims be such as all men count honourable. We avoid giving offence in anything,* in order that our ministry may not be brought into disgrace.
℣. I hope in God and train myself to keep at all times a clear conscience before God and man,* in order that our ministry may not be brought into disgrace.
________
Let us pray.
Lord,
you reveal your mighty power
most of all by your forgiveness and compassion:
fill us constantly with your grace
as we hasten to share the joys you have promised us in heaven.
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.