Tuesday 2 November 2021
All Souls
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.
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Hymn
Remember those, O Lord,
Who in your peace have died,
Yet may not gain love’s high reward
Till love is purified.
With you they faced death’s night,
Sealed with your victory sign,
Soon may the splendour of your light
On them for ever shine.
Sweet is their pain, yet deep,
Till perfect love is born;
Their lone night-watch they gladly keep
Before your radiant morn.
Your love is their great joy,
Your will their one desire;
As finest gold without alloy
Refine them in love’s fire.
For them we humbly pray:
Perfect them in your love.
O may we share eternal day
With them in heaven above.
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal
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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).
The Lord will guard you from every evil. He will guard your soul.
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.
The Lord will guard you from every evil. He will guard your soul.
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.
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Psalm 129 (130)
Out of the depths
“He will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).
If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.
If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness:
for this we revere you.
My soul is waiting for the Lord.
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.
Let the watchman count on daybreak
and Israel on the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its iniquity.
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, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?
Psalm-prayer
Listen with compassion to our prayers, Lord. The forgiveness of sins is yours. Do not look on the wrong we have done, but grant us your merciful kindness.
Or:
God of might and compassion, you sent your Word into the world, a watchman to announce to men the dawn of salvation. Do not leave us in the depths of our sins but listen to your Church pleading with you. Respond to her trust, and pour out in her the fullness of your redeeming grace.
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Canticle
Philippians 2
Christ, God's servant
As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.
Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
He emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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.
As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.
________
Short Reading
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Short Responsory
In you, Lord, I take refuge. Let me not be lost for ever.
– In you, Lord, I take refuge. Let me not be lost for ever.
I will rejoice and be glad because of your merciful love.
– In you, Lord, I take refuge. Let me not be lost for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– In you, Lord, I take refuge. Let me not be lost for ever.
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Canticle
Magnificat
My soul rejoices in the Lord
All that the Father gives me will come to me; and I will never turn away the one who comes to me.
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.
All that the Father gives me will come to me; and I will never turn away the one who comes to me.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Let us pray to Christ who gives us the hope that our mortal bodies will become like his in glory.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
Christ, Son of the living God, you raised your friend Lazarus from the dead;
grant life and glory to the faithful departed, redeemed by your precious blood.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
Compassionate Saviour, you wiped away all tears when you gave back to the widow of Naim her only son;
comfort those who mourn because the one they love has died.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
Christ, our Redeemer, destroy the reign of sin in our mortal bodies;
let us not receive the wages of death but the reward of eternal life.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
Christ, our Saviour, look on those who live without hope and do not know you;
let them believe in the resurrection and the life of the world to come.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
You restored sight to the man born blind and opened the eyes of his faith;
reveal your face to the dead who have not seen your glory.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
Lord, be merciful to us when we leave this earthly dwelling;
make for us a home in heaven that will last for ever.
– Lord, you are our life and our resurrection.
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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.
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Grant, Lord, we pray,
that as our faith is built on the Risen Christ,
so too our hope may be steadfast
as we await the resurrection of all the faithful departed.
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.
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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.