Wednesday 2 March 2022
Ash Wednesday
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 107 (108)
Praise of the Lord and a plea for help
“Since the Son of God has been exalted above the heavens, his glory is preached all over the earth” (Arnobius).
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
My heart is ready, O God;
I will sing, sing your praise.
Awake, my soul;
awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the dawn.
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples,
among the nations I will praise you,
for your love reaches to the heavens
and your truth to the skies.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth!
O come and deliver your friends;
help with your right hand and reply.
From his holy place God has made this promise;
‘I will triumph and divide the land of Shechem,
I will measure out the valley of Succoth.
Gilead is mine and Manasseh,
Ephraim I take for my helmet,
Judah for my commander’s staff.
Moab I will use for my washbowl,
on Edom I will plant my shoe.
Over the Philistines I will shout in triumph.’
But who will lead me to conquer the fortress?
Who will bring me face to face with Edom?
Will you utterly reject us, O God,
and no longer march with our armies?
Give us help against the foe,
for the help of man is vain.
With God we shall do bravely
and he will trample down our foes.
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.
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
Psalm-prayer
Accept the prayers of your servants, Lord, and prepare our hearts to praise your holy name. Come to our aid in times of trouble and make us worthy to sing you songs of thanksgiving.
Or:
You are exalted over heaven and earth, Lord Jesus, since with a strong right hand you struck down our enemies. Teach us to make your name known among men and to celebrate your resurrection at dawn with new songs, until the faith that overcomes the world brings us through our own resurrection to the everlasting homeland.
________
Canticle
Isaiah 61-62
The prophet rejoices over the new Jerusalem
“I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, as beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband” (Rev 21:2).
The Lord has clothed me in a garment of justice and salvation.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.
For Sion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest
until her vindication goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
which the mouth of the Lord will give.
You shall be a crown of beauty
in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem
in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My delight in her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
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 has clothed me in a garment of justice and salvation.
________
Psalm 145 (146)
The blessedness of those who hope in the Lord
“Let us praise the Lord all our days: that is, in all our conduct” (Arnobius).
I will praise my God all my days.
My soul, give praise to the Lord;
I will praise the Lord all my days,
make music to my God while I live.
Put no trust in princes,
In mortal men in whom there is no help.
Take their breath, they return to clay
and their plans that day come to nothing.
He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who alone made heaven and earth,
the seas and all they contain.
It is he who keeps faith for ever,
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord, who sets prisoners free,
the Lord who gives sight to the blind,
who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord, who protects the stranger
and upholds the widow and orphan.
It is the Lord who loves the just
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign for ever,
Sion’s God, 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.
I will praise my God all my days.
Psalm-prayer
God of glory and power, those who have put all their trust in you are happy indeed. Shine the brightness of your light on us, that we may love you always with a pure heart.
Or:
God, our Father, holy and all-powerful, you have called the poor and the weak, the blind and the lame to your Son’s marriage feast. Do not allow us to be driven from your table by worldly cares, but make us trust only in your goodness, and clothe us with the bright wedding garment, that we may share your generosity in heaven.
________
Short Reading
Deuteronomy 7:6,8-9
It is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the earth. It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know then that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who is true to his covenant and his graciousness for a thousand generations towards those who love him and keep his commandments.
________
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
When you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites.
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.
When you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites.
________
Prayers and intercessions
As we begin the season of Lent, we give thanks to God the Father for this time of grace. Let us ask him to cleanse our hearts and strengthen us in love through the Holy Spirit.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
Lord, your word is life;
may our lives be nourished and sustained by every word you speak.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
In the life of Jesus you have shown us the way of love;
teach us to follow this way in the great and small events of life.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
Grant us a spirit of self-denial,
and move us to help our brothers in their need.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
Let us bear witness in our bodies to the death of your Son,
for in his body you have brought us to life.
– Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.
________
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.
________
Support us, Lord, as with this Lenten fast
we begin our Christian warfare,
so that in doing battle against the spirit of evil
we may be armed with the weapon of self-denial.
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 © 1996-2022 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.