Introductory Rite:
God, come to my assistance R/ Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
R/ as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The glory of these forty days We celebrate with songs of praise; For Christ, by Whom all things were made, Himself has fasted and has prayed.
Alone and fasting Moses saw The loving God Who gave the law; And to Elijah, fasting, came The steeds and chariots of flame.
So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
Delivered from the lions’ might;
And John, the Bridegroom’s friend, became
The herald of Messiah’s Name.
Then grant us, Lord, like them to be
Full oft in fast and prayer with Thee;
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace,
And give us joy to see Thy face.
O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,To thee be every prayer addressed,
Who art in threefold Name adored,
From age to age, the only Lord.
Antiphon 1 As morning breaks, we sing of your mercy, Lord, and night will find us proclaiming your fidelity.
Psalm 92
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,to make music to your name, O Most High,to proclaim your love in the morningand your truth in the watches of the night,on the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,with the murmuring sound of the harp.
Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad;
for the work of your hands I shout with joy.
O Lord, how great are your works!
How deep are your designs!
The foolish man cannot know this
and the fool cannot understand.
Though the wicked spring up like grass
and all who do evil thrive,
they are doomed to be eternally destroyed.
But you, Lord, are eternally on high.
See how your enemies perish;
all doers of evil are scattered.
To me you give the wild ox’s strength;you anoint me with the purest oil.My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;my ears heard gladly of their fall.The just will flourish like the palm treeand grow like a Lebanon cedar.
Planted in the house of the Lord they will flourish in the courts of our God, still bearing fruit when they are old, still full of sap, still green, to proclaim that the Lord is just. In him, my rock, there is no wrong. Glory…
Psalm Prayer: Take our shame away from us, Lord, and make us rejoice in your saving works. May all who have been chosen by your Son always abound in works of faith, hope, and love in your service.
Antiphon 1 As morning breaks, we sing of your mercy, Lord, and night will find us proclaiming your fidelity.
Antiphon 2: Extol the greatness of our God.
Deuteronomy 32:1-12
Give ear, O heavens, while I speak; let the earth hearken to the words of my mouth!May my instruction soak in like the rain, and my discourse permeate like the dew, Like a downpour upon the grass, like a shower upon the crops.
For I will sing the Lord’s renown. Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God! The Rock – how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! A faithful God, without deceit, how just and upright he is!
Yet basely has he been treated by his degenerate children, a perverse and crooked race! Is the Lord to be thus repaid by you, O stupid and foolish people? Is he not your father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?
Think back on the days of old, reflect on the years of age upon age. Ask your father and he will inform you, ask your elders and they will tell you:
When the Most High assigned the nations their heritage, when he parceled out the descendants of Adam, He set up the boundaries of the peoples after the number of the sons of God; While the Lord’s own portion was Jacob, His hereditary share was Israel.
He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded them and cared for them, guarding them as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle incites its nestlings forth by hovering over its brood, So he spread his wings to receive them and bore them up on his pinions. The Lord alone was their leader, no strange god was with him. Glory…
Antiphon 2: Extol the greatness of our God.
Antiphon 2: The Lord is my strength and I shall sing his praise, for he has become my savior.
Antiphon 3 How wonderful is your name, O Lord, in all creation.
Psalm 8
How great is your name, O Lord our God,through all the earth!
Your majesty is praised above the heavens;on the lips of children and of babesyou have found praise to foil your enemy,to silence the foe and the rebel.
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god; with glory and honor you crowned him, gave him power over the works of your hands, put all things under his feet.
All of them, sheep and cattle,
yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish
that make their way through the waters.
How great is your name, O Lord our God
through all the earth! Glory…
Psalm Prayer: Almighty Lord, how wonderful is your name. You have made every creature subject to you; make us worthy to give you service.
Antiphon 3 How wonderful is your name, O Lord, in all creation.
OPENING PRAYER (stand)
All sit for the Liturgy of the Word.
After the Homily:
INTERCESSIONS (Universal Prayer)
Let us always and everywhere give thanks to Christ our Savior, and ask him with confidence:
Lord, help us with your grace.
May we keep our bodies pure,
– as temples of the Holy Spirit.
May we offer ourselves this morning to the service of others,
– and do your will in all things throughout the day.
Teach us to seek the bread of everlasting life,
– the bread that is your gift.
May your Mother, the refuge of sinners, pray for us,
– and gain for us your loving forgiveness.
Presider: O God, who grant us by glorious healing remedies while still on earth
to be partakers of the things of heaven, guide us, we pray, through this present life
and bring us to that light in which you dwell. 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.
All sit for the Preparation of Gifts
Lord’s Prayer
Pater noster, qui es in cælis Sanctificétur nomen tuum
Advéniat regnum tuum Fiat volúntas tua Sicut in cælo et in terra
Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie Et dimítte nobis débita nostra
Sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem
Sed libera nos a malo
After Holy Communion, all stand for the Benedictus.
BENEDICTUS/Canticle of Zachariah Benedictus – Luke 1: 68-79
Antiphon: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your servants.
(While making the Sign of the Cross, we pray the following)
Blest be the God of Israel who comes to set us free
and raises up new hope for us: a Branch for David’s tree.
So have the prophets long declared that with a mighty arm
God would turn back our enemies and all who wish us harm
.With promised mercy will God still the covenant recall,
the oath once sworn to Abraham from foes to save us all;
that we might worship without fear and offer lives of praise,
in holiness and righteousness to serve God all our days.
My child, as prophet of the Lord you will prepare the way,
to tell God’s people they are saved from sin’s eternal sway.
Then shall God’s mercy from on high shine forth and never cease
to drive away the gloom of death and lead us into peace.
Antiphon: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your servants.
Dismissal & Final Blessing
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.