Monday 20 January 2020
Monday of week 2 in Ordinary Time
or Saint Fabian, Pope, Martyr
or Saint Sebastian, Martyr
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
Come, Spirit blest, with God the Son
and God the Father, ever one:
shed forth your grace within our breast
and live in us, a ready guest.
By every power, by heart and tongue,
by act and deed, your praise be sung.
Inflame with perfect love each sense,
that others’ souls may kindle thence.
________
Psalm 30 (31)
Trustful prayer in time of adversity
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46).
Hear me, Lord, and come to rescue me.
In you, O Lord, I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame.
In your justice, set me free,
hear me and speedily rescue me.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a mighty stronghold to save me,
for you are my rock, my stronghold.
For your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.
Release me from the snares they have hidden
for you are my refuge, Lord.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
It is you who will redeem me, Lord.
O God of truth, you detest
those who worship false and empty gods.
As for me, I trust in the Lord:
let me be glad and rejoice in your love.
You who have seen my affliction
and taken heed of my soul’s distress,
have not handed me over to the enemy,
but set my feet at large.
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.
Hear me, Lord, and come to rescue me.
________
Psalm 30 (31)
Lord, let your face shine on your servant.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I am in distress.
Tears have wasted my eyes,
my throat and my heart.
For my life is spent with sorrow
and my years with sighs.
Affliction has broken down my strength
and my bones waste away.
In the face of all my foes
I am a reproach,
an object of scorn to my neighbours
and of fear to my friends.
Those who see me in the street
run far away from me.
I am like a dead man, forgotten,
like a thing thrown away.
I have heard the slander of the crowd,
fear is all around me,
as they plot together against me,
as they plan to take my life.
But as for me, I trust in you, Lord;
I say: ‘You are my God.
My life is in your hands, deliver me
from the hands of those who hate me.
Let your face shine on your servant.
Save me in your love.’
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.
Lord, let your face shine on your servant.
________
Psalm 30 (31)
Blessed be the Lord, who has shown me the wonders of his love.
How great is the goodness, Lord,
that you keep for those who fear you,
that you show to those who trust you
in the sight of men.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plotting of men;
you keep them safe within your tent
from disputing tongues.
Blessed be the Lord who has shown me
the wonders of his love
in a fortified city.
‘I am far removed from your sight’
I said in my alarm.
Yet you heard the voice of my plea
when I cried for help.
Love the Lord, all you saints.
He guards his faithful
but the Lord will repay to the full
those who act with pride.
Be strong, let your heart take courage,
all who hope in the Lord.
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.
Blessed be the Lord, who has shown me the wonders of his love.
Psalm-prayer
God of kindness and truth, you saved your Chosen One, Jesus Christ, and you gave your martyrs strength. Watch over your people who come to you here and strengthen the hearts of those who hope in you, that they may proclaim your saving acts of kindness in the eternal city.
________
℣. Lead me in the way of your truth and teach me, O Lord.
℟. You are the God who saves me.
________
First Reading
Deuteronomy 4:1-8,32-40
Moses speaks to the people
These are the words that Moses spoke beyond Jordan to the whole of Israel:
‘Now, Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach you today, and observe them, that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you. You must add nothing to what I command you, and take nothing from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God just as I lay them down for you. You can see with your own eyes what the Lord has done at Baal-peor; all the followers of the Baal of Peor have been wiped out from among you by the Lord your God; but all of you who stayed faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today. See, as the Lord my God has commanded me, I teach you the laws and customs that you are to observe in the land you are to enter and make your own. Keep them, observe them, and they will demonstrate to the peoples your wisdom and understanding. When they come to know of all these laws they will exclaim, “No other people is as wise and prudent as this great nation.” And indeed, what great nation is there that has its gods so near as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation is there that has laws and customs to match this whole Law that I put before you today?
‘Put this question, then, to the ages that are past, that went before you, from the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard it, and remain alive? Has any god ventured to take to himself one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors – all this that the Lord your God did for you before your eyes in Egypt?
‘This he showed you so that you might know that the Lord is God indeed and that there is no other. He let you hear his voice out of heaven for your instruction; on earth he let you see his great fire, and from the heart of the fire you heard his word. Because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out from Egypt, openly showing his presence and his great power, driving out in front of you nations greater and more powerful than yourself, and brought you into their land to give it you for your heritage, as it is still today.
‘Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever.’
Responsory
Dt 4:1; cf. 6:6, 31:20; Ps 81:8
℟. Hear, O Israel, the precepts of the Lord, and write them in your hearts as in a book,* and I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey.
℣. O my people, heed my warning – do but listen to me, O Israel,* and I will give you a land flowing with milk and honey.
________
Second Reading
From St Ignatius of Antioch's letter to the Ephesians
Have faith in Christ, and love
Try to gather together more frequently to give thanks to God and to praise him. For when you come together frequently, Satan’s powers are undermined, and the destruction he threatens is done away with in the unanimity of your faith. Nothing is better than peace, in which all warfare between heaven and earth is brought to an end.
None of this will escape you if you have perfect faith and love towards Jesus Christ. These are the beginning and the end of life: faith the beginning, love the end. When these two are found together, there is God, and everything else concerning right living follows from them. No one professing faith sins; no one possessing love hates. “A tree is known by its fruit.” So those who profess to belong to Christ will be known by what they do. For the work we are about is not a matter of words here and now, but depends on the power of faith and on being found faithful to the end.
It is better to remain silent and to be than to talk and not be. Teaching is good if the teacher also acts. Now there was one teacher who “spoke, and it was made,” and even what he did in silence is worthy of the Father. He who has the word of Jesus can truly listen also to his silence, in order to be perfect, that he may act through his speech and be known by his silence. Nothing is hidden from the Lord, but even our secrets are close to him. Let us then do everything in the knowledge that he is dwelling within us so that we may be his temples and he may be God within us. He is, and will reveal himself, in our sight, according to the love we bear him in holiness.
“Make no mistake,” my brothers: those who corrupt families “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” If those who do these things in accordance with the flesh have died, how much worse will it be if one corrupts through evil doctrine the faith of God for which Jesus was crucified. Such a person, because he is defiled, will depart into the unquenchable fire, as will any one who listens to him.
For the Lord received anointing on his head in order that he might breathe incorruptibility on the Church. Do not be anointed with the evil odour of the teachings of the prince of this world, do not let him lead you captive away from the life that is set before you. But why is it that we are not all wise when we have received the knowledge of God, which is Jesus Christ? Why do we perish in our stupidity, not knowing the gift the Lord has truly sent us?
My spirit is given over to the humble service of the cross which is a stumbling block to unbelievers but to us salvation and eternal life.
Responsory
℟. Everything you do or say should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus,* as you give thanks through him to God the Father.
℣. Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God,* as you give thanks through him to God the Father.
________
Let us pray.
Almighty God,
ruler of all things in heaven and on earth,
listen favourably to the prayer of your people,
and grant us your peace in our day.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
Copyright © 1996-2020 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.