Tuesday 24 March 2020
Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent
Mid-Morning Prayer (Terce)
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
Come, Holy Spirit, live in us
With God the Father and the Son,
And grant us your abundant grace
To sanctify and make us one.
May mind and tongue made strong in love
Your praise throughout the world proclaim,
And may that love within our hearts
Set fire to others with its flame.
Most blessèd Trinity of love,
For whom the heart of man was made,
To you be praise in timeless song,
And everlasting homage paid.
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal
________
PSALMS OF THE DAY
________
Psalm 118(119): 137-144
Meditating the word of the Lord in the Law
“Happy are those who read this prophecy and treasure all that it says” (Apoc 1:3)
This is the time of repentance for us to atone for our sins and seek salvation.
Lord, you are just indeed;
your decrees are right.
You have imposed your will with justice
and with absolute truth.
I am carried away by anger
for my foes forget your word.
Your promise is tried in the fire,
the delight of your servant.
Although I am weak and despised,
I remember your precepts.
Your justice is eternal justice
and your law is truth.
Though anguish and distress have seized me,
I delight in your commands.
The justice of your will is eternal:
if you teach me, I shall live.
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.
________
Psalm 87 (88)
The prayer of one gravely ill
“This is your hour; this is the reign of darkness” (Lk 22:53).
Lord my God, I call for help by day;
I cry at night before you.
Let my prayer come into your presence.
O turn your ear to my cry.
For my soul is filled with evils;
my life is on the brink of the grave.
I am reckoned as one in the tomb:
I have reached the end of my strength,
like one alone among the dead;
like the slain lying in their graves;
like those you remember no more,
cut off, as they are, from your hand.
You have laid me in the depths of the tomb,
in places that are dark, in the depths.
Your anger weighs down upon me:
I am drowned beneath your waves.
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.
________
Psalm 87 (88)
You have taken away my friends
and made me hateful in their sight.
Imprisoned, I cannot escape;
my eyes are sunken with grief.
I call to you, Lord, all the day long;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work your wonders for the dead?
Will the shades stand and praise you?
Will your love be told in the grave
or your faithfulness among the dead?
Will your wonders be known in the dark
or your justice in the land of oblivion?
As for me, Lord, I call to you for help:
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide your face?
Wretched, close to death from my youth,
I have borne your trials; I am numb.
Your fury has swept down upon me;
your terrors have utterly destroyed me.
They surround me all the day like a flood,
they assail me all together.
Friend and neighbour you have taken away:
my one companion is darkness.
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.
This is the time of repentance for us to atone for our sins and seek salvation.
Psalm-prayer
Lord Jesus, redeemer of all and author of our salvation, for us you went down to the realm of death and became free of death. Hear the prayers of your family and lift us from our slavery to evil, that we may be redeemed by you and see your Father’s glory.
Or:
Lord Jesus Christ, you chose to suffer and be overwhelmed by death in order to open the gates of death in triumph. Stay with us to help us on our pilgrimage; free us from all evil by the power of your resurrection. In the company of your saints, and constantly remembering your love for us, may we sing of your wonders in our Father’s house.
________
Short Reading
Joel 2:17
Between vestibule and altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, lament. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord! Do not make your heritage a thing of shame, a byword for the nations.’
________
℣. A pure heart create for me, O God.
℟. Put a steadfast spirit within me.
________
Let us pray.
By our Lenten prayer and observance, Lord,
prepare our hearts to welcome the mystery of Easter
and to proclaim the good news of salvation.
Through Christ our Lord.
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.