Tuesday 14 April 2020
Easter Tuesday
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
Love’s redeeming work is done,
fought the fight, the battle won.
Lo, our Sun’s eclipse is o’er!
Lo, he sets in blood no more!
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal!
Christ has burst the gates of hell;
death in vain forbids him rise;
Christ has opened paradise.
Lives again our victor King;
where, O death, is now thy sting?
Dying once, he all doth save;
where thy victory, O grave?
Soar we now where Christ has led,
following our exalted Head;
made like him, like him we rise,
ours the cross, the grave, the skies.
Hail the Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to thee by both be given:
thee we greet triumphant now;
hail, the Resurrection thou!
________
Psalm 23 (24)
The Lord comes to his temple
“The gates of heaven were opened to Christ because he was lifted up in the flesh” (St Irenaeus).
The Lord almighty is the King of glory. Alleluia.
The Lórd’s is the éarth and its fúllness, *
the wórld and áll its péoples.
It is hé who sét it on the séas; *
on the wáters he máde it fírm.
Who shall clímb the móuntain of the Lórd? *
Who shall stánd in his hóly pláce?
The mán with clean hánds and pure héart, †
who desíres not wórthless thíngs, *
who has not swórn so as to déceive his néighbour.
He shall recéive bléssings from the Lórd *
and rewárd from the Gód who sáves him.
Súch are the mén who séek him, *
seek the fáce of the Gód of Jácob.
O gátes, lift hígh your héads; †
grow hígher, áncient dóors. *
Let him énter, the kíng of glóry!
Whó is the kíng of glóry? †
The Lórd, the míghty, the váliant, *
the Lórd, the váliant in wár.
O gátes, lift hígh your héads; †
grow hígher, áncient dóors. *
Let him énter, the kíng of glóry!
Who is hé, the kíng of glóry? †
Hé, the Lórd of ármies, *
hé is the kíng of glóry.
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 almighty is the King of glory. Alleluia.
Psalm-prayer
King of glory, Lord of power and might, cleanse our hearts from all sin, preserve the innocence of our hands, and keep our minds from vanity, so that we may deserve your blessing in your holy place.
Or:
Lord God, ruler and guide of heaven and earth, you gave Christ a share in our human race, made him a priest, and brought him into the temple of your glory. Make our intentions pure and selfless and give virtue to our thoughts, that the King of glory may enter our hearts and bring us rejoicing to your holy mountain.
________
Psalm 65 (66)
Hymn for a sacrifice of thanksgiving
“The resurrection of the Lord and the conversion of the pagans” (Hesychius).
O peoples, bless our God, the God who gave life to my soul. Alleluia.
Cry out with jóy to Gód all the éarth, *
O síng to the glóry of his náme.
O rénder him glórious práise. *
Say to Gód: ‘How treméndous your déeds!
Becáuse of the gréatness of your stréngth *
your énemies crínge befóre you.
Befóre you all the éarth shall bów; *
shall síng to you, síng to your náme!’
Come and sée the wórks of Gód, *
treméndous his déeds among mén.
He túrned the séa into dry lánd, *
they pássed through the ríver dry-shód.
Let our jóy then bé in hím; *
he rúles for éver by his míght.
His éyes keep wátch over the nátions: *
let rébels not ríse agáinst him.
O péoples, bléss our Gód, *
let the vóice of his práise resóund,
of the Gód who gave lífe to our sóuls *
and képt our féet from stúmbling.
For yóu, O Gód, have tésted us, *
you have tríed us as sílver is tríed:
you léd us, Gód, into the snáre; *
you láid a heavy búrden on our bácks.
You lét men ríde over our héads; †
we wént through fíre and through wáter *
but thén you bróught us relíef.
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.
O peoples, bless our God, the God who gave life to my soul. Alleluia.
________
Psalm 65 (66)
Come and hear, all who fear God. I will tell what he did for my soul. Alleluia.
Burnt óffering I bríng to your hóuse; *
to yóu I will páy my vóws,
the vóws which my líps have úttered, *
which my móuth spóke in my distréss.
I will óffer burnt ófferings of fátlings †
with the smóke of búrning ráms. *
I will óffer búllocks and góats.
Come and héar, áll who fear Gód. *
I will téll what he díd for my sóul:
to hím I críed alóud, *
with high práise réady on my tóngue.
If there had béen évil in my héart, *
the Lórd would nót have lístened.
But trúly Gód has lístened; *
he has héeded the vóice of my práyer.
Blessed be Gód who did nót reject my práyer *
nor withhóld his lóve from mé.
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.
Come and hear, all who fear God. I will tell what he did for my soul. Alleluia.
Psalm-prayer
Almighty Father, in the death and resurrection of your own Son you brought us through the waters of baptism to the shores of new life. By those waters and the fire of the Holy Spirit you have given each of us consolation. Accept our sacrifice of praise; may our lives be a total offering to you, and may we deserve to enter your house and there with Christ praise your unfailing power.
________
℣. God raised Christ from the dead, alleluia.
℟. So that we would have faith and hope in God, alleluia.
________
Readings (official one-year cycle)
First Reading
1 Peter 1:22-2:10
The life of the sons of God
You have been obedient to the truth and purified your souls until you can love like brothers, in sincerity; let your love for each other be real and from the heart – your new birth was not from any mortal seed but from the everlasting word of the living and eternal God. All flesh is grass and its glory like the wild flower’s. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains for ever. What is this word? It is the Good News that has been brought to you.
Be sure, then, you are never spiteful, or deceitful, or hypocritical, or envious and critical of each other. You are new born, and, like babies, you should be hungry for nothing but milk – the spiritual honesty which will help you to grow up to salvation – now that you have tasted the goodness of the Lord.
He is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house. As scripture says: See how I lay in Zion a precious cornerstone that I have chosen and the man who rests his trust on it will not be disappointed. That means that for you who are believers, it is precious; but for unbelievers, the stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the word; it was the fate in store for them.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all and now you are the People of God; once you were outside the mercy and now you have been given mercy.
Responsory
1 P 2:5,9
℟. Set yourselves close to Jesus Christ,* so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which he has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house, alleluia.
℣. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart,* so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which he has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house, alleluia.
________
Second Reading
From a discourse by Saint Anastasius of Antioch
It was necessary that Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory
Christ, who has shown by his words and actions that he was truly God and Lord of the universe, said to his disciples as he was about to go up to Jerusalem: We are going up to Jerusalem now, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the Gentiles and the chief priests and scribes to be scourged and mocked and crucified.
These words bore out the predictions of the prophets, who had foretold the death he was to die in Jerusalem. From the beginning holy Scripture had foretold Christ’s death, the sufferings that would precede it, and what would happen to his body afterwards. Scripture also affirmed that these things were going to happen to the God who is immortal and incapable of suffering.
How could he have been God? We can learn this by reflecting on the true nature of the Incarnation and finding there the reason why we can believe truly and rightly in both his passion and his impassibility: both that he suffered and that it was not in his nature to suffer – the reason, in other words, why the Word of God, otherwise impassible, came to his passion. In fact, man could have been saved in no other way, as Christ alone knew, and those to whom he revealed it; for he knows all the secrets of the Father, even as the Spirit penetrates the depths of all mysteries.
It was necessary for Christ to suffer: it was impossible for his passion not to have happened. He said so himself when he called his companions dull and slow to believe because they failed to recognise that he had to suffer and so enter into his glory. Leaving behind him the glory that had been his with the Father before the world was made, he had gone forth to save his people. This salvation, however, could be achieved only by the suffering of the author of our life, as Paul taught when he said that the author of life himself was made perfect through suffering. Because of us he was deprived of his glory for a little while, the glory that was his as the Father’s only-begotten Son, but through the cross this glory is seen to have been restored to him in a certain way in the body that he had assumed. Explaining what water the Saviour referred to when he said: He that has faith in me shall have rivers of living water flowing from within him, John says in his gospel that he was speaking of the Holy Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. The glorification he meant was his death upon the cross for which the Lord prayed to the Father before undergoing his passion, asking his Father to give him the glory that he had in his presence before the world began.
Responsory
℟. It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should make Jesus perfect through suffering, in order to bring many sons to share his glory, for Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation.* To him be glory and power for ever and ever, alleluia.
℣. It was necessary that Christ should suffer these things and so enter into his glory.* To him be glory and power for ever and ever, alleluia.
________
Hymn
Te Deum
We praise you, O God: *
we acclaim you as the Lord.
Everlasting Father, *
all the world bows down before you.
All the angels sing your praise, *
the hosts of heaven and all the angelic powers,
all the cherubim and seraphim *
call out to you in unending song:
Holy, Holy, Holy, *
is the Lord God of angel hosts!
The heavens and the earth are filled *
with your majesty and glory.
The glorious band of apostles, *
the noble company of prophets,
the white-robed army who shed their blood for Christ, *
all sing your praise.
And to the ends of the earth *
your holy Church proclaims her faith in you:
Father, whose majesty is boundless, *
your true and only Son, who is to be adored, *
the Holy Spirit sent to be our Advocate.
You, Christ, are the king of glory, *
Son of the eternal Father.
When you took our nature to save mankind *
you did not shrink from birth in the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the power of death *
opening the Father’s kingdom to all who believe in you.
Enthroned at God’s right hand in the glory of the Father, *
you will come in judgement according to your promise.
You redeemed your people by your precious blood. *
Come, we implore you, to our aid.
Grant us with the saints *
a place in eternal glory.
The final part of the hymn may be omitted:
Lord, save your people *
and bless your inheritance.
Rule them and uphold them *
for ever and ever.
Day by day we praise you: *
we acclaim you now and to all eternity.
In your goodness, Lord, keep us free from sin. *
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
May your mercy always be with us, Lord, *
for we have hoped in you.
In you, Lord, we put our trust: *
we shall not be put to shame.
________
Let us pray.
Lord God,
you brought us healing through the Easter mysteries.
Continue to be bountiful to your people:
lead us to the perfect freedom,
by which the joy that gladdens our way on earth
will be fulfilled in heaven.
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.