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Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A.

Liturgy of the Hours


  • Friday 17 July 2020

    Friday of week 15 in Ordinary Time 


    Vespers (Evening Prayer)

    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.


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    Hymn

    This hymn was written in the 7th or 8th century. It has been attributed to St Gregory the Great (†604). It is the last in a series which celebrates God’s work of creation. This particular hymn recalls the creation of the animals and of man (cf. Gen 1:24-31).


    Plasmátor hóminis, Deus,
    qui, cuncta solus órdinans,
    humum iubes prodúcere
    reptántis et feræ genus;

    Qui magna rerum córpora,
    dictu iubéntis vívida,
    ut sérviant per órdinem
    subdens dedísti hómini:

    Repélle a servis tuis
    quicquid per immundítiam
    aut móribus se súggerit,
    aut áctibus se intérserit.

    Da gaudiórum prǽmia,
    da gratiárum múnera;
    dissólve litis víncula,
    astrínge pacis fœ́dera.

    Præsta, Pater piíssime,
    Patríque compar Unice,
    cum Spíritu Paráclito
    regnans per omne sǽculum. Amen.


    Moulder of man, O God,
    Who alone, in ordering all things,
    Command the earth to produce
    The species of creeping things and wild beasts;

    Who, by a word of command, order
    The great, living bodies of things
    To serve with due regularity,
    Making them subservient to man:

    Drive away from your servants
    Whatever through uncleanliness
    Is intimated by habits
    Or made present by actions.

    Grant us the rewards of joys;
    Grant us the gifts of gratitude;
    Dissolve the bonds of strife,
    Bind us with covenants of peace.

    Grant this, O most merciful Father,
    And O One equal to the Father,
    With the Spirit Paraclete,
    Reigning for ever and ever. Amen.


    ________

    Psalm 134 (135)
    Praise the Lord, the wonder-worker


    “You are a chosen race. Sing the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).

    The Lord is great: our God is high above all gods.

    Praise the name of the Lord,
    praise him, servants of the Lord,
    who stand in the house of the Lord
    in the courts of the house of our God.

    Praise the Lord for the Lord is good.
    Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving.
    For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself
    and Israel for his own possession.

    For I know the Lord is great,
    that our Lord is high above all gods.
    The Lord does whatever he wills,
    in heaven, on earth, in the seas.

    He summons clouds from the ends of the earth;
    makes lightning produce the rain;
    from his treasuries he sends forth the wind.

    The first-born of the Egyptians he smote,
    of man and beast alike.
    Signs and wonders he worked
    in the midst of your land, O Egypt,
    against Pharaoh and all his servants.

    Nations in their greatness he struck
    and kings in their splendour he slew.
    Sihon, king of the Amorites,
    Og, the king of Bashan,
    and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
    He let Israel inherit their land;
    on his people their land he bestowed.

    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 is great: our God is high above all gods.


    ________

    Psalm 134 (135)

    House of Israel, bless the Lord! Sing a psalm to his name, for he is loving.

    Lord, your name stands for ever,
    unforgotten from age to age,
    for the Lord does justice for his people;
    the Lord takes pity on his servants.

    Pagan idols are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.
    They have mouths but they cannot speak;
    they have eyes but they cannot see.

    They have ears but they cannot hear;
    there is never a breath on their lips.
    Their makers will come to be like them
    and so will all who trust in them!

    Sons of Israel, bless the Lord!
    Sons of Aaron, bless the Lord!
    Sons of Levi, bless the Lord!
    You who fear him, bless the Lord!

    From Sion may the Lord be blessed,
    he who dwells in Jerusalem!

    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.

    House of Israel, bless the Lord! Sing a psalm to his name, for he is loving.


    Psalm-prayer

    Father, your name and your memory last for ever. We stand to pray in your house and praise you with psalms of joy. We ask you in your kindness to have mercy on us in our lowliness.


    Or:

    Father, you shattered the powers of darkness, with all their evil plots, to give strength to your servants and make them magnanimous in the struggle for eternal life. Have mercy on us and do not permit us to be deceived by false idols. May we praise your name for ever and receive the eternal gift of our inheritance.


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    Canticle
    Apocalypse 15
    A hymn of adoration

    All the peoples will come and adore you, Lord.

    Great and wonderful are your deeds,
    O Lord God the Almighty!
    Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the ages!

    Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord?
    For you alone are holy.
    All nations shall come and worship you,
    for your judgements have been revealed.

    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.

    All the peoples will come and adore you, Lord.


    ________

    Short Reading
    James 1:2-4

    My brothers, you will always have your trials but, when they come, try to treat them as a happy privilege; you understand that your faith is only put to the test to make you patient, but patience too is to have its practical results so that you will become fully-developed, complete, with nothing missing.


    ________

    Short Responsory

    Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
    – Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
    He has made us a line of kings, priests to serve God.
    – Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.
    Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
    – Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.


    ________

    Canticle
    Magnificat
    My soul rejoices in the Lord

    The Lord has come to help us, his servants: he has remembered his mercy.

    My soul glorifies the Lord,
    my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.
    He looks on his servant in her lowliness;
    henceforth all ages will call me blessed.

    The Almighty works marvels for me.
    Holy his name!
    His mercy is from age to age,
    on those who fear him.

    He puts forth his arm in strength
    and scatters the proud-hearted.
    He casts the mighty from their thrones
    and raises the lowly.

    He fills the starving with good things,
    sends the rich away empty.

    He protects Israel, his servant,
    remembering his mercy,
    the mercy promised to our fathers,
    to Abraham and his sons for ever.

    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 come to help us, his servants: he has remembered his mercy.


    ________

    Prayers and intercessions

    Father, Christ prayed that we be forgiven through his passion. As you accepted him, accept his prayer for all sinners.
    – Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

    Through his beloved disciple, Jesus gave us Mary to be our mother;
    with her we pray to you for all her children.
    – Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

    Father, heed the anguish of those who cry out to you with your Son:
    ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
    – Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

    Help us to hear the cry, ‘I thirst’;
    help us to see your Son, even in the least of his brothers.
    – Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

    To the man dying with him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I say to you, this day you will be with me in Paradise.’
    Father, let these words be heard again by those who die tonight.
    – Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

    We pray for those who have gone before us, signed with the sign of the cross:
    may they rise with Christ in power when his voice resounds again through the universe: ‘It is consummated.’
    – Father, into your hands I commend my 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.


    ________


    Holy Father and Lord,
    you willed that Christ your Son
    should be the price of our salvation.
    Give us grace so to live
    that through sharing his sufferings
    we may be strengthened by the power of his resurrection.
    Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
    one God, for ever and ever.
    Amen.


    ________

    The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
    Amen.


    Copyright © 1996-2020 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.