Saturday 3 April 2021
Holy Saturday
Morning Prayer (Lauds)
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
Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us didst fast and pray,
Teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
And close by thee to stay.
As thou with Satan didst contend,
And didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
In thee to conquer sin.
As thirst and hunger thou didst bear,
So teach us, gracious Lord,
To die to self, and daily live
By thy most holy word.
And through these days of penitence,
And through thy Passiontide,
Yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus, with us abide.
________
Psalm 63 (64)
A prayer against enemies
“This psalm in particular invites us to think about the passion of the Lord” (St Augustine).
They will mourn for him as for an only son, since it is the innocent one of the Lord who has been slain.
Hear my voice, O God, as I complain,
guard my life from dread of the foe.
Hide me from the band of the wicked,
from the throng of those who do evil.
They sharpen their tongues like swords;
they aim bitter words like arrows
to shoot at the innocent from ambush,
shooting suddenly and recklessly.
They scheme their evil course;
they conspire to lay secret snares.
They say: ‘Who will see us?
Who can search out our crimes?’
He will search who searches the mind
and knows the depths of the heart.
God has shot them with his arrow
and dealt them sudden wounds.
Their own tongue has brought them to ruin
and all who see them mock.
Then will all men fear;
they will tell what God has done.
They will understand God’s deeds.
The just will rejoice in the Lord
and fly to him for refuge.
All the upright hearts will glory.
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.
They will mourn for him as for an only son, since it is the innocent one of the Lord who has been slain.
Psalm-prayer
Father, you gave your Son victory over the men who plotted evil against him; when he cried to you in his agony, you delivered him from fear of his enemies. May those who suffer with him in this life find refuge and success in you.
________
Canticle
Isaiah 38
The psalm of Hezekiah on recovering from sickness
“I was dead and behold, I am alive and I hold the keys of death” (Rev 1:17-18).
Save my soul from the gates of hell, Lord.
I said, In the noontide of my days I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
I said, I shall not see the Lord
in the land of the living;
I shall look upon man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent;
like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom.
From day to night you bring me to an end;
I cry for help until morning;
like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
Like a swallow or a crane I clamour,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.
Lo, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
but you have held back my life
from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
For Sheol cannot thank you,
death cannot praise you;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.
The Lord will save me,
and we will sing to stringed instruments
all the days of our life,
at the house of 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.
Save my soul from the gates of hell, Lord.
________
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord
“Sing praise in your spirit, sing praise with your soul, that is: give glory to God in both your soul and your body” (Hesychius).
I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of hell.
Praise God in his holy place,
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his powerful deeds,
praise his surpassing greatness.
O praise him with sound of trumpet,
praise him with lute and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and dance,
praise him with strings and pipes.
O praise him with resounding cymbals,
praise him with clashing of cymbals.
Let everything that lives and that breathes
give praise to 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.
I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of hell.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, maker of heaven and earth and of all created things, you make your just one holy and you justify sinners who confess your name. Hear us as we humbly pray to you: give us eternal joy with your saints.
Or:
Lord God, through your saving plan all things are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is yours. Accept the praises of your Church. By these praises, through Christ, with him and in him, all your honour and glory is celebrated, all-powerful Father, in the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
________
Short Reading
Hosea 5:15-6:2
The Lord says this: They will search for me in their misery. ‘Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence.’
________
Short Responsory
Christ humbled himself for us and, in obedience, accepted death, even death on a cross. Therefore God raised him to the heights and gave him the name which is above all other names.
________
Canticle
Benedictus
The Messiah and the one who was sent before him
Save us, Saviour of the world. By your cross and the shedding of your blood you have redeemed us. Come to help us, Lord, our God.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!
He has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy men,
those who were his prophets from of old.
A saviour who would free us from our foes,
from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us,
that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
As for you, little child,
you shall be called a prophet of God, the Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
to prepare his ways before him,
To make known to his people their salvation
through forgiveness of all their sins,
the loving-kindness of the heart of our God
who visits us like the dawn from on high.
He will give light to those in darkness,
those who dwell in the shadow of death,
and guide us into the way of peace.
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.
Save us, Saviour of the world. By your cross and the shedding of your blood you have redeemed us. Come to help us, Lord, our God.
________
Prayers and intercessions
Let us pray to our Redeemer, who suffered for us, was buried, and rose from the dead.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, our Lord, you saw your mother standing by the cross;
may we share your saving passion in our time of suffering.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, our Saviour, you died like a grain of wheat falling into the ground;
gather us to yourself in the harvest of redemption.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, our shepherd, lying in the tomb you were hidden from men;
teach us to love our real life, which is hidden with you in God.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, the new Adam, you went down into the world of the dead to free the just;
may those who are dead in sin hear your voice and live.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Son of the living God, we were buried with you in baptism;
let us rise with you, alive to God for ever.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
________
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.
________
Almighty, ever-living God,
whose Only-Begotten Son descended to the realm of the dead,
and rose from there to glory,
grant that your faithful people,
who were buried with him in baptism,
may, by his resurrection, obtain eternal life.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
Copyright © 1996-2021 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.