Welcome to the ULC Minister's Network

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

Office of Readings


  • Tuesday 17 August 2021

    Tuesday of week 20 in Ordinary Time 


    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

    O God of truth and Lord of power,
    whose word their course to things assigns,
    whose splendour lights the morning hour,
    whose fiery sun at noonday shines:

    Within us quench the flames of strife,
    the harmful heat of passion quell;
    give health of body to our life
    and give true peace of soul as well.

    In this, most loving Father, hear,
    and Christ, co-equal Son, our prayer:
    with Holy Ghost, one Trinity,
    you reign for all eternity.


    ________

    Psalm 101 (102):2-12
    Prayers and vows of an exile


    “God comforts us in all our sorrows” (2 Cor 1:4).

    Let my cry come to you, Lord: do not hide your face from me.

    O Lord, listen to my prayer
    and let my cry for help reach you.
    Do not hide your face from me
    in the day of my distress.
    Turn your ear towards me
    and answer me quickly when I call.

    For my days are vanishing like smoke,
    my bones burn away like a fire.
    My heart is withered like the grass.
    I forget to eat my bread.
    I cry with all my strength
    and my skin clings to my bones.

    I have become like a pelican in the wilderness
    like an owl in desolate places.
    I lie awake and I moan
    like some lonely bird on a roof.
    All day long my foes revile me;
    those who hate me use my name as a curse.

    The bread I eat is ashes;
    my drink is mingled with tears.
    In your anger, Lord, and your fury
    you have lifted me up and thrown me down.
    My days are like a passing shadow
    and I wither away like the grass.

    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.

    Let my cry come to you, Lord: do not hide your face from me.


    ________

    Psalm 101 (102):13-23

    Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.

    But you, O Lord, will endure for ever
    and your name from age to age.
    You will arise and have mercy on Sion:
    for this is the time to have mercy,
    (yes, the time appointed has come)
    for your servants love her very stones,
    are moved with pity even for her dust.

    The nations shall fear the name of the Lord
    and all the earth’s kings your glory,
    when the Lord shall build up Sion again
    and appear in all his glory.
    Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
    he will not despise their prayers.

    Let this be written for ages to come
    that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
    for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.
    He looked down from heaven to the earth
    that he might hear the groans of the prisoners
    and free those condemned to die.

    The sons of your servants shall dwell untroubled
    and their race shall endure before you,
    that the name of the Lord may be proclaimed in Sion
    and his praise in the heart of Jerusalem,
    when peoples and kingdoms are gathered together
    to pay their homage 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.

    Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.


    ________

    Psalm 101 (102):24-29

    You founded the earth, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

    He has broken my strength in mid-course;
    he has shortened the days of my life.
    I say to God: ‘Do not take me away
    before my days are complete,
    you, whose days last from age to age.

    ‘Long ago you founded the earth
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
    They will perish but you will remain.
    They will all wear out like a garment.
    You will change them like clothes that are changed.
    But you neither change, nor have an end.’

    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.

    You founded the earth, Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands.


    Psalm-prayer

    Lord, you live in the hearts of your saints, and so have built up Zion. May you always show your greatness through their good works.


    Or:

    You remain for ever, Father, undisturbed by change, while our days vanish like shadows and our lives wear out like a garment. Although our lives in this world come to an end, help us to live in Christ’s endless life, and so attain the heavenly Jerusalem, our lasting home.


    ________

    ℣. Give heed, my people, to my teaching.
    ℟. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.


    ________


    Readings (official one-year cycle)

    First Reading
    Isaiah 7:1-17
    In fear of war, the sign of Emmanuel

    In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Razon the king of Aram went up against Jerusalem with Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it; but he was unable to capture it.
    The news was brought to the House of David. ‘Aram’ they said ‘has reached Ephraim.’ Then the heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind. The Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go with your son Shear-jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the Fuller’s Field road, and say to him:

    “Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear,
    do not let your heart sink
    because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands,
    or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah
    have plotted to ruin you, and have said:
    Let us invade Judah and terrorise it
    and seize it for ourselves,
    and set up a king there,
    the son of Tabeel.
    The Lord says this:
    It shall not come true; it shall not be.
    The capital of Aram is Damascus,
    the head of Damascus, Razon;
    the capital of Ephraim, Samaria,
    the head of Samaria, the son of Remaliah.
    Six or five years more
    and a shattered Ephraim shall no longer be a people.
    But if you do not stand by me,
    you will not stand at all.”’

    Once again the Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
    Then he said:

    Listen now, House of David:
    are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
    without trying the patience of my God, too?
    The Lord himself, therefore,
    will give you a sign.
    It is this: the maiden is with child
    and will soon give birth to a son
    whom she will call Immanuel.
    On curds and honey will he feed
    until he knows how to refuse evil
    and choose good.
    For before this child knows how to refuse evil
    and choose good,
    the land whose two kings terrify you
    will be deserted.
    The Lord will bring times for you
    and your people and your father’s House,
    such as have not come
    since Ephraim broke away from Judah
    (the king of Assyria).


    Responsory
    Is 7:14, 8:10; Lk 1:30-31

    ℟. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son,* and he shall be called Immanuel, for God is with us.
    ℣. Do not be afraid, Mary. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son,* and he shall be called Immanuel, for God is with us.


    ________

    Second Reading
    From the homilies of St Bernard of Clairvaux on the glories of the Virgin Mother
    She was prepared by the Most High and prefigured by the patriarchs

    There was only one mode of birth that was worthy of God, and that was to be born of a Virgin. Equally, who could come from a Virgin birth except God himself? The maker of mankind, if he was to be made man and destined to be born of man, would have to choose, to create a mother whom he knew to be worthy of him, who he knew would be pleasing to him.
    It was his will that she should be a virgin, so that he could proceed from an unstained body, stainless, to purify mankind of its stains.
    It was his will that she should be meek and humble of heart, since he was to become the outstanding example of these virtues, so necessary for the health of humanity. He granted childbirth to her, having first inspired her vow of virginity and filled her with the virtue of humility.
    To put it another way, how could the Angel have addressed her as full of grace if any, even a little, of these virtues had been present in her already and not given to her by grace? It was given to her to be made holy. She, who was to conceive and give birth to the Holy of holies, was made holy in body by the gift of virginity and holy in mind by the gift of humility.
    Adorned with the jewels of such virtues and radiant in both mind and body, the royal Virgin’s beauty draws the attention of the citizens of heaven itself, and its King is filled with desire for her and sends his messenger to her from on high.
    The Angel was sent to the Virgin, it says. A virgin in body and a virgin in mind, a virgin by her own choice, a virgin, as the Apostle describes her, holy in mind and body. Not someone just now found by chance, but chosen from the beginning of time, foreseen and prepared by the Most High, waited upon by the angels, prefigured by the patriarchs, preached by the prophets.


    Responsory

    ℟. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, Mary, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;* therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God.
    ℣. Listen, my daughter, hear my words and consider them. The king desires your beauty;* therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God.


    ________

    Let us pray.

    Lord God,
    you have prepared for those who love you
    what no eye has seen, no ear has heard.
    Fill our hearts with your love,
    so that, loving you above all and in all,
    we may attain your promises
    which the heart of man has not conceived.
    Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
    who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
    God, for ever and ever.
    Amen.


    ________

    Let us praise the Lord.
    – Thanks be to God.


    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.

     

0 comments