Tuesday 14 December 2021
Tuesday of the 3rd week of Advent
Midday Prayer (Sext)
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
Lord God and Maker of all things,
Creation is upheld by you.
While all must change and know decay,
You are unchanging, always new.
You are man’s solace and his shield,
His Rock secure on which to build.
You are the spirit’s tranquil home,
In you alone is hope fulfilled.
To God the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit render praise:
Blest Trinity, from age to age
The strength of all our living days.
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal
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PSALMS OF THE DAY
The psalms of the day are shown here, because the complementary psalms cannot be used today at this hour.
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Psalm 118(119): 97-104
Meditating the word of the Lord in the Law
“This is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:21)
The angel Gabriel said to Mary, ‘Rejoice, most highly favoured one! The Lord is with you. Of all women you are the most blessed.’
Lord, how I love your law!
It is ever in my mind.
Your command makes me wiser than my foes;
for it is mine for ever.
I have more insight than all who teach me
for I ponder your will.
I have more understanding than the old
for I keep your precepts.
I turn my feet from evil paths
to obey your word.
I have not turned from your decrees;
you yourself have taught me.
Your promise is sweeter to my taste
than honey in the mouth.
I gain understanding from your precepts
and so I hate the ways of falsehood.
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.
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Psalm 73 (74):1-12
Lament over the ruined Temple
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body” (Mt 10:28).
Why, O God, have you cast us off for ever?
Why blaze with anger at the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your people whom you chose long ago,
the tribe you redeemed to be your own possession,
the mountain of Sion where you made your dwelling.
Turn your steps to these places that are utterly ruined!
The enemy has laid waste the whole of the sanctuary.
Your foes have made uproar in your house of prayer:
they have set up their emblems, their foreign emblems,
high above the entrance to the sanctuary.
Their axes have battered the wood of its doors.
They have struck together with hatchet and pickaxe.
O God, they have set your sanctuary on fire:
they have razed and profaned the place where you dwell.
They said in their hearts: ‘Let us utterly crush them:
let us burn every shrine of God in the land.’
There is no sign from God, nor have we a prophet,
we have no one to tell us how long it will last.
How long, O God, is the enemy to scoff?
Is the foe to insult your name for ever?
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand?
Why do you keep your right hand hidden?
Yet God is our king from time past,
the giver of help through all the land.
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.
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Psalm 73 (74):13-23
It was you who divided the sea by your might,
who shattered the heads of the monsters in the sea.
It was you who crushed Leviathan’s heads
and gave him as food to the untamed beasts.
It was you who opened springs and torrents;
it was you who dried up ever-flowing rivers.
Yours is the day and yours is the night.
It was you who appointed the light and the sun:
it was you who fixed the bounds of the earth:
you who made both summer and winter.
Remember this, Lord, and see the enemy scoffing;
a senseless people insults your name.
Do not give Israel, your dove, to the hawk
nor forget the life of your poor ones for ever.
Remember your covenant; every cave in the land
is a place where violence makes its home.
Do not let the oppressed return disappointed;
let the poor and the needy bless your name.
Arise, O God, and defend your cause!
Remember how the senseless revile you all the day.
Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
the daily increasing uproar of your foes.
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 angel Gabriel said to Mary, ‘Rejoice, most highly favoured one! The Lord is with you. Of all women you are the most blessed.’
Psalm-prayer
Lord, our faithful God, you permitted the temple of the old covenant to be destroyed and your people to be persecuted by unbelievers. Do not forget the new covenant sealed with the blood of your Son. Make the Church your spiritual house and make us living stones built upon Christ so that a full and true temple may be founded at last.
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Short Reading
Jeremiah 23:6
In his days Judah will be saved and Israel dwell in confidence. And this is the name he will be called: ‘The Lord our righteousness.’
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℣. Remember us, Lord, for the love you bear your people.
℟. Come to us as a saviour.
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Let us pray.
Father,
through your Son you have made us a new people.
Look on us now as the new creation of your love,
and by the coming of your Son, cleanse us from every stain of sin.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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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.