This is the Liturgy of the Hours for December 31. Your local date is .
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Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 618
Psalter: Saturday, Week II, 926
Proper of Saints: 1365 (canticle of Zechariah antiphon, concluding prayer)
Common of Doctors of the Church: 1782 (reading, response)
Common of Pastors: 1763 (reading, responsory, intercessions)
Christian Prayer:
Ordinary: 689
Psalter: Saturday, Week II, 845
Proper of Saints: 1244 (canticle of Zechariah antiphon, concluding prayer)
Common of Doctors of the Church: 1435 (reading, response)
Common of Pastors: 1426 (reading, responsory, intercessions)
Morning Prayer for Saturday in Ordinary Time, the Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor
God, come to my assistance.
— Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
HYMN
Jesus, our Teacher, loving Lord and Master,
In adoration we acclaim your precepts,
You alone offer words of life eternal,
Laws of salvation.
Humbly we thank you, Shepherd through the ages,
For the protection to your Church extended,
Constantly guiding, that all souls may find there
Light in the darkness.
Masters of learning were your eager servants,
Stars of great splendor with but one ambition,
Deeper to fathom and explain the wonders
Of revelation.
All tongues should praise you, Jesus, divine Master,
Who lavish treasures from your Holy Spirit,
Through words and writings of the Church's doctors,
Flame ever fruitful.
May this day's patron, whom we gladly honor,
Ever be near us, leading on your people,
Till we all praise you, faith and hope rewarded,
In light eternal. Amen.
𝄞 | "Jesus, Our Teacher, Loving Lord and Master" by Kathleen Lundquist, Sara Faux • Available for Purchase • Title: Jesus, Our Teacher, Loving Lord and Master; Text: Doctor aeternus, Novus; Tr. St. Cecilia’s Abbey, Ryde, UK; Tune: Chant, Mode VIII; Liber Hymnarius; Artist: Kathleen Lundquist; Accompaniment: Sara Faux; Recording copyright 2017 by Surgeworks, Inc. • Albums that contain this Hymn: Hymns and Chants of Divine Office, Vol. 1 |
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 As morning breaks we sing of your mercy, Lord, and night will find us proclaiming your fidelity.
Psalm 92
Praise of God the Creator
Sing in praise of Christ’s redeeming work (Saint Athanasius)
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night,
on the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,
with the murmuring sound of the harp.
Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad;
for the work of your hands I shout with joy.
O Lord, how great are your works!
How deep are your designs!
The foolish man cannot know this
and the fool cannot understand.
Though the wicked spring up like grass
and all who do evil thrive:
they are doomed to be eternally destroyed.
But you, Lord, are eternally on high.
See how your enemies perish;
all doers of evil are scattered.
To me you give the wild-ox’s strength;
you anoint me with the purest oil.
My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;
my ears heard gladly of their fall.
The just will flourish like the palm-tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.
Planted in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God,
still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
to proclaim that the Lord is just;
In him, my rock, there is no wrong.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Psalm-prayer
Take our shame away from us, Lord, and make us rejoice in your saving works. May all who have been chosen by your Son always abound in works of faith, hope, and love in your service.
Ant. As morning breaks we sing of your mercy, Lord, and night will find us proclaiming your fidelity.
Ant.2 Extol the greatness of our God.
Canticle – Deuteronomy 32:1-12
God’s kindness to his people
How often have I longed to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wing. (Matthew 23:37)
Give ear, O heavens, while I speak;
let the earth hearken to the words of my mouth!
May my instruction soak in like the rain,
and my discourse permeate like the dew,
Like a downpour upon the grass,
like a shower upon the crops:
For I will sing the Lord’s renown.
Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God!
The Rock – how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
how just and upright he is!
Yet basely has he been treated by his degenerate children,
a perverse and crooked race!
Is the Lord to be thus repaid by you,
O stupid and foolish people?
Is he not your father who created you?
Has he not made you and established you?
Think back on the days of old,
reflect on the years of age upon age.
Ask your father and he will inform you,
ask your elders and they will tell you:
When the Most High assigned the nations their heritage,
when he parceled out the descendants of Adam,
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
after the number of the sons of God;
While the Lord’s own portion was Jacob,
His hereditary share was Israel.
He found them in a wilderness,
a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them and cared for them,
guarding them as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle incites its nestlings forth
by hovering over its brood,
So he spread his wings to receive them
and bore them up on his pinions.
The Lord alone was their leader,
no strange god was with him.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Extol the greatness of our God.
Ant. 3 How wonderful is your name, O Lord, in all creation.
Psalm 8
Praise for God’s loving compassion
I affirm that… the Gentile peoples are to praise God because of his mercy (Romans 15:8-9)
How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!
Your majesty is praised above the heavens;
on the lips of children and of babes
you have found praise to foil your enemy,
to silence the foe and the rebel.
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god;
with glory and honor you crowned him,
gave him power over the works of your hands,
put all things under his feet.
All of them, sheep and cattle,
yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish
that make their way through the waters.
How great is your name, O Lord our God
through all the earth!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Psalm-prayer
Almighty Lord, how wonderful is your name. You have made every creature subject to you; make us worthy to give you service.
Ant. How wonderful is your name, O Lord, in all creation.
READING Wisdom 7:13-14
Simply I learned about Wisdom, and ungrudgingly do I share —
her riches I do not hide away;
For to men she is an unfailing treasure;
those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God,
to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them.
Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.
RESPONSORY
Let the peoples proclaim the wisdom of the saints.
— Let the peoples proclaim the wisdom of the saints.
With joyful praise let the Church tell forth
— the wisdom of the saints.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
— Let the peoples proclaim the wisdom of the saints.
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Ant. Gregory, an outstanding pastor of the Church, has left us a splendid example and rule of life, a guide for all who shepherd God’s people.
Luke 1:68 – 79
The Messiah and his forerunner
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Gregory, an outstanding pastor of the Church, has left us a splendid example and rule of life, a guide for all who shepherd God’s people.
INTERCESSIONS
Christ is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. Let us praise and thank him as we pray:
Nourish your people, Lord.
Christ, you decided to show your merciful love through your holy shepherds,
— let your mercy always reach us through them.
Nourish your people, Lord.
Through your vicars you continue to perform the ministry of shepherd of souls,
— direct us always through our leaders.
Nourish your people, Lord.
Through your holy ones, the leaders of your people, you served as physician of our bodies and our spirits,
— continue to fulfill your ministry of life and holiness in us.
Nourish your people, Lord.
You taught your flock through the prudence and love of your saints,
— grant us continual growth in holiness under the direction of our pastors.
Nourish your people, Lord.
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.
Concluding Prayer
O God,
who care for your people
with gentleness and rule them in love,
through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory,
endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom
those to whom you have given authority to govern,
that the flourishing of a holy flock
may become the eternal joy of the shepherds.
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.
DISMISSAL
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
— Amen.