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Liturgy of the Hours for March 27

Office of Readings - Memorial for Wednesday in Holy Week

Please Note

This is the Liturgy of the Hours for December 31. Your local date is .

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. I:
Ordinary: 649
Psalter: Saturday, Week I, 781
Common of Pastors: 1428 (verse)
Proper of Seasons: 190 (first reading)
Proper of the Saints: 1210 (second reading, concluding prayer)

Christian Prayer (single volume):
Does not contain Office of Readings.

Office of Readings for Saturday in Advent, the Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest

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

The King of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness fails me never.
I nothing lack if I am His,
and He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow,
my ransomed soul He's leading;
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feeding.

Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed,
but yet in love He sought me;
and on His shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death's dark vale I fear no ill,
with You, dear Lord, beside me;
Your rod and staff my comfort still,
Your cross before to guide me.

You spread a table in my sight;
Your unction grace bestowing;
and oh, what transport of delight
from Your pure chalice flowing!

And so through all the length of days,
Your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Your praise
within Your house forever.

𝄞"The King of Love My Shepherd Is" by Johanna Montealto • Title: The King of love my Shepherd is Author: H. W. Baker (1868) Tune: ST. COLUMBA, Ancient Irish melody; Recording copyright 2016 Surgeworks

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Sing praise to the Lord; remember the wonders he has wrought.

Psalm 105
The Lord is faithful to his promises

The apostles proclaim to the nations the wonders which God wrought when he came among us (Saint Athanasius).

I

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgments he spoke.

O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose,
he, the Lord, is our God;
his judgments prevail in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.

He confirmed it for Jacob as a law,
for Israel as a covenant for ever.
He said: “I am giving you a land,
Canaan, your appointed heritage.”

When they were few in number,
a handful of strangers in the land,
when they wandered from country to country,
from one kingdom and nation to another,

he allowed no one to oppress them;
he admonished kings on their account:
“Do not touch those I have anointed;
do no harm to any of my prophets.”

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. Sing praise to the Lord; remember the wonders he has wrought.

Ant. 2 The Lord did not abandon the good man who was sold into slavery, but freed him from the power of sinners.

II

But he called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.

His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.

Then the king sent and released him
the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed,

to instruct his princes as he pleased
and to teach his elders wisdom.

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. The Lord did not abandon the good man who was sold into slavery, but freed him from the power of sinners.

Ant. 3 The Lord was true to his sacred promise; he led his people to freedom and joy.

III

So Israel came into Egypt;
Jacob lived in the country of Ham.

He gave his people increase;
he made them stronger than their foes,
whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceitfully with his servants.

Then he sent Moses his servant
and Aaron the man he had chosen.
Through them he showed his marvels
and his wonders in the country of Ham.

He sent darkness, and dark was made
but Egypt resisted his words.
He turned the waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.

Their land was alive with frogs,
even to the halls of their kings.
He spoke; the dog-fly came
and gnats covered the land.

He sent hailstones in place of the rain
and flashing fire in their land.
He struck their vines and fig trees;
he shattered the trees through their land.

He spoke; the locusts came,
young locusts, too many to be counted.
They ate up every blade in the land;
they ate up all the fruit of their fields.

He struck all the first-born in their land,
the finest flower of their sons.
He led out Israel with silver and gold.
In his tribes were none who fell behind.

Egypt rejoiced when they left
for dread had fallen upon them.
He spread a cloud as a screen
and fire to give light in the darkness.

When they asked for food he sent quails;
he filled them with bread from heaven.
He pierced the rock to give them water;
it gushed forth in the desert like a river.

For he remembered his holy word,
which he gave to Abraham his servant.
So he brought out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.

And he gave them the land of the nations.
They took the fruit of other men’s toil,
that thus they might keep his precepts,
that thus they might observe his laws.

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

Abraham, Joseph and Moses prefigured your plan, Father, to redeem mankind from slavery and to lead them into the land of promise. Through the death and resurrection of your Son, your Church fulfills these promises. Grant us living water from the rock and bread from heaven, that we may survive our desert pilgrimage and thank you eternally for your kindness.

Ant. The Lord was true to his sacred promise; he led his people to freedom and joy.

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.

You will hear the word from my mouth.
You will tell others what I have said.

READINGS

First reading
From the book of the prophet Isaiah 
21:6-12
The watchman announces the ruin of Babylon

Thus says my Lord to me:
Go, station a watchman,
let him tell what he sees.
If he sees a chariot,
a pair of horses,
Someone riding an ass,
someone riding a camel,
Then let him pay heed,
very close heed.

Then the watchman cried,
“On the watchtower, O my Lord,
I stand constantly by day;
And I stay at my post
through all the watches of the night.

“Here he comes now:
a single chariot,
a pair of horses;
He calls out and says,
‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
And all the images of her gods
are smashed to the ground.’”

O my people who have been threshed,
beaten on my threshing floor!
What I have heard
from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have announced to you.

Oracle on Edom:
They call to me from Seir,
“Watchman, how much longer the night?
Watchman, how much longer the night?”
The watchman replies,
“Morning has come, and again night.
If you will ask, ask; come back again.”

RESPONSORY Revelation 18:2, 4, 5

An angel cried in a voice like thunder: Babylon the great is fallen! Then I heard another voice from heaven:
Come out, my people, come out from her; you must not take part in her sins.

High as heaven her iniquities pile up; the Lord has the record in hand.
Come out, my people, come out from her; you must not take part in her sins.

Second reading
From the letters to Saint Ignatius by Saint Francis Xavier, priest
Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel

We have visited the villages of the new converts who accepted the Christian religion a few years ago. No Portuguese live here—the country is so utterly barren and poor. The native Christians have no priests. They know only that they are Christians. There is nobody to say Mass for them; nobody to teach them the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Commandments of God’s Law.

I have not stopped since the day I arrived. I conscientiously made the rounds of the villages. I bathed in the sacred waters all the children who had not yet been baptized. This means that I have purified a very large number of children so young that, as the saying goes, they could not tell their right hand from their left. The older children would not let me say my Office or eat or sleep until I taught them one prayer or another. Then I began to understand: “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

I could not refuse so devout a request without failing in devotion myself. I taught them, first the confession of faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, then the Apostles’ Creed, the Our Father and Hail Mary. I noticed among them persons of great intelligence. If only someone could educate them in the Christian way of life, I have no doubt that they would make excellent Christians.

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe, especially Paris, and everywhere crying out like a madman, riveting the attention of those with more learning than charity: “What a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks to you!”

I wish they would work as hard at this as they do at their books, and so settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them.

This thought would certainly stir most of them to meditate on spiritual realities, to listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires, their human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God’s will and his choice. They would cry out with all their heart: Lord, I am here! What do you want me to do? Send me anywhere you like—even to India.

RESPONSORY Luke 10:2; Acts 1:8

So great a harvest, and so few to gather it in;
pray to the Lord of the harvest,
beg him to send out laborers for his harvest.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Pray to the Lord of the harvest,
beg him to send out laborers for his harvest.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God,
who through the preaching of Saint Francis Xavier
won many peoples to yourself,
grant that the hearts of the faithful
may burn with the same zeal for the faith
and that Holy Church may everywhere rejoice
in an abundance of offspring.
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.

ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)

Let us praise the Lord.
And give him thanks.

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