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. III:
Ordinary: 651
Proper of Seasons: 529
Psalter: Thursday, Week IV, 1210
Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings
Office of Readings for Thursday in Ordinary Time
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
I am the Lord bringing light through the cloud
Let the Heavens rain down righteousness
Let earth open up, and salvation bear fruit;
Let the Heavens rain down righteousness
I am the Lord your God, beside me there is no other god
I call you by your name let the Heavens rain down righteousness
I the Lord have created it.
I am the Lord bringing light through the cloud
Let the Heavens rain down righteousness
Let earth open up, and salvation bear fruit;
Let the Heavens rain down righteousness
I am the Lord your God, beside me there is no other god
I call you by your name let the Heavens rain down righteousness
I the Lord have created it.
𝄞 | "Isaiah 45" by Kathleen Lundquist • Available for Purchase • Title: Isaiah 45; Lyrics adapted from Revised Standard Version of the Bible; Composer: Kathleen Lundquist; Artist: Kathleen Lundquist; Used with permission. • Albums that contain this Hymn: Sing of Mary |
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 Their own strength could not save them; it was your strength and the light of your face.
Psalm 44
The misfortunes of God’s people
We triumph over all these things through him who loved us (Romans 8:37).
I
We heard with our own ears, O God,
our fathers have told us the story
of the things you did in their days,
you yourself, in days long ago.
To plant them you uprooted the nations:
to let them spread you laid peoples low.
No sword of their own won the land;
no arm of their own brought them victory.
It was your right hand, your arm
and the light of your face: for you loved them.
It is you, my king, my God,
who granted victories to Jacob.
Through you we beat down our foes;
in your name we trampled our aggressors.
For it was not in my bow that I trusted
nor yet was I saved by my sword:
it was you who saved us from our foes,
it was you who put our foes to shame.
All day long our boast was in God
and we praised your name without ceasing.
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. Their own strength could not save them; it was your strength and the light of your face.
Ant. 2 Turn back to the Lord; he will not hide his face.
II
Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us:
you no longer go forth with our armies.
You make us retreat from the foe
and our enemies plunder us at will.
You make us like sheep for the slaughter
and scatter us among the nations.
You sell your own people for nothing
and make no profit by the sale.
You make us the taunt of our neighbors,
the laughing stock of all who are near.
Among the nations, you make us a byword,
among the peoples a thing of derision.
All day long my disgrace is before me:
my face is covered with shame
at the voice of the taunter, the scoffer,
at the sight of the foe and avenger.
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. Turn back to the Lord; he will not hide his face.
Ant. 3 Arise, Lord, do not abandon us for ever.
IIII
This befell us though we had not forgotten you;
though we had not been false to your covenant,
though we had not withdrawn our hearts;
though our feet had not strayed from your path.
Yet you have crushed us in a place of sorrows
and covered us with the shadow of death.
Had we forgotten the name of our God
or stretched out our hands to another god
would not God have found this out,
he who knows the secrets of the heart?
It is for you we face death all day long
and are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep?
Arise, do not reject us for ever!
Why do you hide your face
and forget our oppression and misery?
For we are brought down low to the dust;
our body lies prostrate on the earth.
Stand up and come to our help!
Redeem us because of your love!
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
Lord Jesus, you foretold that we would share in the persecutions that brought you to a violent death. The Church formed at the cost of your precious blood is even now conformed to your Passion; may it be transformed, now and eternally, by the power of your resurrection.
Ant. Arise, Lord, do not abandon us for ever.
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.
Let the light of your face shine on me, O Lord.
— Teach me your way of holiness.
READINGS
First reading
From the second letter of the apostle Paul to the Corinthians
4:5–18
The weakness of Paul and his strength
It is not ourselves we preach but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts
that we in turn might make known the glory of God shining on the face of Christ.
This treasure we possess in earthen vessels, to make it clear that its surpassing power comes from God and not from us . We are afflicted in every way possible, but we are not crushed; full of doubts, but we never despair; we are persecuted, but never abandoned; we are struck down, but never destroyed; continually we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed. While we live we are constantly being delivered to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. Death is at work in us, but life in you.
We have that spirit of faith, of which the Scripture says: “Because I believed, I spoke out” we believe and so we speak, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up along with Jesus and place both us and you in his presence. Indeed everything is ordered to your benefit so that the grace bestowed in abundance may bring greater glory to God because they who give thanks are many.
We do not lose heart, because our inner being is renewed each day even though our body is being destroyed at the same time. The present burden of our trial is light enough, and earns for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. We do not fix our gaze on what is seen but on what is unseen. What is seen is transitory; what is unseen lasts forever.
RESPONSORY 2 Corinthians 4:6; Deuteronomy 5:24
God has said:
Let light shine out of darkness.
— He has shone in our hearts that we might make known the glory of God shining on the face of Christ Jesus.
The Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness,
and we have heard his voice.
— He has shone in our hearts that we might make known the glory of God shining on the face of Christ Jesus.
Second reading
From the Explanations of the Psalms by Saint Ambrose, bishop
We are sealed with the glory of your face
Why do you turn away your face? We think that God is turning his face away from us when we find ourselves in such distress that our senses are clouded in darkness and we cannot see the glory of him who is truth. We are convinced that if God would pay attention to our condition and be pleased to visit our souls, nothing could plunge us in gloom. If a person’s face is more enlightening than other parts of his body – so that when we look at someone we either see him as a stranger or recognize him as someone we know, whom our glance will not allow to pass unrecognized – how much more does the face of God enlighten those on whom he directs his gaze.
In his usual way Saint Paul has something striking to say on this subject. He employs his gift for making Christ better understood to make him closer to us through the use of appropriate ideas and expressions. He tells us: God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has caused light to shine in our hearts, so that we might receive the revelation of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. We know, then the place where Christ is shining within us. He is the eternal splendor enlightening our minds and our hearts. He was sent by the Father to shine on us in the glory of his face, and so enable us to see what is eternal and heavenly, where before we were imprisoned in the darkness of this world.
There should be no need for me to speak of Christ when even Peter the apostle said to the man born lame: Look at us. He looked at Peter and was enlightened by the grace of faith. He would not have received healing had he not believed with faith.
Such was the glory possessed by the apostles. Yet Zacchaeus, hearing that the Lord Jesus was passing by, climbed a tree, for he was small in stature and could not see him because of the crowd. He saw Christ and discovered the light. He saw Christ and gave up what was his own, though he was a man who took what belonged to others.
Why do you turn away your face? May we say it in another way. Even if, Lord, you turn your face away from us, yet we are sealed with the glory of your face. Your glory is in our hearts and shines in the deep places of our spirit. Indeed, no one can live if you should turn away your face.
RESPONSORY 2 Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 10:32
God has said:
Let light shine out of darkness.
— He has shone in our hearts that we might make known the glory of God shining on the face of Christ Jesus.
Remember the days gone by,
after you had been enlightened,
how you endured a great contest of suffering.
— He has shone in our hearts that we might make known the glory of God shining on the face of Christ Jesus.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Show favor, O Lord,
to your servants
and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace,
that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity,
they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)
Let us praise the Lord.
— And give him thanks.
The Faith Journey of our Community
JamesTheElder on July 26th, 2023 at 22:47
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