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Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 615
Psalter: Thursday, Week II, 880
Common of Pastors: 1748
Proper of Seasons: 73
Proper of Saints: 1301

Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings

Office of Readings for Thursday in Ordinary Time, the Memorial of Saint Dominic, 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.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Lord, you are our savior; we will praise you for ever.

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 down 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. Lord, you are our savior; we will praise you for ever.

Ant. 2 Spare us, O Lord; do not bring your own people into contempt.

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. Spare us, O Lord; do not bring your own people into contempt.

Ant. 3 Rise up, O Lord, and save us, for you are merciful.

III

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 that 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, rise up and come to our aid; with your strong arm lead us to freedom, as you mightily delivered our forefathers. Since you are the king who knows the secrets of our hearts, fill them with the light of truth.

Ant. Rise up, O Lord, and save us, for you are merciful.

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 beginning of the book of the prophet Hosea
1:1-9; 3:1-5
The prophet, a sign of God’s love for his people

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel. In the beginning of the Lord’s speaking to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:

Go, take a harlot wife and harlot’s children,
for the land gives itself to harlotry,
turning away from the Lord.

So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to him:

Give him the name Jezreel,
for in a little while
I will punish the house of Jehu
for the bloodshed at Jezreel
And bring to an end the kingdom
of the house of Israel;
On that day I will break the bow of Israel
in the valley of Jezreel.

When she conceived again and bore a daughter, the Lord said to him:

Give her the name Lo-ruhama;
I no longer feel pity for the house of Israel:
rather, I abhor them utterly.
Yet for the house of Judah I feel pity;
I will save them by the Lord, their God;
But I will not save them by war,
by sword or bow, by horses or horsemen.

After she weaned Lo-ruhama, she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said:

Give him the name Lo-ammi,
for you are not my people,
and I will not be your God.
Again the Lord said to me:

Give your love to a woman
beloved of a paramour, an adulteress;
Even as the Lord loves the people of Israel,
though they turn to other gods
and are fond of raisin cakes.

So I bought her for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. Then I said to her:

“Many days you shall wait for me;
you shall not play the harlot
Or belong to any man;
I in turn will wait for you.”

For the people of Israel shall remain many days
without king or prince,
Without sacrifice or sacred pillar,
without ephod or household idols.
Then the people of Israel shall turn back
and seek the Lord, their God,
and David, their king;
They shall come trembling to the Lord
and to his bounty, in the last days.

RESPONSORY 1 Peter 2:9, 10; Romans 9:26

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; a people God has made his own.
— Once you were not his people, but now you are the people of God.

Instead of being told: You are not my people, they shall be called the sons of the living God.
— Once you were not his people, but now you are the people of God.

Second reading
From various writings on the history of the Order of Preachers
He spoke with God or about God

Dominic possessed such great integrity and was so strongly motivated by divine love, that without a doubt he proved to be a bearer of honor and grace. He was a man of great equanimity, except when moved to compassion and mercy. And since a joyful heart animates the face, he displayed the peaceful composure of a spiritual man in the kindness he manifested outwardly and by the cheerfulness of his countenance.

Wherever he went he showed himself in word and deed to be a man of the Gospel. During the day no one was more community-minded or pleasant toward his brothers and associates. During the night hours no one was more persistent in every kind of vigil and supplication. He seldom spoke unless it was with God, that is, in prayer, or about God, and in this matter he instructed his brothers.

Frequently he made a special personal petition that God would deign to grant him a genuine charity, effective in caring for and obtaining the salvation of men. For he believed that only then would he be truly a member of Christ, when he had given himself totally for the salvation of men, just as the Lord Jesus, the Savior of all, had offered himself completely for our salvation. So, for this work, after a lengthy period of careful and provident planning, he founded the Order of Friars Preachers.

In his conversations and letters he often urged the brothers of the Order to study constantly the Old and New Testaments. He always carried with him the gospel according to Matthew and the epistles of Paul, and so well did he study them that he almost knew them from memory.

Two or three times he was chosen bishop, but he always refused, preferring to live with his brothers in poverty. Throughout his life, he preserved the honor of his virginity. He desired to be scourged and cut to pieces, and so die for the faith of Christ. Of him Pope Gregory IX declared: “I knew him as a steadfast follower of the apostolic way of life. There is no doubt that he is in heaven, sharing in the glory of the apostles themselves.”

RESPONSORY See Sirach 48:1; Malachi 2:6

This preacher of the new salvation leaped up like a flame.
— His words burned like a torch.

True teaching was in his mouth; no evil was ever found on his lips.
— His words burned like a torch.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

May Saint Dominic
come to the help of your Church
by his merits and teaching,
O Lord, and may he,
who was an outstanding preacher of your truth,
be a devoted intercessor on our behalf.
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.