This is the Liturgy of the Hours for December 31. Your local date is .
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Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 618
Psalter: Saturday, Week IV, 1217
Common of Doctors of the Church: 1783 (reading)
Common of Holy Men: 1833 (intercessions)
Proper of Saints: 1335 (canticle of Zechariah antiphon, concluding prayer)
Christian Prayer (single volume)
Ordinary: 689
Psalter: Saturday, Week IV, 988
Common of Doctors of the Church: 1435 (reading)
Common of Holy Men: 1452 (intercessions)
Proper of Saints: 1233 (canticle of Zechariah antiphon, concluding prayer)
Morning Prayer for Saturday in Ordinary Time, for the Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot 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 We do well to sing your name, Most High, and proclaim your mercy at daybreak.
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. We do well to sing your name, Most High, and proclaim your mercy at daybreak.
Ant.2 I will create a new heart in you, and breathe into you a new spirit.
Canticle – Ezekiel 36:24-28
The Lord will renew his people
They will be his own people, and God himself will be with them, their own God (Revelation 21:3).
I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart
and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your fathers;
you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
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. I will create a new heart in you, and breathe into you a new spirit.
Ant. 3 On the lips of children and infants you have found perfect praise.
Psalm 8
The majesty of the Lord and man’s dignity
The Father gave Christ lordship of creation and made him head of the Church (Ephesians 1:22).
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. On the lips of children and infants you have found perfect praise.
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. Blessed Bernard, your life, flooded by the splendor of the divine Word, illumines the Church with the light of true faith and doctrine.
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. Blessed Bernard, your life, flooded by the splendor of the divine Word, illumines the Church with the light of true faith and doctrine.
INTERCESSIONS
My brothers, let us praise Christ, asking to serve him and to be holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life. Let us acclaim him:
Lord, you alone are the holy one.
You desired to experience everything we experience but sin,
— have mercy on us, Lord Jesus.
Lord, you alone are the holy one.
You called us to love perfectly,
— make us holy, Lord Jesus.
Lord, you alone are the holy one.
You commissioned us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world,
— let your light shine on us, Lord Jesus.
Lord, you alone are the holy one.
You desired to serve, not to be served,
— help us, Lord Jesus, to give humble service to you and to our neighbors.
Lord, you alone are the holy one.
You are in the form of God sharing in the splendor of the Father,
— Lord Jesus, let us see the glory of your face.
Lord, you alone are the holy one.
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 made the Abbot Saint Bernard
a man consumed with zeal for your house
and a light shining and burning in your Church,
grant, through his intercession,
that we may be on fire with the same spirit
and walk always as children of light.
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.