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Liturgy of the Hours for March 29

Office of Readings - Memorial for Good Friday

Please Note

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

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 615
Psalter: Wednesday, Week III, 1003
Proper of Seasons: 232
Common of Doctors of the Church: 1777
Proper of Saints: 1377

Office of Readings for Wednesday in Ordinary Time, the Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop 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

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Beneath the shadow of Your throne
Your saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is your arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting you are God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in your sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all our lives away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be now our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

𝄞"O God, Our Help in Ages Past" by Melinda Kirigin-Voss, Vince Clark • Title: O God, Our Help in Ages Past; Text: Based on Psalm 90; Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, Psalms of David..., 1719, alt.; Tune: ST. ANNE, CM; later form of melody (rhythm adapted), attr. to William Croft, 1678-1727, A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms, 1708; Artist: Melinda Kirigin-Voss, Vince Clark; Copyright 2016 Surgeworks Inc. • Albums that contain this Hymn: Divine Office

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Wherever you are, Lord, there is mercy, there is truth.

Psalm 89
God’s favors to the house of David

According to his promise, the Lord has raised up Jesus, a Savior, from the family of David (Acts 13:22, 23).

I

I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established in the heavens.

“With my chosen one, I have made a covenant;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.”

The heavens proclaim your wonders, O Lord;
the assembly of your holy ones proclaims your truth.
For who in the skies can compare with the Lord
or who is like the Lord among the sons of God?

A God to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
great and dreadful to all around him.
O Lord God of hosts, who is your equal?
You are mighty, O Lord, and truth is your garment.

It is you who rule the sea in its pride;
it is you who still the surging of its waves.
You crushed the monster Rahab and killed it,
scattering your foes with your mighty arm.

The heavens are yours, the world is yours.
It is you who founded the earth and all it holds;
it is you who created the North and the South.
Tabor and Hermon shout with joy at your name.

Yours is a mighty arm, O Lord;
your hand is strong, your right hand ready.
Justice and right are the pillars of your throne,
love and truth walk in your presence.

Happy the people who acclaim such a king,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
who find their joy every day in your name,
who make your justice the source of their bliss.

For you, O Lord, are the glory of their strength;
by your favor it is that our might is exalted:
for our ruler is in the keeping of the Lord;
our king in the keeping of the Holy One of Israel.

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. Wherever you are, Lord, there is mercy, there is truth.

Ant. 2 When the Son of God came into this world, he was born of David’s line.

II

Of old you spoke in a vision.
To your friends the prophets you said:
“I have set the crown on a warrior,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.

I have found David my servant
and with my holy oil anointed him.
My hand shall always be with him
and my arm shall make him strong.

The enemy shall never outwit him
nor the evil man oppress him.
I will beat down his foes before him
and smite those who hate him.

My truth and my love shall be with him;
by my name his might shall be exalted.
I will stretch out his hand to the Sea
and his right hand as far as the River.

He will say to me: ‘You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.’
And I will make him my first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth.

I will keep my love for him always;
for him my covenant shall last.
I will establish his dynasty for ever,
make his throne endure as the heavens.”

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. When the Son of God came into this world, he was born of David’s line.

Ant. 3 Once for all I swore to my servant David: his dynasty shall never fail.

III

“If his sons forsake my law
and refuse to walk as I decree
and if ever they violate my statutes,
refusing to keep my commands;

then I will punish their offenses with the rod,
then I will scourge them on account of their guilt.
But I will never take back my love:
my truth will never fail.

I will never violate my covenant
nor go back on the word I have spoken.
Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness.
‘I will never lie to David.

His dynasty shall last for ever.
In my sight his throne is like the sun;
like the moon, it shall endure for ever,
a faithful witness in the skies.’”

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

God, you anointed your servant Jesus with holy oil and raised him higher than all kings on earth. In this you fulfilled the promise made to David’s descendants and established a lasting covenant through your first-born Son. Do not forget your holy covenant, so that we who are signed with the blood of your Son through the new sacraments of faith may sing of your mercies for ever.

Ant. Once for all I swore to my servant David: his dynasty shall never fail.

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 Habakkuk
2:4b-20
Curses against oppressors

Wealth, too, is treacherous:
the proud, unstable man–
He who opens wide his throat like the nether world,
and is insatiable as death,
Who gathers to himself all the nations,
and rallies to himself all the peoples–
Shall not all these take up a taunt against him,
satire and epigrams about him, to say:

Woe to him who stores up what is not his:
how long can it last!
he loads himself down with debts.
Shall not your creditors rise suddenly?
Shall not they who make you tremble awake?
You shall become their spoil!
Because you despoiled many peoples
all the rest of the nations shall despoil you;
Because of men’s blood shed,
and violence done to the land,
to the city and to all who dwell in it.

Woe to him who pursues evil gain for his household,
setting his nest on high
to escape the reach of misfortune!
You have devised shame for your household,
cutting off many peoples, forfeiting your own life:
For the stone in the wall shall cry out,
and the beam in the woodwork shall answer it!

Woe to him who builds a city by bloodshed,
and establishes a town by wickedness!
Is not this from the Lord of hosts:
peoples toil for the flames,
and nations grow weary for nought!
But the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory
as water covers the sea.

Woe to you who give your neighbors
a flood of your wrath to drink,
and make them drunk, till their nakedness is seen!
You are filled with shame instead of glory;
drink, you too, and stagger!
On you shall revert the cup from the Lord’s right hand,
and utter shame on your glory.
For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover you,
and the destruction of the beasts shall terrify you;
Because of men’s blood shed,
and violence done to the land,
to the city and to all who dwell in it.

Woe to him who says to wood, “Awake!”
to dumb stone, “Arise!”
Can such a thing give oracles?
See, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
but there is no life breath in it.
Of what avail is the carved image,
that its maker should carve it?
Or the molten image and lying oracle,
that its very maker should trust in it,
and make dumb idols?
But the Lord is in his holy temple;
silence before him, all the earth!

RESPONSORY Romans 2:12; 3:23; 11:32

Sinners who were not under the law
will also perish outside of the law;
sinners subject to the law
will be judged in accordance with it.
All have sinned and are deprived of God’s glory.

God has imprisoned all in their disobedience,
that he might show mercy to all.
All have sinned and are deprived of God’s glory.

Second reading
From a homily by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
Life to me means Christ, and death is gain

The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. What are we to fear? Death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Exile? The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord. The confiscation of goods? We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it. I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.

Do you not hear the Lord saying: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst? Will he be absent, then, when so many people united in love are gathered together? I have his promise; I am surely not going to rely on my own strength! I have what he has written; that is my staff, my security, my peaceful harbor. Let the world be in upheaval. I hold to his promise and read his message; that is my protecting wall and garrison. What message? Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!

If Christ is with me, whom shall I fear? Though the waves and the sea and the anger of princes are roused against me, they are less to me than a spider’s web. Indeed, unless you, my brothers, had detained me, I would have left this very day. For I always say Lord, your will be done; not what this fellow or that would have me do, but what you want me to do. That is my strong tower, my immovable rock, my staff that never gives way. If God wants something, let it be done! If he wants me to stay here, I am grateful. But wherever he wants me to be, I am no less grateful.

Yet where I am, there you are too, and where you are, I am. For we are a single body, and the body cannot be separated from the head nor the head from the body. Distance separates us, but love unites us, and death itself cannot divide us. For though my body die, my soul will live and be mindful of my people.

You are my fellow citizens, my fathers, my brothers, my sons, my limbs, my body. You are my light, sweeter to me than the visible light. For what can the rays of the sun bestow on me that is comparable to your love? The sun’s light is useful in my earthly life, but your love is fashioning a crown for me in the life to come.

RESPONSORY

Because I preach the Gospel, I suffer hardships
even to the point of being thrown into chains like a criminal,
but the word of God is not chained.
I endure all of this for the sake of the chosen.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
I endure all of this for the sake of the chosen.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God,
strength of those who hope in you,
who willed that the Bishop Saint John Chrysostom
should be illustrious by his wonderful eloquence
and his experience of suffering,
grant us, we pray, that, instructed by his teachings,
we may be strengthened through the example of his invincible patience.
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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Personal Reflections

The Faith Journey of our Community

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JamesTheElder on September 13th, 2023 at 0:09

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Saint John Chrysostom, eloquent defender of God’s promises as was your hero, St. Paul, please pray for us that we may gain the virtue of patience you exhibited, even when driven into exile. By your...
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