Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. I:
Ordinary: 658
Proper of Seasons: 324
Psalter: Tuesday, Week III, 967

Midday Prayer for December 17, Tuesday in Advent, using the Current Psalmody

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. The angel Gabriel said to Mary in greeting: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.

Psalm 119:97-104
XIII (Mem)

Lord, how I love your law!
It is ever in my mind.
Your command makes me wiser than my foes;
for it is mine for ever.

I have more insight than all who teach me
for I ponder your will.
I have more understanding than the old
for I keep your precepts.

I turn my feet from evil paths
to obey your word.
I have not turned away from your decrees;
you yourself have taught me.

Your promise is sweeter to my taste
than honey in the mouth.
I gain understanding from your precepts;
I hate the ways of falsehood.

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

Make us so love your law, Father, as to ponder it continually in our hearts. May it bear fruit in works acceptable to you.

Psalm 74
Lament for the destruction of the Temple
Do not fear those who can only kill the body (Matthew 10:28).

I

Why, O God, have you cast us off for ever?
Why blaze with anger against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your people whom you chose long ago,
the tribe you redeemed to be your own possession,
the mountains of Zion where you made your dwelling.

Turn your steps to these places that are utterly ruined!
The enemy has laid waste to the whole of the sanctuary.
Your foes have made uproar in your house of prayer:
they have set up their emblems, their foreign emblems,
high above the entrance to the sanctuary.

Their axes have battered the wood of its doors.
They have struck together with hatchet and pickaxe.
O God, they have set your sanctuary on fire:
they have razed and profaned the place where you dwell.

They said in their hearts: “Let us utterly crush them:
let us burn every shrine of God in the land.”
There is no sign from God, nor have we a prophet,
we have no one to tell us how long it will last.

How long, O God, is the enemy to scoff?
Is the foe to insult your name for ever?
Why, O Lord, do you hold back your hand?
Why do you keep your right hand hidden?
Yet God is our king from time past,
the giver of help through all the land.

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.

II

It was you who divided the sea by your might,
who shattered the heads of the monsters in the sea.

It was you who crushed Leviathan’s heads
and gave him as food to the untamed beasts.
It was you who opened springs and torrents;
it was you who dried up ever-flowing rivers.

Yours is the day and yours is the night.
It was you who appointed the light and the sun:
it was you who fixed the bounds of the earth:
you who made both summer and winter.

Remember this, Lord, and see the enemy scoffing;
a senseless people insults your name.
Do not give Israel, your dove, to the hawk
nor forget the life of your poor ones for ever.

Remember your covenant; every cave in the land
is a place where violence makes its home.
Do not let the oppressed return disappointed;
let the poor and the needy bless your name.

Arise, O God, and defend your cause!
Remember how the senseless revile you all the day.
Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the daily increasing uproar of your foes.

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, our faithful God, you permitted the temple of the old covenant to be destroyed and your people to be persecuted by unbelievers. Do not forget the new covenant sealed with the blood of your Son. Make the Church your spiritual house and make us living stones built upon Christ so that a full and true temple may be founded at last.

Ant. The angel Gabriel said to Mary in greeting: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.

READING Isaiah 4:3

He who remains in Zion
and he that is left in Jerusalem
Will be called holy:
every one marked down for life in Jerusalem.

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.

Remember us, Lord, because of the love you have for your people.
—Come and bring us your salvation.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God, Creator and Redeemer of human nature,
who willed that your Word should take flesh
in an ever-virgin womb,
look with favor on our prayers,
that your Only Begotten Son,
having taken to himself our humanity,
may be pleased to grant us a share in his divinity.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

ACCLAMATION

Let us praise the Lord.
— And give him thanks.