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. I:
Ordinary: 661
Proper of Saints: 1260
Psalter: Tuesday, Week IV, 1092
Midday Prayer for the Feast of Stephen, First Martyr, 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.
HYMN
Per crucem et passionem tuam
Libera nos domine, domine
(repeated 4X)
English translation
Through Thy Cross and Passion,
Good Lord, deliver us
| 𝄞 | "Per Crucem" by Melinda Kirigin-Voss • Title: Per Crucem (By Your Cross); Artist: Melinda Kirigin-Voss; Used with permission from Melinda Kirigin-Voss • Albums that contain this Hymn: Yesterday, Today, and Forever |
PSALMODY
Ant. Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
Psalm 119:137-144
XVIII (Sade)
Lord, you are just indeed;
your decrees are right.
You have imposed your will with justice
and with absolute truth.
I am carried away by anger
for my foes forget your word.
Your promise is tried in the fire,
the delight of your servant.
Although I am weak and despised,
I remember your precepts.
Your justice is eternal justice
and your law is truth.
Though anguish and distress have seized me,
I delight in your commands.
The justice of your will is eternal:
if you teach me I shall live.
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
You are just indeed, Lord, and your commandments are eternal. Teach us to love you with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
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 88
Prayer of a person who is gravely ill
This is your moment — when darkness reigns (Luke 22:53).
I
Lord my God, I call for help by day;
I cry at night before you.
Let my prayer come into your presence.
O turn your ear to my cry.
For my soul is filled with evils;
my life is on the brink of the grave.
I am reckoned as one in the tomb;
I have reached the end of my strength,
Like one alone among the dead,
like the slain lying in their graves,
like those you remember no more,
cut off, as they are, from your hand.
You have laid me in the depths of the tomb,
in places that are dark, in the depths.
Your anger weighs down upon me;
I am drowned beneath your waves.
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
You have taken away my friends
and made me hateful in their sight.
Imprisoned, I cannot escape;
my eyes are sunken with grief.
I call to you, Lord, all the day long;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work your wonders for the dead?
Will the shades stand and praise you?
Will your love be told in the grave
or your faithfulness among the dead?
Will your wonders be known in the dark
or your justice in the land of oblivion?
As for me, Lord, I call to you for help;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide your face?
Wretched, close to death from my youth,
I have borne your trials; I am numb.
Your fury has swept down upon me;
your terrors have utterly destroyed me.
They surround me all the day like a flood,
they assail me all together.
Friend and neighbor you have taken away:
my one companion is darkness.
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, redeemer of all and author of our salvation, for us you went down to the realm of death and became free of death. Hear the prayers of our family and lift us from our slavery to evil, that we may be redeemed by you and see your Father’s glory.
Ant. Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
READING James 1:12
Happy the man who holds out to the end through trial! Once he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life the Lord has promised to those who love him.
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.
I have put my hope in God.
— I have no fear of man.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Grant,
Lord, we pray,
that we may imitate what we worship,
and so learn to love even our enemies,
for we celebrate the heavenly birthday of a man
who knew how to pray even for his persecutors.
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 (only added when praying in community)
Let us praise the Lord.
— And give him thanks.