Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 615
Proper of Seasons: 218
Psalter: Sunday, Week III, 942

Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings.

Office of Readings for Sunday in Ordinary Time

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 Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Psalm 145
Praise of God’s majesty
Lord, you are the Just One, who was and who is (Revelation 16:5).

I

I will give you glory, O God my King,
I will bless your name forever.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

I will bless you day after day
and praise your name forever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised,
his greatness cannot be measured.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Age to age shall proclaim your works,
shall declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your splendor and glory,
tell the tale of your wonderful works.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

They will speak of your terrible deeds,
recount your greatness and might.
They will recall your abundant goodness;
age to age shall ring out your justice.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.

Ant. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

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. Day by day I shall bless you, Lord, alleluia.

Ant. 2 Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom, alleluia.

II

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God,

to make known to men your mighty deeds
and the glorious splendor of your reign.
Yours is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule lasts from age to age.

Ant. Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom, alleluia.

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. Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom, alleluia.

Ant. 3 The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

III

The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall
and raises all who are bowed down.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

The eyes of all creatures look to you
and you give them their food in due time.
You open wide your hand,
grant the desires of all who live.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

He grants the desires of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and he saves them.
The Lord protects all who love him;
but the wicked he will utterly destroy.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

Let me speak the praise of the Lord,
let all mankind bless his holy name
for ever, for ages unending.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

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, be near to all who call upon you in truth and increase the dedication of those who revere you. Hear their prayers and save them, that they may always love you and praise your holy name.

Ant. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds, alleluia.

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.

Listen to my words.
— Give ear to my precepts.

READINGS

First reading
From the book of the prophet Jeremiah
37:21; 38:14-28
Jeremiah, while in prison, encourages Zedekiah to seek peace

King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be confined in the quarters of the guard, and given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers’ shop until all the bread in the city was eaten up. Thus Jeremiah remained in the quarters of the guard.

Once King Zedekiah summoned the prophet Jeremiah to come to him at the third entrance to the house of the Lord. “I have a question to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah; “hide nothing from me.” Jeremiah answered Zedekiah: If I tell you anything, you will have me killed, will you not? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me! But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: “As the Lord lives who gave us the breath of life, I will not kill you; nor will I hand you over to these men who seek your life.”

Thereupon Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed with fire, and you and your family shall live. But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, this city shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it with fire, and you shall not escape their hands.

King Zedekiah, however, said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the men of Judah who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I may be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me.”

You will not be handed over, Jeremiah answered. Please obey the voice of the Lord and do as I tell you; then it shall go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord shows me: All the women left in the house of Judah’s king shall be brought out to the princes of Babylon’s king, and they shall taunt you thus:

“They betrayed you, outdid you,
your good friends!
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they slink away.”

All your wives and sons shall be led forth to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape their hands; you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city shall be destroyed with fire.

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die. If the princes hear I spoke to you, if they come and ask you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ or, ‘What did the king say to you?’ give them this answer: ‘I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.'”

When all the princes came to Jeremiah, they questioned him, and he answered them in the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been heard of the earlier conversation. Thus Jeremiah stayed in the quarters of the guard till the day Jerusalem was taken.

RESPONSORY 2 Corinthians 6:4-5; Judith 8:23

Let us prove that we are God’s ministers
by patient endurance of trials,
— in times of difficulty and in distress
and when flogged or imprisoned.

Those who remained faithful,
no matter what they suffered,
won God’s favor.
— In times of difficulty and in distress
and when flogged or imprisoned.

Second reading
From a sermon on the beatitudes by Saint Leo the Great, pope
Christian wisdom

The Lord then goes on to say: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. This hunger is not for any bodily food, this thirst is not for any earthly drink: it is a longing to be blessed with righteousness, and, by penetrating the secret of all mysteries, to be filled with the Lord himself.

Happy is the soul that longs for the food of righteousness and thirsts for this kind of drink; it would not seek such things if it had not already savored their delight. When the soul hears the voice of the Spirit saying to it through the prophet: Taste and see that the Lord is good, it has already received a portion of God’s goodness, and is on fire with love, the love that gives joy of the utmost purity. It counts as nothing all that belongs to time; it is entirely consumed with desire to eat and drink the food of righteousness. The soul lays hold of the true meaning of the first and great commandment: You shall love the Lord God with your whole heart, and your whole mind and your whole strength, for to love God is nothing else than to love righteousness.

Finally, just as concern for one’s neighbor is added to love of God, so the virtue of mercy is added to the desire for righteousness, as it is said: Blessed are the merciful, for God will be merciful to them.

Remember, Christian, the surpassing worth of the wisdom that is yours. Bear in mind the kind of school in which you are to learn your skills, the rewards to which you are called. Mercy itself wishes you to be merciful, righteousness itself wishes you to be righteous, so that the Creator may shine forth in his creature, and the image of God be reflected in the mirror of the human heart as it imitates his qualities. The faith of those who live their faith is a serene faith. What you long for will be given you; what you love will be yours for ever.

Since it is by giving alms that everything is pure for you, you will also receive that blessing which is promised next by the Lord: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Dear friends, great is the happiness of those for whom such a reward is prepared. Who are the clean of heart if not those who strive for those virtues we have mentioned above? What mind can conceive, what words can express the great happiness of seeing God? Yet human nature will achieve this when it has been transformed so that it sees the Godhead no longer in a mirror or obscurely but face to face–the Godhead that no man has been able to see. In the inexpressible joy of this eternal vision, human nature will possess what eye has not seen or ear heard, what man’s heart has never conceived.

RESPONSORY Psalm 31:20; 1 Corinthians 2:9

O Lord, how great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you.
— This goodness you lavish on all who hope in you.

No eye has seen, no ear heard, nor has the heart of man conceived.
— This goodness you lavish on all who hope in you.

TE DEUM

You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the King of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free
you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death,
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
— Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.
— We praise your name for ever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
— Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Lord, show us your love and mercy,
— for we have put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:
— And we shall never hope in vain.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God,
by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ may receive
true freedom and an everlasting inheritance.
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.