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Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. I:
Ordinary: 649
Proper of Seasons: 190
Psalter: Saturday, Week I, 781

Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings.

Office of Readings for Saturday in the First Week of Advent

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 Sing praise to the Lord; remember the wonders he has wrought.

Psalm 105
The Lord is faithful to his promises
The apostles proclaim to the nations the wonders which God wrought when he came among us (Saint Athanasius).

I

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, the judgments he spoke.

O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose,
he, the Lord, is our God;
his judgments prevail in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant for ever,
his promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.

He confirmed it for Jacob as a law,
for Israel as a covenant for ever.
He said: “I am giving you a land,
Canaan, your appointed heritage.”

When they were few in number,
a handful of strangers in the land,
when they wandered from country to country,
from one kingdom and nation to another,

he allowed no one to oppress them;
he admonished kings on their account:
“Do not touch those I have anointed;
do no harm to any of my prophets.”

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. Sing praise to the Lord; remember the wonders he has wrought.

Ant. 2 The Lord did not abandon the good man who was sold into slavery, but freed him from the power of sinners.

II

But he called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.

His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.

Then the king sent and released him
the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed,

to instruct his princes as he pleased
and to teach his elders wisdom.

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. The Lord did not abandon the good man who was sold into slavery, but freed him from the power of sinners.

Ant. 3 The Lord was true to his sacred promise; he led his people to freedom and joy.

III

So Israel came into Egypt;
Jacob lived in the country of Ham.

He gave his people increase;
he made them stronger than their foes,
whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceitfully with his servants.

Then he sent Moses his servant
and Aaron the man he had chosen.
Through them he showed his marvels
and his wonders in the country of Ham.

He sent darkness, and dark was made
but Egypt resisted his words.
He turned the waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.

Their land was alive with frogs,
even to the halls of their kings.
He spoke; the dog-fly came
and gnats covered the land.

He sent hailstones in place of the rain
and flashing fire in their land.
He struck their vines and fig trees;
he shattered the trees through their land.

He spoke; the locusts came,
young locusts, too many to be counted.
They ate up every blade in the land;
they ate up all the fruit of their fields.

He struck all the first-born in their land,
the finest flower of their sons.
He led out Israel with silver and gold.
In his tribes were none who fell behind.

Egypt rejoiced when they left
for dread had fallen upon them.
He spread a cloud as a screen
and fire to give light in the darkness.

When they asked for food he sent quails;
he filled them with bread from heaven.
He pierced the rock to give them water;
it gushed forth in the desert like a river.

For he remembered his holy word,
which he gave to Abraham his servant.
So he brought out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.

And he gave them the land of the nations.
They took the fruit of other men’s toil,
that thus they might keep his precepts,
that thus they might observe his laws.

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

Abraham, Joseph and Moses prefigured your plan, Father, to redeem mankind from slavery and to lead them into the land of promise. Through the death and resurrection of your Son, your Church fulfills these promises. Grant us living water from the rock and bread from heaven, that we may survive our desert pilgrimage and thank you eternally for your kindness.

Ant. The Lord was true to his sacred promise; he led his people to freedom and joy.

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.

The Lord proclaims his word to Jacob,
— His laws and decrees to Israel.

READINGS

First reading
From the book of the prophet Isaiah 
21:6-12
The watchman announces the ruin of Babylon

Thus says my Lord to me:
Go, station a watchman,
let him tell what he sees.
If he sees a chariot,
a pair of horses,
Someone riding an ass,
someone riding a camel,
Then let him pay heed,
very close heed.

Then the watchman cried,
“On the watchtower, O my Lord,
I stand constantly by day;
And I stay at my post
through all the watches of the night.

“Here he comes now:
a single chariot,
a pair of horses;
He calls out and says,
‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
And all the images of her gods
are smashed to the ground.’”

O my people who have been threshed,
beaten on my threshing floor!
What I have heard
from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel,
I have announced to you.

Oracle on Edom:
They call to me from Seir,
“Watchman, how much longer the night?
Watchman, how much longer the night?”
The watchman replies,
“Morning has come, and again night.
If you will ask, ask; come back again.”

RESPONSORY Revelation 18:2, 4, 5

An angel cried in a voice like thunder: Babylon the great is fallen! Then I heard another voice from heaven:
— Come out, my people, come out from her; you must not take part in her sins.

High as heaven her iniquities pile up; the Lord has the record in hand.
— Come out, my people, come out from her; you must not take part in her sins.

Second reading
From a treatise On the Value of Patience by Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr
We hope for what we do not see

Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord, our teacher: Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And again: If you persevere in my word, you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary.

We do not seek glory now, in the present, but we look for future glory, as Saint Paul instructs us when he says: By hope we were saved. Now hope which is seen is not hope; how can a man hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience. Patient waiting is necessary if we are to be perfected in what we have begun to be, and if we are to receive from God what we hope for and believe.

In another place the same Apostle instructs and teaches the just, and those active in good works, and those who store up for themselves treasures in heaven through the reward God gives them. They are to be patient also, for he says: Therefore while we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith. But let us not grow weary in doing good, for we shall reap our reward in due season.

Paul warns us not to grow weary in good works through impatience, not to be distracted or overcome by temptations and so give up in the midst of our pilgrimage of praise and glory, and allow our past good deeds to count for nothing because what was begun falls short of completion.

Finally, the Apostle, speaking of charity, unites it with endurance and patience. Charity, he says, is always patient and kind; it is not jealous, is not boastful, is not given to anger, does not think evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He shows that charity can be steadfast and persevering because it has learned how to endure all things.

And in another place he says: Bear with one another lovingly, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He shows that neither unity nor peace can be maintained unless the brethren cherish each other with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of harmony by means of patience.

RESPONSORY Habakkuk 2:3; Hebrews 10:37

He will appear at last: he is true to his word;
— Keep watching for him, he will surely come without delay.

A little while longer, a very little while, and the promised one will come.
— Keep watching for him, he will surely come without delay.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God, who sent your Only Begotten Son into this world
to free the human race from its ancient enslavement,
bestow on those who devoutly await him
the grace of your compassion from on high,
that we may attain the prize of true freedom.
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.