Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. II:
All from Office for the Dead: 2245

Evening Prayer for Relatives, Friends, and Benefactors

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.

HYMN

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
Thy saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in that countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Text: William W. How, 1823-1897; Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958; Composers: Barnard, Ken Naylor, Noel Tredinnick, Barry Ferguson, Gustav Holst, et al.;

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will guard your soul.

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains:
from where shall come my help?
My help shall come from the Lord
who made heaven and earth.

May he never allow you to stumble!
Let him sleep not, your guard.
No, he sleeps not nor slumbers,
Israel’s guard.

The Lord is your guard and your shade;
at your right side he stands.
By day the sun shall not smite you
nor the moon in the night.

The Lord will guard you from evil,
he will guard your soul.
The Lord will guard your going and coming
both now and for ever.

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 will keep you from all evil. He will guard your soul.

Ant. 2 If you kept a record of our sins, Lord, who could escape condemnation?

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!
0 let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness:
for this we revere you.

My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.
Let the watchman count on daybreak
and Israel on the Lord.

Because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its iniquity.

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. If you kept a record of our sins, Lord, who could escape condemnation?

Ant. 3 As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills.

Canticle — Philippians 2:6-11

Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not deem equality with God
something to be grasped at.

Rather, he emptied himself
and took the form of a slave,
being born in the likeness of men.

He was known to be of human estate,
and it was thus that he humbled himself,
obediently accepting even death,
death on a cross!

Because of this,
God highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
above every other name,

so that at Jesus’ name
every knee must bend
in the heavens, on the earth,
and under the earth,
and every tongue proclaim
to the glory of God the Father:
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!

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. 3 As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills.

READING 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and sin gets its sting from the law. But thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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.

RESPONSORY

In you, Lord, is our hope. We shall never hope in vain.
— In you, Lord, is our hope. We shall never hope in vain.

We shall dance and rejoice in your mercy.
— We shall never hope in vain.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
— In you, Lord, is our hope. We shall never hope in vain.

CANTICLE OF MARY

Ant. Our crucified and risen Lord has redeemed us, alleluia.

Luke 1:46-55
The soul rejoices in the Lord

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

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.

INTERCESSIONS

We acknowledge Christ the Lord through whom we hope that our lowly bodies will be made like his in glory, and we say:
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

Christ, Son of the living God, who raised up Lazarus, your friend, from the dead,
— raise up to life and glory the dead whom you have redeemed by your precious blood.
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

Christ, consoler of those who mourn, you dried the tears of the family of Lazarus, of the widow’s son, and the daughter of Jairus,
— comfort those who mourn for the dead.
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

Christ, Savior, destroy the reign of sin in our earthly bodies, so that just as through sin we deserved punishment, — so through you we may gain eternal life.
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

Christ, Redeemer, look on those who have no hope because they do not know you,
— may they receive faith in the resurrection and in the life of the world to come.
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

You revealed yourself to the blind man who begged for the light of his eyes,
— show your face to the dead who are still deprived of your light.
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

When at last our earthly home is dissolved,
— give us a home, not of earthly making, but built of eternity in heaven.
Lord, you are our life and resurrection.

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Concluding Prayer

Father,
source of forgiveness and salvation for all mankind,
hear our prayer.
By the prayers of the ever-virgin Mary,
may our friends, relatives, and benefactors
who have gone from this world
come to share eternal happiness with all your saints.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

DISMISSAL

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
— Amen.