Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. III:
Ordinary: 651
Proper of Seasons: 425
Psalter: Tuesday, Week I, 722

Office of Readings for Tuesday 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 The Lord is just; he will defend the poor.

Psalm 10
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are the poor; the kingdom of heaven is theirs (Luke 6:20).

I

Lord, why do you stand afar off
and hide yourself in times of distress?
The poor man is devoured by the pride of the wicked:
he is caught in the schemes that others have made.

For the wicked man boasts of his heart’s desires;
the covetous blasphemes and spurns the Lord.
In his pride the wicked says: “He will not punish.
There is no God.” Such are his thoughts.

His path is ever untroubled;
your judgment is far from his mind.
His enemies he regards with contempt.
He thinks: “Never shall I falter;
misfortune shall never be my lot.”

His mouth is full of cursing, guile, oppression,
mischief and deceit under his tongue.
He lies in wait among the reeds;
the innocent he murders in secret.

His eyes are on the watch for the helpless man.
He lurks in hiding like a lion in his lair;
he lurks in hiding to seize the poor;
he seizes the poor man and drags him away.

He crouches, preparing to spring,
and the helpless fall beneath his strength.
He thinks in his heart: “God forgets,
he hides his face, he does not see.”

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 is just; he will defend the poor.

Ant. 2 Lord, you know the burden of my sorrow.

II

Arise then, Lord, lift up your hand!
O God, do not forget the poor!
Why should the wicked spurn the Lord
and think in his heart: “He will not punish”?

But you have seen the trouble and sorrow,
you note it, you take it in hand.
The helpless trusts himself to you;
for you are the helper of the orphan.

Break the power of the wicked and the sinner!
Punish his wickedness till nothing remains!
The Lord is king for ever and ever.
The heathen shall perish from the land he rules.

Lord, you hear the prayer of the poor;
you strengthen their hearts; you turn your ear
to protect the rights of the orphan and oppressed
so that mortal man may strike terror no more.

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

Rise up, Lord, in defense of your people; do not hide your face from our troubles. Father of orphans, wealth of the poor, we rejoice in making you known; may we find comfort and security in times of pain and anxiety.

Ant. Lord, you know the burden of my sorrow.

Ant. 3 The words of the Lord are true, like silver from the furnace.

Psalm 12
A cry for God’s help against powerful oppressors
The Father sent his Son into the world to defend the poor (Saint Augustine).

Help, O Lord, for good men have vanished:
truth has gone from the sons of men.
Falsehood they speak one to another,
with lying lips, with a false heart.

May the Lord destroy all lying lips,
the tongue that speaks high sounding words,
those who say: “Our tongue is our strength;
our lips are our own, who is our master?”

“For the poor who are oppressed and the needy who groan
I myself will arise,” says the Lord.
“I will grant them the salvation for which they thirst.”

The words of the Lord are words without alloy,
silver from the furnace, seven times refined.

It is you, O Lord, who will take us in your care
and protect us for ever from this generation.
See how the wicked prowl on every side,
while the worthless are prized highly by the sons of men.

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

Your light is true light, Lord, and your truth shines like the day. Direct us to salvation through your life-giving words. May we be saved by always embracing your word.

Ant. The words of the Lord are true, like silver from the furnace.

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 teaches the humble his way.
— He guides the gentle-hearted along the right path.

READINGS

First reading
From the second book of Samuel
David is anointed in Hebron as king of Judah

David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord replied to him, “Yes.” Then David asked, “Where shall I go?” He replied, “To Hebron.” So David went up there accompanied by his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David also brought up his men with their families, and they dwelt in the cities near Hebron. Then the men of Judah came there and anointed David king of the Judahites.

A report reached David that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul. So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them: “May you be blessed by the Lord for having done this kindness to your lord Saul in burying him. And now may the Lord be kind and faithful to you. I, too, will be generous to you for having done this. Take courage, therefore, and prove yourselves valiant men, for though your lord Saul is dead, the Judahites have anointed me their king.”

Abner, son of Ner, Saul’s general, took Ishbaal, son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim, where he made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and the rest of Israel. Ishbaal, son of Saul, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The Judahites alone followed David. In all, David spent seven years and six months in Hebron as king of the Judahites.

There followed a long war between the house of Saul and that of David, in which David grew stronger, but the house of Saul weaker.

Sons were born to David in Hebron: his first-born, Amnon, of Ahinoam from Jezreel; the second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom, son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah, son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, of David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

RESPONSORY Genesis 49:10,8

The royal scepter shall not pass from Judah,
nor the kingly mace from between his feet.
— until the coming of the one I have promised you; he will be the desire of the nations.

Your brothers shall praise you;
your father’s sons shall bow down in worship before you.
— Until the coming of the one I have promised you; he will be the desire of the nations.

Second reading
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop
If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ

This is our glory: the witness of our conscience. There are men who rashly judge, who slander, whisper and murmur, who are eager to suspect what they do not see, and eager to spread abroad things they have not even a suspicion of. Against men of this sort, what defense is there save the witness of our own conscience?

My brothers, we do not seek, nor should we seek, our own glory even among those whose approval we desire. What we should seek is their salvation, so that if we walk as we should they will not go astray in following us. They should imitate us if we are imitators of Christ; and if we are not, they should still imitate him. He cares for his flock, and he alone is to be found with those who care for their flocks, because they are all in him.

And so we seek no advantage for ourselves when we aim to please men. We want to take our joy in men – and we rejoice when they take pleasure in what is good, not because this exalts us, but because it benefits them.

It is clear who is intended by the apostle Paul: If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. And similarly when he says: Be pleasing to all men in all things, even as I in all things please all men. Yet his words are as clear as water, limpid, undisturbed, unclouded. And so you should, as sheep, feed on and drink of his message; do not trample on it or stir it up.

You have listened to our Lord Jesus Christ as he taught his apostles: Let your actions shine before men so that they may see your good deeds, and give glory to your Father who is in heaven, for it is the Father who made you thus. We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hands. If then you are good, praise is due to him who made you so; it is no credit to you, for if you were left to yourself, you could only be wicked. Why then do you try to pervert the truth, in wishing to be praised when you do good, and blaming God when you do evil? For though he said: Let your works shine before men, in the same Sermon on the Mount he also said: Do not parade your good deeds before men. So if you think there are contradictions in Saint Paul, you will find the same in the Gospels; but if you refrain from troubling the waters of your heart, you will recognize here the peace of the Scriptures and with it you will have peace.

And so, my brothers, our concern should be not only to live as we ought, but also to do so in the sight of men; not only to have a good conscience but also, so far as we can in our weakness, so far as we can govern our frailty, to do nothing which might lead our weak brother into thinking evil of us. Otherwise, as we feed on the good pasture and drink the pure water, we may trample on God’s meadow, and weaker sheep will have to feed on trampled grass and drink from troubled waters.

RESPONSORY Phil. 2:2,3-4; 1 Thes. 5:14,15

Fill me with happiness by being one in mind and one in love;
humbly consider others better than yourselves.
— Do not think of your own interests alone but look to the interests of others.

Support the weak, be patient with all;
seek to do what is good for each other and for all men.
— Do not think of your own interests alone but look to the interests of others.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God,
who through the grace of adoption
chose us to be children of light,
grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped
in the darkness of error but always be seen
to stand in the bright light of truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)

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