Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV:
Ordinary: 615
Proper of Seasons: 96
Psalter: Tuesday, Week III, 982

Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings.

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.

HYMN

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!
Behold, the King of Glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Savior of the world is here.

O blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ as Ruler is confessed!
O happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!

Thou gentle Savior and our might
Our hearts to thee we open wide
May all thy people’s presence feel,
To all thy grace and love reveal.

“Lift up your heads ye mighty gates” by Gloucester Cathedral Choir; Words: George Weissel, 1642. Music: Psalmodia Evangelica, 1789.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 Let God arise, let his enemies flee before him.

Psalm 68
The Lord’s triumphant entrance into his sanctuary
Ascending on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men (Ephesians 4:10).

I

Let God arise, let his foes be scattered.
Let those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is blown away so will they be blown away;
like wax that melts before the fire,
so the wicked shall perish at the presence of God.

But the just shall rejoice at the presence of God,
they shall exult and dance for joy.
O sing to the Lord, make music to his name;
make a highway for him who rides on the clouds.
Rejoice in the Lord, exult at his presence.

Father of the orphan, defender of the widow,
such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in;
he leads the prisoners forth into freedom:
but rebels must dwell in a parched land.

When you went forth, O God, at the head of your people,
when you marched across the desert, the earth trembled:
the heavens melted at the presence of God,
at the presence of God, Israel’s God.

You poured down, O God, a generous rain:
when your people were starved you gave them new life.
It was there that your people found a home,
prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor.

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. Let God arise, let his enemies flee before him.

Ant. 2 Our God is a saving God; he, the Lord, holds the keys of death.

II

The Lord gives the word to the bearers of good tidings:
“The Almighty has defeated a numberless army
and kings and armies are in flight, in flight
while you were at rest among the sheepfolds.”

At home the women already share the spoil.
They are covered with silver as the wings of a dove,
its feathers brilliant with shining gold
and jewels flashing like snow on Mount Zalmon.

The mountains of Bashan are mighty mountains;
high-ridged mountains are the mountains of Bashan.
Why look with envy, you high-ridged mountains,
at the mountain where God has chosen to dwell?
It is there that the Lord shall dwell for ever.

The chariots of God are thousands upon thousands.
The Lord has come from Sinai to the holy place.
You have gone up on high; you have taken captives,
receiving men in tribute, O God,
even those who rebel, into your dwelling, O Lord.

May the Lord be blessed day after day.
He bears our burdens, God our savior.
This God of ours is a God who saves.
The Lord our God holds the keys of death.
And God will smite the head of his foes,
the crown of those who persist in their sins.

The Lord said: “I will bring them back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depth of the sea.
Then your feet will tread in their blood
and the tongues of your dogs take their share of the foe.”

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. Our God is a saving God; he, the Lord, holds the keys of death.

Ant. 3 Kingdoms of earth, sing praise to God, make music in honor of the Lord.

III

They see your solemn procession, O God,
the procession of my God, of my king, to the sanctuary:
the singers in the forefront, the musicians coming last,
between them, maidens sounding their timbrels.

“In festive gatherings, bless the Lord;
bless God, O you who are Israel’s sons.”
There is Benjamin, least of the tribes, at the head,
Judah’s princes, a mighty throng,
Zebulun’s princes, Naphtali’s princes.

Show forth, O God, show forth your might,
your might, O God, which you have shown for us.
For the sake of your temple high in Jerusalem
may kings come to you bringing their tribute.

Threaten the wild beast that dwells in the reeds,
the bands of the mighty and lords of the peoples.
Let them bow down offering silver.
Scatter the peoples who delight in war.
Princes will make their way from Egypt:
Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God.

Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, praise the Lord
who rides on the heavens, the ancient heavens.
He thunders his voice, his mighty voice.
Come, acknowledge the power of God.

His glory is on Israel; his might is in the skies.
God is to be feared in his holy place.
He is the Lord, Israel’s God.
He gives strength and power to his people.
Blessed be God!

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 Christ, King of the universe, you have given us joy in your holy meal. Help us to understand the significance of your death and to acknowledge you as the conqueror of death seated at the right hand of the Father.

Ant. Kingdoms of earth, sing praise to God, make music in honor of the Lord.

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 will listen to what the Lord God is saying.
— He tells of peace for his people.

READINGS

First reading
From the book of the prophet Micah
3:1-12
Jerusalem will be destroyed because of its leaders’ sins

Hear, you leaders of Jacob,
rulers of the house of Israel!
Is it not your duty to know what is right,
you who hate what is good, and love evil?
You who tear their skin from them,
and their flesh from their bones!
They eat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from them,
and break their bones.
They chop them in pieces like flesh in a kettle,
and like meat in a caldron.
When they cry to the Lord,
he shall not answer them;
Rather shall he hide his face from them at that time,
because of the evil they have done.

Thus says the Lord regarding the prophets
who lead my people astray;
Who, when their teeth have something to bite,
announce peace,
But when one fails to put something in their mouth,
proclaim war against him.
Therefore you shall have night, not vision,
darkness, not divination;
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,
and the day shall be dark for them.
Then shall the seers be put to shame,
and the diviners confounded;
They shall cover their lips, all of them,
because there is no answer from God.
But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the spirit of the Lord,
with authority and with might;
To declare to Jacob his crimes
and to Israel his sins.

Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel!
You who abhor what is just,
and pervert all that is right;
Who build up Zion with bloodshed,
and Jerusalem with wickedness!
Her leaders render judgment for a bribe,
her priests give decisions for a salary,
her prophets divine for money,
While they rely on the Lord, saying,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
No evil can come upon us!”
Therefore, because of you,
Zion shall be plowed like a field,
and Jerusalem reduced to rubble,
And the mount of the temple
to a forest ridge.

RESPONSORY Psalm 79:1; Daniel 3:42, 29

O God, the pagans have invaded your domain;
they have desecrated your holy temple
and left Jerusalem in ruins.
— Do not disappoint us,
but in your great mercy, deal with us gently.

We have sinned and trangressed by deserting you.
— Do not disappoint us,
but in your great mercy, deal with us gently.

Second reading
From a treatise On the Incarnation of the Lord by Theodoret of Cyr, bishop
By his wounds we are healed

Our Savior’s passion is a healing remedy for us, as the prophet teaches when he cries out: He bears our sins and suffers pain for us, and we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But for our sins he was wounded, for our iniquities he was bruised; upon him fell the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we are healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, and therefore he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and was dumb like a sheep before its shearer.

When a shepherd sees that his sheep have scattered, he keeps one of them under his control and leads it to the pastures he chooses, and thus he draws the other sheep back to him by means of this one. And so it was when God the Word saw that the human race had gone astray: he took the form of a slave and united it to himself, and by means of it won over the whole race of men to him, enticing the sheep that were grazing in bad pastures and exposed to wolves, and leading them to the pastures of God.

This was the purpose for which our Savior assumed our nature, this was why Christ the Lord accepted the sufferings that brought us salvation, was sent to his death and was committed to the tomb. He broke the grip of the age-old tyranny and promised incorruptibility to those who were prisoners of corruption. For when he rebuilt that temple which had been destroyed and raised it up again, he thereby gave trustworthy and firm promises to those who had died and were awaiting his resurrection.

Jesus tells us: “Just as my human nature, which I took from you, has won its resurrection in virtue of the God-head that dwelt in it and with which it was united, just as this nature has shed decay and suffering and passed over to incorruptibility and immortality; so, in the same way, you too will be set free from the grievous slavery of death; you too will cast aside your corruptible nature and your sufferings and you will be clothed with impassibility.”

To this end he imparted the gift of baptism to all mankind through his apostles. Go, he said, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a kind of symbol and type of the Lord’s death, which is why Paul says: If we have shared with God’s Son in a death like his, we shall certainly share in his resurrection.

RESPONSORY John 10:15, 18; Jeremiah 12:7

I lay down my life for my sheep;
— no one takes it from me;
I lay it down freely.

I left my house and abandoned my heritage.
I delivered my dearest possession into the hands of its enemies.
— No one takes it from me;
I lay it down freely.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Almighty ever-living God,
whom, taught by the Holy Spirit,
we dare to call our Father,
bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts
the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,
that we may merit to enter into the inheritance
which you have promised.
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.