O Lord, open my lips.
– And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Antiphon: Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
(repeat antiphon*)
Come, let us rejoice in the Lord,
let us acclaim God our salvation.
Let us come before him proclaiming our thanks,
let us acclaim him with songs.
(repeat antiphon*)
For the Lord is a great God,
a king above all gods.
For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,
and the peaks of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his: he made it;
and his hands formed the dry land.
(repeat antiphon*)
Come, let us worship and bow down,
bend the knee before the Lord who made us;
for he himself is our God and we are his flock,
the sheep that follow his hand.
(repeat antiphon*)
If only, today, you would listen to his voice:
“Do not harden your hearts
as you did at Meribah,
on the day of Massah in the desert,
when your fathers tested me –
they put me to the test,
although they had seen my works.”
(repeat antiphon*)
“For forty years they wearied me,
that generation.
I said: their hearts are wandering,
they do not know my paths.
I swore in my anger:
they will never enter my place of rest.”
(repeat antiphon*)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
(repeat antiphon*)
A paschal hymn
Psalm 135 (136)
The Lord alone performs great wonders: his mercy lasts for ever.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his love is for ever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his love is for ever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his love is for ever.
He alone works wonders,
for his love is for ever.
In his wisdom he made the heavens,
for his love is for ever.
He set the Earth upon the waters,
for his love is for ever.
He created the great lights,
for his love is for ever.
The sun, to rule over the day,
for his love is for ever.
The moon and stars, to rule over the night,
for his love is for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
The Lord alone performs great wonders: his mercy lasts for ever.
Psalm 135 (136)
With a strong hand and an outstretched arm he led Israel out from the midst of Egypt.
He struck down the first-born of Egypt,
for his love is for ever.
He led Israel out from their midst,
for his love is for ever.
With a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for his love is for ever.
He divided the Red Sea in two,
for his love is for ever.
He led Israel out through the sea,
for his love is for ever.
He overthrew Pharaoh and his army,
for his love is for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
With a strong hand and an outstretched arm he led Israel out from the midst of Egypt.
Psalm 135 (136)
Give thanks to the Lord of heaven: he has rescued us from our enemies.
He led his people through the wilderness,
for his love is for ever.
He struck down great kings,
for his love is for ever.
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his love is for ever.
And Og, the king of Bashan,
for his love is for ever.
He gave their land to his people,
for his love is for ever.
A heritage for Israel his servant,
for his love is for ever.
He remembered us in our affliction,
for his love is for ever.
He rescued us from our enemies,
for his love is for ever.
He gives food to all creatures that live,
for his love is for ever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his love is for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Give thanks to the Lord of heaven: he has rescued us from our enemies.
Lord, show me your ways,
– and teach me your paths.
Reading Wisdom 11:21-12:2,11-19
Lord, who can withstand the might of your arm?
In your sight the whole world is like a grain of dust that tips the scales,
like a drop of morning dew falling on the ground.
Yet you are merciful to all, because you can do all things
and overlook men’s sins so that they can repent.
Yes, you love all that exists, you hold nothing of what you have made in abhorrence,
for had you hated anything, you would not have formed it.
And how, had you not willed it, could a thing persist,
how be conserved if not called forth by you?
You spare all things because all things are yours, Lord, lover of life,
you whose imperishable spirit is in all.
Little by little, therefore, you correct those who offend,
you admonish and remind them of how they have sinned,
so that they may abstain from evil and trust in you, Lord.
Nor was it from awe of anyone that you left them unpunished for their sins.
Who would venture to say, ‘What have you done?’
Who would dare to defy your sentence?
Who arraign you for destroying nations which you have created?
What champion of guilty men dare come to confront you and challenge you?
For there is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing,
to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly;
as for those you punished, no king, no despot, dare reproach you with it to your face.
Being just yourself, you order all things justly,
holding it unworthy of your power
to condemn a man who has not deserved to be punished.
Your justice has its source in strength,
your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.
You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned
and you expose the insolence of those who know it;
but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement,
you govern us with great lenience,
for you have only to will, and your power is there.
By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people
how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men,
and you have given your sons the good hope
that after sin you will grant repentance.
Reading St Catherine of Siena's Dialogue on Divine Providence
How good and how delightful is your spirit, Lord, in all men!
The eternal Father, indescribably kind and tender, turned his eye to this soul and spoke to her thus:
‘O dearest daughter, I have determined to show my mercy and loving kindness to the world, and I choose to provide for mankind all that is good. But man, ignorant, turns into a death-giving thing what I gave in order to give him life. Not only ignorant, but cruel: cruel to himself. But still I go on providing. For this reason I want you to know: whatever I give to man, I do it out of my great providence.
‘So it was that when, by my providence, I created man, I looked into myself and fell in love with the beauty of the creature I had made – for it had pleased me, in my providence, to create man in my own image and likeness.
‘Moreover, I gave man memory, to be able to remember the good things I had done for him and to be able to share in my own power, the power of the eternal Father.
‘Moreover, I gave man intellect, so that, seeing the wisdom of my Son, he could recognise and understand my own will; for I am the giver of all graces and I give them with a burning fatherly love.
‘Moreover, I gave man the desire to love, sharing in the tenderness of the Holy Spirit, so that he might love the things that his intellect had understood and seen.
‘But my kind providence did all this solely that man might be able to understand me and enjoy me, rejoicing in my vision for all eternity. And as I have told you elsewhere, the disobedience of your first parent Adam closed heaven to you – and from that disobedience came all evil through the whole world.
‘To relieve man of the death that his own disobedience had brought, I tenderly and providently gave you my only-begotten Son to heal you and bring satisfaction for your needs. I gave him the task of being supremely obedient, to free the human race of the poison that your first parent’s disobedience had spread throughout the world. Falling in love, as it were, with his task, and truly obedient, he hurried to a shameful death on the most holy Cross. By his most holy death he gave you life: not human life this time, but with the strength of his divinity.’
Concluding Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, give us more faith, more hope, and more love.
Make us love what you have taught,
so that we are worthy to receive what 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.
