OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 94 (95)

Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

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.

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

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.

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

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.

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

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.”

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

“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.”

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

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.

– Christ has been born for us: come, let us worship him.

Hymn

Jesu, the Ransomer of man,

who, ere created light began,

didst from the sovereign Father spring,

his power and glory equalling!

Salvation’s author, call to mind

how, taking form of humankind,

born of a Virgin undefiled,

thou in man’s flesh becam’st a Child.

The heavens above, the rolling main

and all that earth’s wide realms contain,

with joyous voice now loudly sing

the glory of their newborn King.

And we who, by thy precious Blood

from sin redeemed, are marked for God,

on this the day that saw thy birth,

sing the new song of ransomed earth.

O Lord, the Virgin-born, to Thee

eternal praise and glory be,

whom with the Father we adore

and Holy Ghost for evermore.

Psalm 34 (35)

The Lord, a saviour in time of persecution

O Lord, arise to help me.

Judge, Lord, those who are judging me:

attack those who are attacking me.

Take up your shield and come out to defend me.

Brandish your spear and hold back my pursuers.

Say to my soul, “I am your deliverance.”

Let them be thrown into confusion,

those who are after my life.

Let them be weakened and put to flight,

those who plan harm to me.

Let them be like chaff blowing in the wind,

when the angel of the Lord scatters them.

Let their paths be dark and slippery,

when the angel of the Lord harries them.

For it was without cause that they spread out their nets to ensnare me,

without cause that they dug a pit to take my life.

Let death come upon them suddenly,

may they be entangled in their own nets.

But my soul will exult in the Lord

and rejoice in his aid.

My bones themselves will say

“Lord, who is your equal?”

You snatch the poor man

from the hand of the strong,

the needy and weak

from those who would destroy them.

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.

O Lord, arise to help me.

Psalm 34 (35)

Lord, plead my cause; defend me with your strength.

Lying witnesses rose up against me;

they asked me questions I could not answer.

They paid me back evil for the good I did,

my soul is desolation.

Yet I – when they were ill, I put on sackcloth,

I mortified my soul with fasting,

I prayed for them from the depths of my heart.

I walked in sadness as for a close friend, for a brother;

I was bowed down with grief as if mourning my own mother.

But they – when I was unsteady, they rejoiced and gathered together.

They gathered and beat me: I did not know why.

They were tearing me to pieces, there was no end to it:

they teased me, heaped derision on me, they ground their teeth at me.

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.

Lord, plead my cause; defend me with your strength.

Psalm 34 (35)

My tongue shall speak of your justice, all day long.

Lord, how long will you wait?

Rescue my life from their attacks,

my only life from the lions.

I will proclaim you in the great assembly,

in the throng of people I will praise you.

Let not my lying enemies triumph over me,

those who hate me for no reason,

who conspire against me by secret signs,

who do not speak of peace,

who plan crimes against the innocent,

who cry out slanders against me,

saying “Yes! Yes! We saw it ourselves!”

You see them, Lord, do not stay silent:

Lord, do not leave me.

Rise up and keep watch at my trial:

my God and my Lord, watch over my case.

Judge me according to your justice,

Lord: my God, let them not rejoice over me!

Let them not think to themselves,

“Yes! We have what we wanted!”

Let them not say,

“We have swallowed him up.”

But let those who support my cause rejoice,

let them say always “How great is the Lord,

who takes care of his servant’s welfare.”

And my tongue too will ponder your justice,

and praise you all day long.

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.

My tongue shall speak of your justice, all day long.

In him was life

– and that life was the light of man.

Reading

Colossians 3:17-4:1

Never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 
Wives, give way to your husbands, as you should in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and treat them with gentleness. 
Children, be obedient to your parents always, because that is what will please the Lord. 
Parents, never drive your children to resentment or you will make them feel frustrated.

Slaves, be obedient to the men who are called your masters in this world; not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please men, but wholeheartedly, out of respect for the Master. Whatever your work is, put your heart into it as if it were for the Lord and not for men, knowing that the Lord will repay you by making you his heirs. It is Christ the Lord that you are serving; anyone who does wrong will be repaid in kind and he does not favour one person more than another. Masters, make sure that your slaves are given what is just and fair, 
knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.

Responsory

Whatever you do, in word or deed,

do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Give thanks to the Father through him.

Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Reading

The Five Hundred Chapters by St Maximus the Confessor

A mystery ever new

The Word of God, born once in the flesh (such is his kindness and his goodness), is always willing to be born spiritually in those who desire him. In them he is born as an infant as he fashions himself in them by means of their virtues. He reveals himself to the extent that he knows someone is capable of receiving him. He diminishes the revelation of his glory not out of selfishness but because he recognises the capacity and resources of those who desire to see him. Yet, in the transcendence of mystery, he always remains invisible to all.

For this reason the apostle Paul, reflecting on the power of the mystery, said: Jesus Christ, yesterday and today: he remains the same for ever. 
For he understood the mystery as ever new, never growing old through our understanding of it.

Christ is God, for he had given all things their being out of nothing. Yet he is born as man by taking to himself our nature, flesh endowed with intelligent spirit. A star glitters by day in the East and leads the wise men to the place where the incarnate Word lies, to show that the Word, contained in the Law and the Prophets, surpasses in a mystical way knowledge derived from the senses, 
and to lead the Gentiles to the full light of knowledge.

For surely the word of the Law and the Prophets when it is understood with faith is like a star which leads those who are called by the power of grace in accordance with his decree to recognise the Word incarnate.

Here is the reason why God became a perfect man, changing nothing of human nature, except to take away sin (which was never natural anyway). His flesh was set before that voracious, gaping dragon as bait to provoke him: flesh that would be deadly for the dragon, for it would utterly destroy him by the power of the Godhead hidden within it. For human nature, however, 
his flesh was to be a remedy since the power of the Godhead in it would restore human nature to its original grace.

Just as the devil had poisoned the tree of knowledge and spoiled our nature by its taste, so too, 
in presuming to devour the Lord’s flesh he himself is corrupted and is completely destroyed by the power of the Godhead hidden in it.

The great mystery of the divine incarnation remains a mystery for ever. How can the Word made flesh be essentially the same person that is wholly with the Father? How can he who is by nature God become by nature wholly man without lacking either nature, 
neither the divine by which he is God nor the human by which he became man?

Faith alone grasps these mysteries. Faith alone is truly the substance and foundation of all that exceeds knowledge and understanding.

Responsory

The Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth;

we have seen his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;

we have seen his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father.

Let us pray.

Almighty God,

the light of a new star in heaven heralded your saving love.

Let the light of your salvation dawn in our hearts

and keep them always open to your life-giving grace.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.