O Lord, open my lips.
– And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Antiphon: Let us come before the Lord and proclaim our thanks.
(repeat antiphon*)
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all who live in it.
He himself founded it upon the seas
and set it firm over the waters.
(repeat antiphon*)
Who will climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who will stand in his holy place?
The one who is innocent of wrongdoing and pure of heart,
who has not given himself to vanities or sworn falsely.
He will receive the blessing of the Lord
and be justified by God his saviour.
This is the way of those who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
(repeat antiphon*)
Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors,
and let the king of glory enter.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of might and power.
The Lord, strong in battle.
(repeat antiphon*)
Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors,
and let the king of glory enter.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of hosts
– he is the king of glory.
(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*)
True reverence for the Lord
Psalm 49 (50)
Our God will certainly come, and he will not be silent.
The Lord, the God of gods has spoken:
he has summoned the whole earth, from east to west.
God has shone forth from Zion in her great beauty.
Our God will come, and he will not be silent.
Before him, a devouring fire;
around him, a tempest rages.
He will call upon the heavens above, and on the earth, to judge his people.
“Bring together before me my chosen ones, who have sealed my covenant with sacrifice.”
The heavens will proclaim his justice; for God is the true judge.
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.
Our God will certainly come, and he will not be silent.
Psalm 49 (50)
Offer a sacrifice of praise to God.
Listen, my people, and I will speak;
Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
I will not reproach you with your sacrifices,
for your burnt offerings are always before me.
But I will not accept calves from your houses,
nor goats from your flocks.
For all the beasts of the forests are mine,
and in the hills, a thousand animals.
All the birds of the air – I know them.
Whatever moves in the fields – it is mine.
If I am hungry, I will not tell you;
for the whole world is mine, and all that is in it.
Am I to eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer a sacrifice to God – a sacrifice of praise;
to the Most High, fulfil your vows.
Then you may call upon me in the time of trouble:
I will rescue you, and you will honour 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.
Offer a sacrifice of praise to God.
Psalm 49 (50)
I desire loving kindness, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.
To the sinner, God has said this:
Why do you recite my statutes?
Why do you dare to speak my covenant?
For you hate what I teach you,
and reject what I tell you.
The moment you saw a thief, you joined him;
you threw in your lot with adulterers.
You spoke evil with your mouth,
and your tongue made plans to deceive.
Solemnly seated, you denounced your own brother;
you poured forth hatred against your own mother’s son.
All this you did, and I was silent;
so you thought that I was just like you.
But I will reprove you –
I will confront you with all you have done.
Understand this, you who forget God;
lest I tear you apart, with no-one there to save you.
Whoever offers up a sacrifice of praise gives me true honour;
whoever follows a sinless path in life will be shown the salvation of God.
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.
I desire loving kindness, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.
Listen, my people, and I shall speak.
– I am God, your God.
Reading Judges 4:1-24
When Ehud died, once again the Israelites began to do what displeases the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to Jabin the king of Canaan who reigned at Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim.
Then the Israelites cried to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots plated with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
At this time Deborah was judge in Israel, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth. She used to sit under Deborah’s Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, ‘This is the order of the Lord, the God of Israel: “March to Mount Tabor and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun. I will entice Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to encounter you at the wadi Kishon with his chariots and troops; and I will put him into your power.”’ Barak answered her, ‘If you come with me, I will go; if you will not come, I will not go, for I do not know how to choose the day when the angel of the Lord will grant me success.’ ‘I will go with you then,’ she said ‘but, the way you are going about it, the glory will not be yours; for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ Then Deborah stood up and went with Barak to Kedesh, and there Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men marched behind him, and Deborah marched with him.
Heber the Kenite had cut himself off from the tribe of Kain and the clan of the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses; he had pitched his tent near the Oak of Zaanannim, not far from Kedesh.
When Sisera heard that Barak son of Abinoam was encamped on Mount Tabor, he called for all his chariots – nine hundred chariots plated with iron – and all the troops he had. He summoned them from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the wadi Kishon. Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For today is the day the Lord has put Sisera into your power. Yes, the Lord marches at your head.’ And Barak charged down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him. At Barak’s advance, the Lord struck terror into Sisera, all his chariots and all his troops. Sisera leapt down from his chariot and fled on foot. Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-ha-goiim. Sisera’s whole army fell by the edge of the sword; not one man escaped.
Sisera meanwhile fled on foot towards the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘My lord, stay here with me; do not be afraid!’ He stayed there in her tent, and she covered him with a rug. He said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ She opened the skin that had milk in it, gave him some to drink and covered him up again. Then he said to her, ‘Stand at the tent door, and if anyone comes and questions you – if he asks, “Is there a man here?,” say, “No” .’ But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent-peg, and picked up a mallet; she crept up softly to him and drove the peg into his temple right through to the ground. He was lying fast asleep, worn out; and so he died. And now Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, ‘Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.’ He went into her tent; Sisera lay dead, with the tent-peg through his temple.
Thus God that day humbled Jabin the king of Canaan before the Israelites. And the Israelites bore down more and more heavily on Jabin the king of Canaan, until he was utterly destroyed.
Reading St Cyprian's treatise on the Lord's Prayer
Our prayer is public and communal
Above all, the Teacher of peace and Master of unity did not want prayer to be made singly and privately, so that whoever prayed would pray for himself alone. We do not say My Father, who art in heaven or Give me this day my daily bread; nor does each one ask that only his own debt should be forgiven him; nor does he request for himself alone that he may not be led into temptation but delivered from evil. Our prayer is public and common, and when we pray, we pray not for one person but for the whole people, since we, the whole people, are one.
The God of peace and the Master of concord, who taught unity, willed that one should pray for all, just as he himself, being one, carried us all. The three children observed this law when they were shut into the fiery furnace, praying with one voice and with one heart: thus our faith in divine Scripture teaches us, and, as it teaches us how such people prayed, gives us an example that we should follow in our own prayers, so that we may become like them: Then these three sang a hymn as if with one mouth, and blessed the Lord. They spoke as if with one mouth, even though Christ had not yet taught them how to pray.
And therefore, as they prayed, their prayers were heard and were fruitful, because a peaceful, sincere, and spiritual prayer deserved well from the Lord. Thus, too, we find the Apostles and the disciples praying after the ascension of the Lord: They all continued with one accord in prayer, with the women and with Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. They continued with one accord in prayer, showing, by the urgency and the unanimity of their praying, that God, who makes the inhabitants of a house to be of one mind, only admits to his divine and eternal home those among whom prayer is unanimous.
But, dear brethren – what deep blessings are contained in the Lord’s prayer! How many they are, and how great, collected in so few words but so rich in spiritual power! There is nothing at all that is not to be found in these our prayers and petitions, as it were a compendium of heavenly doctrine. Thus, he said, you must pray: Our Father, who art in heaven.
The new man, re-born and brought back to God by his grace, says Father at the very beginning, for he has just begun to be God’s son. He came to his own, and his own did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. Whoever believes in God’s name and has become his son, should start here so that he can give thanks and profess himself to be God’s son, by calling God his Father in heaven.
Concluding Prayer
O God, you are the strength of those who hope in you: in your kindness, attend to our prayers.
Weak and mortal, we can achieve nothing without you: always give us your support,
so that we carry out your commandments, pleasing you in both intention and action.
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.
