O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 99 (100)
Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,
and serve him with joy.
Exult as you enter his presence.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
Know that the Lord is God.
He made us and we are his
– his people, the sheep of his flock.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
Cry out his praises as you enter his gates,
fill his courtyards with songs.
Proclaim him and bless his name;
for the Lord is our delight.
His mercy lasts for ever,
his faithfulness through all the ages.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
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.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
Hymn
Great God of boundless mercy, hear!
Thou Ruler of this earthly sphere;
In substance one, in Persons three,
Dread Trinity in Unity!
Do thou in love accept our lays
Of mingled penitence and praise;
And set our hearts from error free,
More fully to rejoice in thee.
Our reins and hearts in pity heal,
And with thy chastening fires anneal;
Gird thou our loins, each passion quell,
And every harmful lust expel.
Now as our anthems, upward borne,
Awake the silence of the morn,
Enrich us with thy gifts of grace,
From heaven, thy blissful dwelling place!
Hear thou our prayer, almighty King;
Hear thou our praises, while we sing,
Adoring with the heavenly host
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
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
Hosea 5:15-7:2
They will search for me in their misery.
‘Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;
he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;
after a day or two he will bring us back to life,
on the third day he will raise us
and we shall live in his presence.
Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;
that he will come is as certain as the dawn
his judgement will rise like the light,
he will come to us as showers come,
like spring rains watering the earth.’
What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with you, Judah?
This love of yours is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that quickly disappears.
This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,
since what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not holocausts.
But they have violated the covenant at Adam,
they have proved unfaithful to me there.
Gilead is a town of evil-doers,
full of bloody footprints.
Like so many robbers in ambush
a band of priests commits murder on the road to Shechem –
appalling behaviour, indeed!
I have seen horrors in Bethel;
that is where Ephraim plays the whore
and Israel defiles himself.
Judah, I intend a harvest for you, too,
when I restore the fortunes of my people.
Whenever I want to heal Israel,
I am confronted by the guilt of Ephraim
and the wickedness of Samaria;
deceit is their principle of behaviour,
thieves break into houses
and bandits raid outside.
They never pause to consider
that I know about all their wickedness;
yet their actions are all round them,
they stare me in the face.
Responsory
Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.
This love of yours is like a morning cloud, like dew that swiftly vanishes. I desire mercy, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.
Reading
Irenaeus, Against the Heresies
I desire mercy and not sacrifice
God did not seek sacrifices and holocausts, but faith, and obedience, and righteousness, for the sake of their salvation. As God said, teaching his will through Hosea the prophet, What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts. Our Lord taught the same, saying If you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless. Thus he bore witness to the truth of the prophets’ teachings while convicting the people of culpable folly.
Giving directions to His disciples to offer to God the first-fruits of his own creation — not offering them as if God needed them but so that they themselves should not be sterile or ungrateful — he took a created thing, bread, gave thanks, and said This is my body. And as for the cup, which is part of the same creation as us, he proclaimed it to be his blood and taught that it was the new offering of the new covenant. The Church received this from the Apostles and offers it to God throughout the world, to the God who gives us food, the first-fruits of his gifts under the new covenant. Malachi, one of the twelve prophets, foretold this as follows: I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of Hosts; from your hands I find no offerings acceptable. But from farthest east to farthest west my name is honoured among the nations and everywhere a sacrifice of incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering too, since my name is honoured among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts. Thus he clearly indicated that the people of old (the Jews) would cease to make offerings to God, but that in every place a sacrifice would be offered, and a pure sacrifice at that; and his name would glorified among the nations.
What other name is there which is glorified among the Gentiles than that of our Lord, by whom the Father is glorified, and man also? Because it is the name of his own Son, who was made man by him, he calls it his own. Just as a king, if he himself paints a portrait of his son, is right in calling this portrait his own, both because it is because it is a portrait of his son and because he himself painted it, so also the Father professes the name of Jesus Christ, glorified in the Church throughout the world, to be his own, both because it is that of his Son, and because he himself wrote it and gave it for the salvation of mankind.
The prophet’s words are doubly appropriate, both because the Son’s name belongs properly to the Father, and because the Church everywhere makes her offering to almighty God through Jesus Christ: In every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice. For as John says in the Apocalypse, incense is the prayer of the saints.
Responsory
This is my body which will be given up for you; this is the blood of the new covenant which will be poured out for you, says the Lord. Whenever you receive them, do so in memory of me.
Come and eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared for you. Whenever you receive them, do so in memory of me.
Come to the aid of your servants, O Lord; be good to those who pray to you.
We glory in having you as our creator and guide:
renew whatever is good in us, and make it last.
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.
