O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 99 (100)
Come, let us worship the Lord, the great God.
– Come, let us worship the Lord, the great God.
Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,
and serve him with joy.
Exult as you enter his presence.
– Come, let us worship the Lord, the great God.
Know that the Lord is God.
He made us and we are his
– his people, the sheep of his flock.
– Come, let us worship the Lord, the great God.
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.
– Come, let us worship the Lord, the great 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.
– Come, let us worship the Lord, the great God.
Hymn
O light of light, O Dayspring bright,
Co-equal in thy Father’s light:
Assist us, as with prayer and psalm
Thy servants break the nightly calm.
All darkness from our minds dispel,
And turn to flight the hosts of hell:
Bid sleepfulness our eyelids fly,
Lest overwhelmed in sloth we lie.
Jesu, thy pardon, kind and free,
Bestow on us who trust in thee:
And as thy praises we declare,
O with acceptance hear our prayer.
O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, thine only Son,
Who, with the Holy Ghost and thee,
Doth live and reign eternally.
The fate of the evil and the righteous
Psalm 36 (37)
Entrust your journey to the Lord, and he will act.
Do not envy the wicked;
do not be jealous of those that do evil.
They will dry up as quickly as hay;
they will wither like the grass.
Put your trust in the Lord and do good,
and your land and habitation will be secure.
Take your delight in the Lord,
and he will give you what your heart desires.
Entrust your journey to the Lord, and hope in him:
and he will act.
He will make your uprightness shine like the light,
your judgement like the sun at noon.
Take your rest in the Lord, and hope in him:
do not envy the one who thrives in his own way,
the man who weaves plots.
Abstain from wrath, abandon anger:
do not envy him who turns to evil,
for those who do evil will be destroyed,
but those on the side of the Lord
will inherit the earth.
A moment yet – and the sinner will be gone:
you will look where he was and find nothing.
But the needy will inherit the land
and delight in abundant peace.
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.
Entrust your journey to the Lord, and he will act.
Psalm 36 (37)
Shun evil and do good: the Lord cares for the righteous.
The wicked will plot against the righteous
and gnash his teeth at him;
but the Lord will deride him in his turn,
for the Lord has seen what awaits him.
The wicked have pulled out their swords,
the wicked have drawn their bows,
to throw down the poor and the destitute,
to murder whoever follows the straight path.
But their swords will enter their own hearts,
and their bows will splinter.
For the righteous, the little they have is better
than the abundant wealth of the wicked.
The limbs of the wicked will be broken
while the Lord gives his strength to the just.
The Lord knows when the day of the perfect will come;
and their inheritance will be eternal.
They will not be troubled in evil times,
and in times of famine they will have more than enough.
For the wicked will perish:
the enemies of the Lord will be like the flowers of the fields,
and like smoke they will vanish away.
The wicked man borrows and does not return;
but the righteous takes pity and gives.
The blessed ones of the Lord will inherit the earth,
but those whom he curses will be cut off.
It is the Lord who strengthens the steps of man
and chooses his path.
Even if he trips he will not fall flat,
for the Lord is holding his hand.
I was young and I have grown old,
but I have not seen the righteous man abandoned
nor his children seeking for bread.
All day long he takes pity and lends,
and his seed will be blessed.
Shun evil and do good,
and you will live for ever.
For the Lord loves right judgement,
and will not abandon his chosen ones.
The unjust will be destroyed for ever,
and the seed of the wicked will be cut off,
but the righteous will inherit the earth
and live there from age to age.
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.
Shun evil and do good: the Lord cares for the righteous.
Psalm 36 (37)
Put your hope in the Lord and follow his paths.
The mouth of the righteous will speak wisdom,
and his tongue will utter right judgement.
The law of his God is in his heart
and his steps will not stumble.
The wicked man watches the just
and seeks to kill him;
but the Lord will rescue the just man from his hands
and not condemn the just in the time of judgement.
Put your hope in the Lord and follow his paths,
and he will raise you up and make the land your inheritance,
let you watch as the wicked are cut off.
I have seen the sinner triumph,
flourish like a green cedar,
but he is gone, he is there no longer:
I have looked for him but have not found him.
Preserve innocence, follow uprightness:
for the future belongs to the man of peace.
The unrighteous will be destroyed altogether,
their posterity will be cut off.
The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord,
and their protection in time of trouble.
The Lord will come to their help and free them,
rescue them from the wicked and save them,
because they have put their trust in 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.
Put your hope in the Lord and follow his paths.
Teach me goodness and discernment and knowledge;
– for I trust in your commands.
Responsory
Christ bore our sins on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for holiness; that, through his death, he might destroy the devil, who has command over death.
Jesus, on whom our faith depends, endured the cross for the sake of the joy that waited for him, that, through his death, he might destroy the devil, who has command over death.
Reading
Philippians 1:27-2:11
Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come to you and see for myself, or stay at a distance and only hear about you, I shall know that you are unanimous in meeting the attack with firm resistance, united by your love for the faith of the gospel and quite unshaken by your enemies. This would be the sure sign that they will lose and you will be saved. It would be a sign from God that he has given you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well. You and I are together in the same fight as you saw me fighting before and, as you will have heard, I am fighting still.
If our life in Christ means anything to you, if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing which would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit; but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, So that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus:
His state was divine,
yet he did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as men are;
and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all other names
so that all beings in the heavens,
on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Responsory
Let your aims be such as all men count honourable. We avoid giving offence in anything, in order that our ministry may not be brought into disgrace.
I hope in God and train myself to keep at all times a clear conscience before God and man, in order that our ministry may not be brought into disgrace.
Reading
St Polycarp's letter to the Philippians
Christ set us an example in his own person
Let the elders be compassionate, merciful to all, bringing back those that have wandered, caring for all the weak, neglecting neither widow, nor orphan nor poor, but ever providing for that which is good before God and man. Let them refrain from anger, let them show no partiality, let them not judge unjustly. Let the love of money be something alien to them. Let them be slow to believe evil of anyone, let them not be hasty in passing judgement; for they must know that we all owe the debt of sin.
If then we pray the Lord to forgive us, we also ought to forgive, for we stand before the eyes of the Lord and of God, and we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, and each must give an account of himself. So then let us serve him with fear and all reverence, as he himself commanded us, and as the Apostles did, who brought us the Gospel, and as the prophets did, who foretold the coming of our Lord. Let us be zealous for good, refraining from offence. Let us keep away from the false brethren and from those who bear the name of the Lord in hypocrisy and deceive empty-minded men.
For everyone who does not accept that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is an anti-Christ and whoever does not accept the testimony of the Cross is of the devil; and whoever perverts the oracles of the Lord for his own desires and says that there is neither resurrection nor judgement, – that man is the first-born of Satan. So let us leave behind the foolishness of the crowd and their false teaching. Let us turn back to the word which was delivered to us in the beginning, keeping watch in prayer, persevering in fasting, beseeching the all-seeing God to lead us not into temptation, even as the Lord said, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Let us then persevere unceasingly in our hope, and in the pledge of our righteousness, that is in Christ Jesus, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, but for our sakes he endured all things so that we might have life in him. Let us then be imitators of his endurance, and if we suffer for his name’s sake let us give glory to him. For this is the example which he gave us in himself, and this is our belief.
Let us pray.
O God, we see your almighty power most clearly in your forgiveness and compassion.
Pour out your Spirit upon us unceasingly:
make us hasten to receive your promises,
and give us a share in the joys of heaven.
We make our prayer 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.
