O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 94 (95)
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.
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.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
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.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
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.
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
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.”
– Let us listen for the Lord’s voice, so that we can reach his place of rest.
“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.”
– 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.
True reverence for the Lord
Psalm 49 (50)
The Lord has summoned heaven and earth to witness his judgement of his people.
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.
The Lord has summoned heaven and earth to witness his judgement of his people.
Psalm 49 (50)
Call on me in the day of trouble, and I will come to free you.
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.
Call on me in the day of trouble, and I will come to free you.
Psalm 49 (50)
A sacrifice of thanksgiving will honour me.
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.
A sacrifice of thanksgiving will honour me.
We ceaselessly pray to God for you.
– For you to have the fullest knowledge of God’s will.
Reading
Job 13:13-14:6
Silence! Now I will do the talking,
whatever may befall me.
I put my flesh between my teeth,
I take my life in my hands.
Let him kill me if he will; I have no other hope
than to justify my conduct in his eyes.
This very boldness gives promise of my release,
since no godless man would dare appear before him.
Listen carefully to my words,
and lend your ears to what I have to say.
You shall see, I will proceed by due form of law,
persuaded, as I am, that I am guiltless.
Who comes against me with an accusation?
Let him come! I am ready to be silenced and to die.
But grant me these two favours:
if not, I shall not dare to confront you.
Take your hand away, which lies so heavy on me,
no longer make me cower from your terror.
Then arraign me, and I will reply;
or rather, I will speak and you shall answer me.
How many faults and crimes have I committed?
What law have I transgressed, or in what have I offended?
Why do you hide your face
and look on me as your enemy?
Will you intimidate a wind-blown leaf,
will you chase the dried-up chaff;
you list bitter accusations against me,
taxing me with the faults of my youth,
after putting my feet in the stocks,
watching my every step,
and measuring my footprints;
while my life is crumbling like rotten wood,
or a moth-eaten garment.
Man, born of woman,
has a short life yet has his fill of sorrow.
He blossoms, and he withers, like a flower;
fleeting as a shadow, transient.
And is this what you deign to turn your gaze on,
him that you would bring before you to be judged?
Who can bring the clean out of the unclean?
No man alive!
Since man’s days are measured out,
since his tale of months depends on you,
since you assign him bounds he cannot pass,
turn your eyes from him, leave him alone,
like a hired drudge, to finish his day.
Responsory
Lord, do not hide me from your face; take your hand away from me, and let not the dread of you fill me with terror.
Lord, correct me gently, not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing; and let not the dread of you fill me with terror.
Reading
A sermon of St Zeno of Verona
Job as a prefiguring of Christ
My beloved brethren, the story of Job prefigures that of Christ. Thus we understand it, and we can see the truth of this by detailed comparison.
Job was called a righteous man by God; and God is righteousness itself, the fountain of righteousness from which the blessed drink. Of him it was said: The sun of righteousness shall rise for you.
Job was called truthful; and the Lord is truly Truth itself, for as he says in the Gospel: I am the way and the truth.
Job was rich; and what could be richer than the Lord? For all the rich are his slaves, his is the whole world and all that exists, as David said in the Psalms: The Lord’s is the earth and its fulness, the world and all who live in it.
The devil tempted Job three times; and three times, according to the Gospel, he tried to tempt the Lord.
Everything that Job had, he lost; and for love of us the Lord forgot all his heavenly blessings and made himself poor, that we might be rich.
The devil, raging, destroyed Job’s sons; and the Lord’s sons, the prophets, were killed by the people of the Pharisees in their madness.
Job was disfigured with boils; and the Lord, taking on human flesh, was fouled with the sins of all mankind.
Job’s own wife urged him to sin; and the synagogue, the bride of God, tried to compel the Lord to follow the corrupt behaviour of the elders.
Job’s friends, it is said, insulted him; and the Lord was insulted by his own priests, his own worshippers.
Job sits on a dunghill full of worms; and the Lord lived in a real dunghill, that is, this world, surrounded by men seething with every vice and every crime: true worms.
Job received back his health and his riches; and the Lord, rising, did not only regain health but granted immortality to those who believed in him and took back dominion over the whole of nature. For as he himself bears witness: All things have been given to me by my Father.
Job begot new sons to replace the ones who had died; the Lord, to replace the prophets, begot his holy sons, the Apostles.
Job went to his rest in blessedness and peace; but the Lord remains blessed in all eternity: before time, and from the beginning of time, and to the end of all ages.
Responsory
We should keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection.
We prove ourselves by great fortitude in times of suffering, in times of hardship and distress, when we are flogged or sent to prison. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection.
Let us pray.
In your mercy, Lord, direct the affairs of men so peaceably
that your Church may serve you in tranquillity and joy.
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.
