OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will proclaim Your Praise!

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 99 (100)

Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.

Come, let us adore him.

Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,

and serve him with joy.

Exult as you enter his presence.

Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.

Come, let us adore him.

Know that the Lord is God.

He made us and we are his

– his people, the sheep of his flock.

Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.

Come, let us adore him.

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.

Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.

Come, let us adore 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 the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.

Come, let us adore him.

Hymn

Lord, who throughout these forty days

for us didst fast and pray,

teach us with thee to mourn our sins,

and close by thee to stay.

As thou with Satan didst contend

and didst the victory win,

O give us strength in thee to fight,

in thee to conquer sin.

As thou didst hunger bear, and thirst,

so teach us, gracious Lord,

to die to self, and chiefly live

by thy most holy word.

And through these days of penitence,

and through thy Passiontide,

yea, evermore in life and death,

Jesus, with us abide.

Abide with us, that so, this life

of suffering overpast,

an Easter of unending joy

we may attain at last.

Psalm 101 (102)

Prayers and vows of an exile

Let my cry come to you, Lord:

do not hide your face from me.

Lord, listen to my prayer

and let my cry come to you.

Do not hide your face from me:

whenever I am troubled,

turn to me and hear me.

Whenever I call on you,

hurry to answer me.

For my days vanish like smoke,

and my bones are dry as tinder.

My heart is cut down like grass, it is dry –

I cannot remember to eat.

The sound of my groaning

makes my bones stick to my flesh.

I am lonely as a pelican in the wilderness,

as an owl in the ruins,

as a sparrow alone on a rooftop:

I do not sleep.

All day long my enemies taunt me,

they burn with anger and use my name as a curse.

I make ashes my bread,

I mix tears with my drink,

because of your anger and reproach –

you, who raised me up, have dashed me to the ground.

My days fade away like a shadow:

I wither like grass.

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 my cry come to you, Lord:

do not hide your face from me.

Psalm 101 (102)

Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.

But you, Lord, remain for ever

and your name lasts from generation to generation.

You will rise up and take pity on Zion,

for it is time that you pitied it,

indeed it is time:

for your servants love its very stones

and pity even its dust.

Then, Lord, the peoples will fear your name.

All the kings of the earth will fear your glory,

when the Lord has rebuilt Zion

and appeared there in his glory;

when he has listened to the prayer of the destitute

and not rejected their pleading.

These things shall be written for the next generation

and a people yet to be born shall praise the Lord:

because he has looked down from his high sanctuary,

– the Lord has looked down from heaven to earth –

and heard the groans of prisoners

and freed the children of death

so that they could proclaim the Lord’s name in Zion

and sing his praises in Jerusalem,

where people and kingdoms gather together

to serve the Lord.

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.

Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.

Psalm 101 (102)

You founded the earth, Lord,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

He has brought down my strength in the midst of my journey;

he has shortened my days.

I will say, “My God, do not take me away

half way through the days of my life.

Your years last from generation to generation:

in the beginning you founded the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will pass away but you will remain;

all will grow old, like clothing,

and like a cloak you will change them, and they will be changed.

“But you are always the same,

your years will never run out.

The children of your servants shall live in peace,

their descendants will endure in your sight.”

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.

You founded the earth, Lord,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

Now is the favourable time.

– Now is the day of salvation.

First Reading

Leviticus 19:1-18,31-37

Duty to one's neighbor

The Lord spoke to Moses; he said: ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them:

“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

“Each of you must respect his father and mother.

“And you must keep my sabbaths; 

I am the Lord your God.

“Do not turn to idols, and cast no gods of metal.

I am the Lord your God.

“If you offer a communion sacrifice to the Lord, make yourselves acceptable and so offer it. It must be eaten the same day or the day after; whatever is left the day after must be burnt. If eaten on the third day it would be a corrupt offering, it would not be acceptable. Anyone who eats it must bear the consequences of his fault, for he will have profaned the holiness of the Lord; 
this person shall be outlawed from his people.

“When you gather the harvest of your land, you are not to harvest to the very end of the field. You are not to gather the gleanings of the harvest. You are neither to strip your vine bare nor to collect the fruit that has fallen in your vineyard. 
You must leave them for the poor and the stranger.

I am the Lord your God.

“You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbor. You must not keep back the laborer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God.

I am the Lord.

“You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbor according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbor, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, 
nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord.

“Do not have recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians; they will defile you.

I am the Lord your God.

“You are to rise up before grey hairs, you are to honor old age and fear your God.

I am the Lord.

“If a stranger lives with you in your land, do not molest him.

You must count him as one of your own countrymen and love him as yourself – for you were once strangers yourselves in Egypt.

I am the Lord your God.

“Your legal verdicts, your measures – length, weight and capacity – must all be just.

Your scales and weights must be just, a just ephah and a just hin.

I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

“Keep all my laws and customs, put them into practice.

I am the Lord.”’

Responsory

The whole of the Law is summarized in a single command:

Love your neighbor as yourself; 

serve one another in a spirit of love.

I give you a new commandment:

love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

you also must love one another.

Serve one another in a spirit of love.

Second Reading

From a sermon

by Pope St Leo the Great

In praise of charity

In John’s gospel the Lord says: By this love you have for one another, everyone will know you are my disciples. In a letter by John we read: My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.

So the faithful should look into themselves and carefully examine their minds and the impulses of their hearts. If they find some of the fruits of love stored in their hearts then they must not doubt God’s presence within them, but to make themselves more and more able to receive so great a guest they should do more and more works of durable mercy and kindness. 
After all, if God is love, charity should know no limit, for God himself cannot be confined within limits.

What is the appropriate time for performing works of charity? My beloved children, any time is the right time, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace. Charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.

As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ destroyed our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings — that is, our works of mercy. What God in his goodness has already given to us, 
let us give it to those who have sinned against us.

And to the poor also, and to those who are afflicted in various ways, let us show a more open-handed generosity so that God may be thanked through many voices and the needy may be fed as a result of our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than the support that is lavished on his poor. Where God finds charity with its loving concern, 
there he recognises the reflection of his own fatherly care.

Do not be put off giving by a lack of resources. A generous spirit is itself great wealth, and there can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed. His hand is present in all this activity: 
his hand, which multiplies the bread by breaking it and increases it by giving it away.

When you give alms, do not be anxious but full of happiness. The greatest treasure will go to the one who has kept the least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides seed for the sower will give bread for food, provide you with more seed, and increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, 
who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Responsory

Give, and gifts will be yours:

good measure, pressed down and shaken up and running over,

will be poured into your lap.

You must forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Good measure, pressed down and shaken up and running over,

will be poured into your lap.

Let us pray.

By our Lenten prayer and observance, Lord,

prepare our hearts to welcome the mystery of Easter

and to proclaim the good news of salvation.

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 praise the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.