WEEK C
V. O God, make speed to save us;
R. O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: Search me out, O God, and know my heart;*
try me and know my restless thoughts.
Opening (from Psalm 139)
You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Indeed there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night’,
Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.
Glory to the Father…
Psalm 107:33-43
The Lord changed rivers into deserts,*
and water-springs into thirsty ground,
A fruitful land into salt flats,*
because of the wickedness of those who dwell there.
He changed deserts into pools of water*
and dry land into water-springs.
He settled the hungry there,*
and they founded a city to dwell in.
They sowed fields, and planted vineyards,*
and brought in a fruitful harvest.
He blessed them, so that they increased greatly;*
he did not let their herds decrease.
Yet when they were diminished and brought low,*
through stress of adversity and sorrow,
(He pours contempt on princes*
and makes them wander in trackless wastes)
He lifted up the poor out of misery*
and multiplied their families like flocks of sheep.
The upright will see this and rejoice,*
but all wickedness will shut its mouth.
Whoever is wise will ponder these things,*
and consider well the mercies of the Lord.
Glory to the Father . . .
O God, the divine seeker, you are light to the lost, bread to the hungry, deliverance to the captive, healing to the sick, eternal vision to the dying, and harbour to every soul in peril. Gather the wanderers from every corner of the world into the community of your mercy and grace, that we may eternally praise you for our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Conclusion A Song of Pilgrimage (from Sirach 51)
While I was still young, before I began my travels,*
I sought for wisdom openly in my prayers.
I asked for her outside the temple sanctuary,*
and I will seek her to the end.
She has been the delight of my heart.*
from first blossom to early fruit.
I have kept firmly to the true path;*
I have followed her steps since my youth.
I bowed my ear a little and received her;*
I found wisdom and was well instructed.
Glory to the One who gives me wisdom!*
I will live according to her way.
From the beginning I gained understanding from her;*
therefore I will never be deserted.
Because I longed to find her with all my heart,*
I have gained a good possession.
As my reward the Lord has given me a tongue*
with which I shall sing his praises.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: Search me out, O God, and know my heart;*
try me and know my restless thoughts.
READING
Mark 7.1-23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’
Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God)— then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’
When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’
Silence
Response (Sirach 51:26)
V. Buy wisdom without money, take her yoke upon you.
R. Buy wisdom without money, take her yoke upon you.
V. Let your souls receive instruction.
R. Take her yoke upon you.
V. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
R. Buy wisdom without money, take her yoke upon you.
MAGNIFICAT
Magnificat Antiphon: Show, O Lord, the strength of your arm;*
scatter the proud and exalt the lowly.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,*
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant;*
from this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me*
and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him*
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm;*
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones*
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,*
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our forebears,*
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father
Magnificat Antiphon: Show, O Lord, the strength of your arm;*
scatter the proud and exalt the lowly.
PRAYERS
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
Collects
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us your mercy, that with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!
The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing:
through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
