WEEK D
O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever. Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;*
make your way straight before me.
Opening – (From Psalm 5)
In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;*
early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.
Through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your
house;*
I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
All who take refuge in you will be glad;*
they will sing out their joy for ever.
You will shelter them,*
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
Glory to the Father…
Psalm 66
Be joyful in God, all you lands;*
sing the glory of his name; sing the glory of his praise.
Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!*
because of your great strength your enemies
cringe before you.
All the earth bows down before you,*
sings to you, sings out your name.’
Come now and see the works of God,*
how wonderful he is in his doing toward all people.
He turned the sea into dry land,
so that they went through the water on foot,*
and there we rejoiced in him.
In his might he rules for ever;
his eyes keep watch over the nations;*
let no rebel rise up against him.
Bless our God, you peoples;*
make the voice of his praise to be heard;
Who holds our souls in life,*
and will not allow our feet to slip.
For you, O God, have proved us;*
you have tried us just as silver is tried.
You brought us into the snare;*
you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.
You let enemies ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water;*
but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.
I will enter your house with burnt-offerings
and will pay you my vows,*
which I promised with my lips
and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.
I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts
with the smoke of rams;*
I will give you oxen and goats.
Come and listen, all you who fear God,*
and I will tell you what he has done for me.
I called out to him with my mouth,*
and his praise was on my tongue.
If I had found evil in my heart,*
the Lord would not have heard me;
But in truth God has heard me;*
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer,*
nor withheld his love from me.
Glory to the Father . . .
God of power and might, you bring your people out of darkness and slavery into light and freedom through the waters of salvation. Receive our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and keep us always in your steadfast love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Conclusion (from Isaiah 66)
Rejoice with Jerusalem and exult in her,*
all you who love her.
Share her joy with all your heart,*
all you who mourn over her.
Then you may suck and be fed from her breasts,*
delighting in her plentiful milk.
For thus says the Lord, I will send peace flowing over her like
a river,*
and the wealth of nations like a stream in flood;
you shall be carried in her arms,*
and rocked upon her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,*
so will I myself comfort you, and you shall find strength
in Jerusalem.
This you shall see and be glad at heart;*
your limbs shall be as the fresh grass in spring.*
Then I myself will gather all nations;*
and they shall come and behold my glory.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;*
make your way straight before me.
READINGS
2 Kings 18.9-25
In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against Samaria, besieged it, and at the end of three years took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria, settled them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; they neither listened nor obeyed.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. King Hezekiah of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me I will bear.’ The king of Assyria demanded of King Hezekiah of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. When they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder.
The Rabshakeh said to them, ‘Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? See, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. But if you say to me, “We rely on the Lord our God”, is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’
1 Corinthians 8.1-13
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.
Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ‘Food will not bring us close to God.’ We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.
Silence
Response (Ps. 63:4)
V. The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him.
R. The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him.
V. On those who wait upon his love.
R. On those who fear him.
V. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
R. The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him.
BENEDICTUS
Benedictus Antiphon: God has remembered* his holy covenant
Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,*
for he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,*
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old*
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our forebears,*
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:*
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,*
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,*
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation*
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God*
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of
death,*
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father.
Benedictus Antiphon: God has remembered* his holy covenant
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
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered by your Holy Spirit into one, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!
The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;
and bring us to life eternal. Amen.
