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 145
I will exalt you, O God my King,*
and bless your name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless you*
and praise your name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;*
there is no end to his greatness.
One generation shall praise your works to another*
and shall declare your power.
I will ponder the glorious splendour of your majesty*
and all your marvellous works.
They shall speak of the might of your wondrous acts,*
and I will tell of your greatness.
They shall publish the remembrance of your great goodness;*
they shall sing of your righteous deeds.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,*
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is loving to everyone*
and his compassion is over all his works.
All your works praise you, O Lord,*
and your faithful servants bless you.
They make known the glory of your kingdom*
and speak of your power;
That the peoples may know of your power*
and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;*
your dominion endures throughout all ages.
The Lord is faithful in all his words*
and merciful in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all those who fall;*
he lifts up those who are bowed down.
The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,*
and you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand*
and satisfy the needs of every living creature.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways*
and loving in all his works.
The Lord is near to those who call upon him,*
to all who call upon him faithfully.
He fulfils the desire of those who fear him,*
he hears their cry and helps them.
The Lord preserves all those who love him,*
but he destroys all the wicked.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord;*
let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Glory be to the Father . . .
Almighty God, give us grace to know you more and more, that knowing we may love and loving we may praise, that the whole world may hear your name and worship you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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 6.24-25;7.3-20
Some time later King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army; he marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.
Now there were four leprous men outside the city gate, who said to one another, ‘Why should we sit here until we die? If we say, “Let us enter the city”, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; but if we sit here, we shall also die. Therefore, let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.’ So they arose at twilight to go to the Aramean camp; but when they came to the edge of the Aramean camp, there was no one there at all. For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, ‘The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to fight against us.’ So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. When these leprous men had come to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they came back, entered another tent, carried off things from it, and went and hid them.
Then they said to one another, ‘What we are doing is wrong. This is a day of good news; if we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty; therefore let us go and tell the king’s household.’ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, ‘We went to the Aramean camp, but there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied, the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.’ Then the gatekeepers called out and proclaimed it to the king’s household. The king got up in the night, and said to his servants, ‘I will tell you what the Arameans have prepared against us. They know that we are starving; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, “When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.” ’ One of his servants said, ‘Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those left here will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already; let us send and find out.’ So they took two mounted men, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, ‘Go and find out.’ So they went after them as far as the Jordan; the whole way was littered with garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned, and told the king.
Then the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of choice meal was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; the people trampled him to death in the gate, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. For when the man of God had said to the king, ‘Two measures of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a measure of choice meal for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria’, the captain had answered the man of God, ‘Even if the Lord were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?’ And he had answered, ‘You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.’ It did indeed happen to him; the people trampled him to death in the gate.
Acts of the Apostles 18.1-16
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that the Messiah was Jesus. When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ Then he left the synagogue and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshipper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized. One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.’ He stayed there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal. They said, ‘This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law.’ Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, ‘If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.’ And he dismissed them from the tribunal.
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 raised up for us* a mighty saviour.
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 raised up for us* a mighty saviour.
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
Author and Giver of all good things, graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us in all goodness, and of your great mercy keep us in the same; 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.
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