Morning Prayer

STAND

Invitatory

Leader: Lord, + open my lips.
All: And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Leader: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

Psalm 95
A call to praise God

Encourage each other daily while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13).

Leader: Come, let us sing to the Lord 
All: and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving 
  and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

All: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

All: The Lord is God, the mighty God, 
  the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth 
  and the highest mountains as well.
He made the sea; it belongs to him, 
  the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.

All: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

All: Come, then, let us bow down and worship, 
  bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.
For he is our God and we are his people, 
  the flock he shepherds.

All: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

All: Today, listen to the voice of the Lord: 
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did
  in the wilderness, 
when at Meriba and Massah
  they challenged me and provoked me, 
Although they had seen all of my works.

All: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

All: Forty years I endured that generation. 
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray
  and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger, 
  “They shall not enter into my rest.”

All: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

All: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.

All: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

Hymn

Now Christ, O Sun of righteousness,
Let dawn our darkened spirits bless:
The light of grace to us restore
While day to earth returns once more.

To us you give the accepted time,
Give, too, a heart that mourns for crime,
Let those by mercy now be cured
Whom loving-kindness long endured.

Spare not, we pray, to send us here
Some penance kindly but severe,
So let your gift of pardoning grace
Our grievous sinfulness efface.

Soon will that day, your day, appear
And all things with its brightness cheer:
We will rejoice in it, as we
Return thereby to grace, and thee.

Let all the world from shore to shore
O gracious Trinity, adore;
Right soon your loving pardon grant,
That we our new-made song may chant. Amen.

Tune: Beatus Vir L.M.
Music: Slovak Hymn
Text: Iam, Christe, sol iustitiae, tenth century or possibly Ambrosian
Translation: The Primer of 1706, attributed to John Dryden, 1631-1701

SIT

Psalmody

Leader: I will sing to you, O Lord; I will learn from you the way of perfection.

Psalm 101
Avowal of a good ruler

If you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).

Leader: My song is of mercy and justice; 
Side 1: I sing to you, O Lord.
I will walk in the way of perfection. 
O when, Lord, will you come?

Side 2: I will walk with blameless heart 
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes 
whatever is base.

Side 1: I will hate the ways of the crooked; 
they shall not be my friends.
The false-hearted must keep far away; 
the wicked I disown.

Side 2: The man who slanders his neighbor in secret 
I will bring to silence.
The man of proud looks and haughty heart 
I will never endure.

Side 1: I look to the faithful in the land 
that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in the way of perfection 
shall be my friend.

Side 2: No man who practices deceit 
shall live within my house.
No man who utters lies shall stand 
before my eyes.

Side 1: Morning by morning I will silence 
all the wicked in the land,
uprooting from the city of the Lord 
all who do evil.

Side 2: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
All: as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.

Leader: I will sing to you, O Lord; I will learn from you the way of perfection.

Leader: Lord, do not withhold your compassion from us.

Canticle: Daniel 3: 26, 27, 29, 34-41
Azariah’s Prayer in the furnace

With your whole hearts turn to God and he will blot out all your sins (Acts 3:19).

Leader: Blessed are you, and praiseworthy, 
Side 1: O Lord, the God of our fathers, 
and glorious forever is your name.

Side 2: For you are just in all you have done; 
all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right, 
and all your judgments proper.

Side 1: For we have sinned and transgressed 
by departing from you, 
and we have done every kind of evil.

Side 2: For your name’s sake, do not deliver us up forever, 
or make void your covenant.

Side 1: Do not take away your mercy from us, 
for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, 
Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

Side 2: to whom you promised to multiply their offspring 
like the stars of heaven, 
or the sand on the shore of the sea.

Side 1: For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, 
brought low everywhere in the world this day 
because of our sins.

Side 2: We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, 
no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, 
no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

Side 1: But with contrite heart and humble spirit 
let us be received;
as though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks, 
or thousands of fat lambs,
so let our sacrifice be in your presence today 
as we follow you unreservedly; 
for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

Side 2: And now we follow you with our whole heart, 
we fear you and we pray to you.

Side 1: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
All: as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.

Leader: Lord, do not withhold your compassion from us.

Leader: O God, I will sing to you a new song.

Psalm 144:1-10
Prayer for victory and peace

I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).

Leader: Blessed be the Lord, my rock, 
Side 1: who trains my arms for battle, 
who prepares my hands for war.

Side 2: He is my love, my fortress; 
he is my stronghold, my savior,
my shield, my place of refuge.
He brings peoples under my rule.

Side 1: Lord, what is man that you care for him, 
mortal man, that you keep him in mind;
man, who is merely a breath, 
whose life fades like a passing shadow?

Side 2: Lower your heavens and come down; 
touch the mountains; wreathe them in smoke.
Flash your lightnings; rout the foe, 
shoot your arrows and put them to flight.

Side 1: Reach down from heaven and save me;
draw me out from the mighty waters,
from the hands of alien foes 
whose mouths are filled with lies, 
whose hands are raised in perjury.

Side 2: To you, O God, will I sing a new song; 
I will play on the ten-stringed harp
to you who give kings their victory, 
who set David your servant free.

Side 1: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
All: as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.

Leader: O God, I will sing to you a new song.

Reading

Joel 2:12-13

Lector: Return to me with your whole heart,
   with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
   and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
   slow to anger, rich in kindness,
   and relenting in punishment.

Responsory

Lector: God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.
All: God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.

Lector: From those who would trap me with lying words
All: and from the hunter’s snare.

Lector: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
All: God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.

Gospel Canticle

Leader: The man who cured me told me to pick up my sleeping mat and go in peace.

Canticle of Zechariah
Luke 1:68-79
The Messiah and his forerunner

Leader: Blessed + be the Lord, the God of Israel; 
All: he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty savior, 
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 who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers 
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 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 to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.

Leader: The man All: who cured me told me to pick up my sleeping mat and go in peace.

Intercessions

Leader: God the Father has given us his only Son, the Word made flesh, to be our food and our life. Let us thank him and pray:
All: May the word of Christ dwell among us in all its richness.

Leader: Help us this Lenten season to listen more frequently to your word,
All: that we may celebrate the solemnity of Easter with greater love for Christ, our paschal sacrifice.

Leader: May your Holy Spirit be our teacher,
All: that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.

Leader: Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of your Anointed One,
All: that our lives may reveal him more effectively.

Leader: Purify and renew your Church in this time of salvation,
All: that it may give an ever greater witness to you.

The Lord's Prayer

Leader: Remember us, Lord, when you come to your kingdom and teach us how to pray:

Leader: Our Father, All: who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Concluding Prayer

Leader: Father,
may our lenten observance
prepare us to embrace the paschal mystery
and to proclaim your salvation with joyful praise.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen.

Dismissal

If a priest or deacon presides, he dismisses the people:

Leader: The Lord be with you.
All: And with your spirit.

Leader: May almighty God bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.

Leader: Go in peace.
All: Thanks be to God.

In the absence of a priest or deacon and in individual recitation, Morning Prayer concludes:

Leader: May the Lord + bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
All: Amen.