PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24)

Prayer for the Morning

Come, let us adore the Lord our God!

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. Alleluia!

HYMN

Before thy throne, O God, we kneel:

Give us a conscience quick to feel,

A ready mind to understand

The meaning of thy chastening hand;

Whate’er the pain and shame may be,

Bring us, O Father, nearer thee.

Search out our hearts and make us true;

Help us to give to all their due.

From love of pleasure, lust of gold,

From sins which make the heart grow cold,

Wean us and train us with thy rod;

Teach us to know our faults, O God.

For sins of heedless word and deed,

For pride ambitious to succeed,

For crafty trade and subtle snare

To catch the simple unaware,

For lives bereft of purpose high,

Forgive, forgive, O Lord, we cry.

CANTICLE (cf. Daniel 3:26-27, 29, 34, 39-41)

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. (Mt 23:12)

Pride sets subtle snares. Whenever we imagine that we are in control of life—our own or someone else’s—we have fallen prey to the ancient whisper in the Garden: “You shall be like gods.” Mortality is the enduring reminder that we become like God not by our own power but by the power of the cross.

Blessed are you, and praiseworthy,

O Lord, the God of our fathers,

and glorious forever is your name.

For you are just in all you have done;

all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right,

and all your judgments proper.

For we have sinned and transgressed

by departing from you,

and we have done every kind of evil.

For your name’s sake, do not deliver us up forever,

or make void your covenant.

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.

And now we follow you with our whole heart,

we fear you and we pray to you.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Sirach 10:7, 12-13a, 15-16)

Odious to the Lord and to men is arrogance,/ and the sin of oppression they both hate./ The beginning of pride is man’s stubbornness/ in withdrawing his heart from his Maker;/ For pride is the reservoir of sin,/ a source which runs over with vice./ The roots of the proud God plucks up,/ to plant the humble in their place:/ He breaks down their stem to the level of the ground,/ then digs their roots from the earth.

Before his downfall a man’s heart is haughty,/

but humility goes before honors.

(Prv 18:12)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH 

Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Mt 23:12)

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

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…

INTERCESSIONS 

In the mystery of the Incarnation and still more of the cross, Jesus Christ reveals the true power of self-­abasement. Let us pray:

R/Make us wise, O Lord.

You did not think equality with God something to be clung to:

– release us from the desire for power and prestige, we pray. R/

You emptied yourself, taking on the nature of a slave:

– free us from all disdain for works of service, we

pray. R/

You became obedient even unto death, death on the cross:

– deliver us from the lure of self-sufficiency, we pray. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

O Christ, you washed the feet of your disciples, you who are both Lord and Master. Strip us of the garments of pride and free us to do for one another the tasks of love, as you have done for us. In your name we pray, Lord Jesus Christ, who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.