Catholic Morning Prayer (Friday, October 29)

Prayer for the Morning

The Lord listens to the needy:

come, let us bow down in prayer! (cf. Ps 69:34)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!

Hymn

O blest Creator of the light,

Who makes the day with radiance bright,

And o’er the forming world did call

The light from chaos first of all.

Whose wisdom joined in meet array

The morn and eve, and named them day:

Night comes with all its darkling fears;

Regard your people’s prayers and tears.

Lest, sunk in sin, and ’whelmed with strife,

They lose the gift of endless life;

While thinking but the thoughts of time,

They weave new chains of woe and crime.

But grant them grace that they may strain

The heavenly gate and prize to gain:

Each harmful lure aside to cast,

And purge away each error past.

Psalm 102:2-3, 10-13, 19-21

To my words give ear, O Lord,/ give heed to my groaning. (Ps 5:2)

Sin is a subtle prison. So accustomed can we become to its walls that we cease to recognize that we are dying in slow and unseen ways. Yet God gave his very Son to break its stranglehold. Let us call out to him for help!

O Lord, listen to my prayer

and let my cry for help reach you.

Do not hide your face from me

in the day of my distress.

Turn your ear towards me

and answer me quickly when I call.

The bread I eat is ashes;

my drink is mingled with tears.

In your anger, Lord, and your fury

you have lifted me up and thrown me down.

My days are like a passing shadow

and I wither away like the grass.

But you, O Lord, will endure forever.

Let this be written for ages to come

that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;

for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.

He looked down from heaven to the earth

that he might hear the groans of the prisoners

and free those condemned to die.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Isaiah 49:24-25)

Thus says the Lord:/ Can booty be taken from a warrior? or captives be rescued from a tyrant? Yes, captives can be taken from a warrior, and booty be rescued from a tyrant;/Those who oppose you I will oppose, and your sons I will save.

The Lord is slow to anger, yet great in power. (Nah 1:3)

Canticle of Zechariah

The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity. (Ex 34:6)

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

From the prison of our sinfulness, let us cry to God for mercy:

R/O Lord, listen to our prayer.

For those who feel hopelessly trapped by the habits of sin:

– grant them forgiveness and peace. R/

For those who fear your anger:

– show them also your love. R/

For those who delay examining their decisions and habits:

– let them see how quickly life passes. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

Gracious and merciful God, you heard the groans of a world that labors under the weight of sin, and you sent your only Son to lift its burden from humanity’s shoulders by taking it upon his own. Hear the prayers of sinners and the victims of sin, and deliver us by the power of his cross. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

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