The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer for the Morning

How many are the wonders God has worked for us!

With the blessed Virgin, let us sing praise!

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

Upon her presentation,

A gift of great delight

Appears in dedication

As pleasing in Your sight.

For in Your holy Temple,

The place Your glories fill,

A daughter meek and humble

Now comes to do Your will.

Beyond the incense rising,

Surpassing goat and dove,

Preferred to bullocks dying,

And bread for show above,

This girl in faith believing

Will hold the off’ring true,

When Christ the Lamb conceiving

She is the Temple new.

The Church in praises telling

Acclaims from East to West

The glory of Your dwelling

Among a people blest.

O Father, Son, and Spirit,

One God in majesty,

Your angel sent will hear it—

Her words of “Let it be.”

PSALM 40:6-12

My food is to do the will of the one who sent me. (Jn 4:34)

The story of the presentation of Mary in the Temple as a child ­captures the essential Gospel portrait of Mary as a woman entirely dedicated not merely to doing but to living the will of God. Her own willing obedience, unhesitatingly given and never revoked, lies at the heart of her life of self-sacrifice offered in love.

How many, O Lord my God,

are the wonders and designs

that you have worked for us;

you have no equal.

Should I proclaim and speak of them,

they are more than I can tell!

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,

but an open ear.

You do not ask for holocaust and victim.

Instead, here am I.

In the scroll of the book it stands written

that I should do your will.

My God, I delight in your law

in the depth of my heart.

Your justice I have proclaimed

in the great assembly.

My lips I have not sealed;

you know it, O Lord.

I have not hidden your justice in my heart

but declared your faithful help.

I have not hidden your love and your truth

from the great assembly.

O Lord, you will not withhold

your compassion from me.

Your merciful love and your truth

will always guard me.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (1 Samuel 15:22)

Does the Lord so delight in holocausts and sacrifices/ as in obedience to the command of the Lord?/ Obedience is better than sacrifice,/ and submission than the fat of rams.

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and ­pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

(Rom 12:1)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God. (Eph 5:2)

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

With the Blessed Virgin Mary, we pray:

R/Receive us, O Lord!

You are our Creator and our Redeemer: R/

You are our beginning and our end: R/

You are the joy of our salvation: R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

God our Father, you received the dedication of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an offering made in love. Through her intercession, gather all people to yourself through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for the Morning

Come, let us worship the Lord our God,

who leads us from death to life!

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

O turn to Jesus, Mother, turn,

And call him by his tenderest names;

Pray for the holy souls that burn

This hour amid the cleansing flames.

They are the children of your tears;

Then hasten, Mother, to their aid;

In pity think each hour appears

An age while glory is delayed.

Ah, me! the love of Jesus yearns

O’er the abyss of sacred pain,

And, as he looks, his bosom burns

With Calvary’s dear thirst again.

O Mary, let your Son no more

His lingering spouses thus expect:

God’s children to their God restore,

And to the Spirit his elect.

CANTICLE OF TOBIT 13:1-5a, 7-8

He made atonement for the dead, that they might be freed from sin. (cf. 2 Mc 12:46)

Purgatory is not an eternal punishment, but a place of preparation, of making satisfaction for the effects of sin, and of being made ready for the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb. As we pray for our brothers and sisters in purgatory, let us live our earthly lives preparing for this union with Christ.

Blessed be God who lives forever,

because his kingdom lasts for all ages.

For he scourges and then has mercy;

he casts down to the depths of the nether world,

and he brings up from the great abyss.

No one can escape his hand.

Praise him, you Israelites, before the Gentiles,

for though he has scattered you among them,

he has shown you his greatness even there.

Exalt him before every living being,

because he is the Lord our God,

our Father and God forever.

He scourged you for your iniquities,

but will again have mercy on you all.

As for me, I exalt my God,

and my spirit rejoices in the King of heaven.

Let all men speak of his majesty,

and sing his praises in Jerusalem.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.

The one who raised Christ from the dead will give life

to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit

that dwells in you. (Rom 8:11)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Our savior Christ Jesus destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (cf. 2 Tm 1:10)

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

God created us not only for this earthly life but for union with him for ever. In confidence we pray:

R/May those who sleep in death live with you for ever!

Purify those souls still held fast by the sins of their earthly lives,

– that they may be ready to stand in your presence forever more: R/

Inspire us to pray and do penance for the holy souls,

– especially our loved ones and those who have no one to pray for them. R/

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

– and may perpetual light shine upon them. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

All-powerful and ever-living God, who created humankind for an everlasting sharing in your communion of love, grant that the faithful departed may be freed from every stain of sin and enjoy eternal rest in our heavenly homeland. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for the Morning

Let us cry out to the Lord our God:

in mercy, he will hear us!

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

Firm through the endless years,

Your kingdom stands secure,

And your dominion evermore

Through ages shall endure.

For, from the Paraclete,

O Word, you came to earth

And, Christ our God, you humbly stooped

To share our lowly birth.

You came as Light from Light

Within our world to shine,

And brought into the darkest heart

The hope of light divine.

O Savior, God most high,

Incarnate Word of Light,

Be merciful and save us all

From sin’s eternal night.

PSALM 33:1-9

My word shall not return to me void,/ but shall do my will. (cf. Is 55:11)

The Word of God gathers up our many words into one song of praise and petition. In him and through him and with him, we offer our humble prayer.

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;

for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

Give thanks to the Lord upon the lyre,

with a ten-stringed harp sing him songs.

O sing him a song that is new,

play loudly, with all your skill.

For the word of the Lord is faithful

and all his works to be trusted.

The Lord loves justice and right

and fills the earth with his love.

By his word the heavens were made,

by the breath of his mouth all the stars.

He collects the waves of the ocean;

he stores up the depths of the sea.

Let all the earth fear the Lord,

all who live in the world revere him.

He spoke; and it came to be.

He commanded; it sprang into being.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (2 Corinthians 1:18-20)

As God is faithful, our word to you is not “yes” and “no.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not “yes” and “no,” but “yes” has been in him. For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.

Let your “Yes” mean “Yes,” and your “No” mean “No.” Anything more is from the evil one. (Mt 5:37)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

What came to be through him was life,/ and this life was the light of the human race. (Jn 1:3-4)

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

To God, whose gift to us is the Word of life, we pray:

R/Your Word, O Lord, is spirit and life!

For the Word of creation, we praise you, O God:

– teach us to reverence all that your Word has brought into being. R/

For the Word of salvation, we praise you, O God:

– teach us to work for the salvation of all whom you will to save. R/

For the Word of life, we praise you, O God:

– teach us to live according to your word. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

God our Father, you have spoken into the chaos of sin the one all-powerful Word of salvation, your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Teach us to put our faith in the ­constancy of your Word and not in the multiplication of our words, through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.