Prayer for the Evening
By his wounds, we were healed:
let us give thanks and praise!
Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!
HYMN
Father, I stretch my hands to thee,
No other help I know;
If thou withdraw thyself from me,
Ah! whither shall I go?
What did thine only Son endure,
Before I drew my breath!
What pain, what labor, to secure
My soul from endless death!
Surely thou can not let me die;
O speak, and I shall live;
And here I will unwearied lie,
Till thou thy Spirit give.
The worst of sinners would rejoice,
Could they but see thy face:
O, let me hear thy quickening voice,
And taste thy pardoning grace.
PSALM 41:2-6, 8-14
Power came forth from [Jesus] and healed them all. (Lk 6:19)
Human need of every kind cries out to God for healing. The sharpest cry is the plea of the human heart betrayed and wounded by the sins of self and others. The Lord hears every call for help, and heals by taking upon himself the sufferings of all who are impoverished and weakened by failure, sin, and death.
Happy the man who considers the poor and the weak.
The Lord will save him in the day of evil,
will guard him, give him life,
make him happy in the land
and will not give him up to the will of his foes.
The Lord will help him on his bed of pain,
he will bring him back from sickness to health.
As for me, I said: “Lord, have mercy on me,
heal my soul for I have sinned against you.”
My foes are speaking evil against me.
“How long before he dies and his name be forgotten?”
My enemies whisper together against me.
They all weigh up the evil which is on me:
“Some deadly thing has fastened upon him,
he will not rise again from where he lies.”
Thus even my friend, in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has turned against me.
But you, O Lord, have mercy on me.
Let me rise once more and I will repay them.
By this I shall know that you are my friend,
if my foes do not shout in triumph over me.
If you uphold me I shall be unharmed
and set in your presence for evermore.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel
from age to age. Amen. Amen.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Isaiah 53:4-5)
It was our infirmities that he bore,/ our sufferings that he endured,/ While we thought of him as stricken,/ as one smitten by God and afflicted./ But he was pierced for our offenses,/ crushed for our sins,/ Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,/ by his stripes we were healed.
Lord, have mercy on me,/ heal my soul
for I have sinned against you. (Ps 41:5)
CANTICLE OF MARY
The Lord hears the cry of the poor. (cf. Ps 10:17)
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father…
INTERCESSIONS
In the name of all who seek to heal the sufferings of the world, we pray:
R/Hear us, O Lord.
You lifted upon your own shoulders the burdens of the poor and the weak:
– strengthen those who follow in your footsteps in caring for those in need. R/
You bore the pain of the disbelief of your relatives and neighbors:
– strengthen those who encounter ridicule in their efforts to live the Gospel. R/
You shunned no leper and turned away from no sinner:
– strengthen those who seek to grow in love for all who suffer. R/
You died for all who live under the weight of mortality:
– raise to life all our beloved dead. R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever! Amen.
MARIAN ANTIPHON
Antiphon for the Feast of the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
8 September
With joy let us celebrate the nativity of blessed Mary,
that she may intercede for us
before the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos
ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Hail, holy Queen, mother of mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To you do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, O most gracious advocate,
your eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile
show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
V/ Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R/ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
