Saint Raymond of Penyafort; First Friday of the Month
Prayer for the Morning
Christ is our praise
In the great assembly!
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
Bethlehem, of noblest cities
None can once with thee compare;
Thou alone the Lord from heaven
Didst for us incarnate bear.
Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth;
To the lands their God announcing,
Seen in fleshly form on earth.
By its lambent beauty guided
See the eastern kings appear;
See them bend, their gifts to offer,
Gifts of incense, gold, and myrrh.
Solemn things of mystic meaning:
Incense doth the God disclose,
Gold a royal child proclaimeth,
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.
Holy Jesus, in thy brightness
To the Gentile world displayed,
With the Father and the Spirit
Endless praise to thee be paid.
Psalm 22:26-32
You shall seek the Lord, your God; and you shall indeed find him when you search after him with your whole heart and your whole soul. (Dt 4:29)
The Magi sought the unknown king. Faith seeks to know. In this season, we are renewed in our desire to seek always to know the Christ in whom we believe so that faith, hope, and love may grow toward their fulfillment in God’s kingdom.
You are my praise in the great assembly.
My vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and shall have their fill.
They shall praise the Lord, those who seek him.
May their hearts live for ever and ever!
All the earth shall remember and return to the Lord,
all families of the nations worship before him
for the kingdom is the Lord’s; he is ruler of the nations.
They shall worship him, all the mighty of the earth;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust.
And my soul shall live for him, my children serve him.
They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,
declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn:
“These things the Lord has done.”
Glory to the Father….
Word of God. Isaiah 55:4-6
As I made him a witness to the peoples,/ a leader and commander of nations,/ So shall you summon a nation you knew not,/ and nations that knew you not shall run to you,/ Because of the Lord, your God,/ the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found,/ call him while he is near.
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek.
(cf. Ps 27:8)
Canticle of Zechariah
On that day,/ The root of Jesse,/ set up as a signal for the nations,/ The Gentiles shall seek out,/ for his dwelling shall be glorious. (Is 11:10)
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 seeks us even as we seek God. In faith we pray:
R/Hear your people, Lord!
You sent your Word of mercy and redemption in the flesh of a child:
– teach us to seek you where you are to be found. R/
You sent your Word to melt all frozen hearts and wills:
– teach us to seek and to share the warmth of your
love. R/
You sent your Word to bring hope to the hopeless and life to the lifeless:
– teach us to seek in you our journey’s end. R/
Personal intentions
Our Father….
God our Father, you sent your Son into the world as a beacon toward which we travel in faith, trusting that by his light we will find our way through all darkness into the glory of your everlasting love. Guide us on our road and bring us safely to our rest, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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