Prayer for the Morning
We are saved by the Lord, saved for ever!
Let us give thanks and 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.
Hymn
Meter: LM
This hymn can be sung to the tune used for
Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow
Nature with open volume stands
To spread her Maker’s praise abroad:
And every labor of his hands
Shows something worthy of a God.
But in the grace that rescued man
His brightest form of glory shines;
Here on the cross ’tis fairest drawn
In precious Blood, and crimson lines.
Here his whole name appears complete:
Nor wit can guess nor reason prove
Which of the letters best is writ,
The power, the wisdom, or the love.
O the sweet wonders of that Cross,
Where God the Savior loved and died!
Her noblest life our spirit draws
From his dear wounds and bleeding side.
May we for ever speak his name
In sounds to mortal ears unknown,
With angels join to praise the Lamb
And worship at his Father’s throne.
Canticle of Isaiah 45:15-19, 23
I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. (Jn 7:28)
Familiarity can breed illusion. Let us not imagine we can plumb or manage the mystery of God, even by prayer and penance. Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel that there are depths to God we cannot fathom but in which we put our trust.
Truly with you God is hidden,
the God of Israel, the savior!
Those are put to shame and disgrace
who vent their anger against him.
Those go in disgrace
who carve images.
Israel, you are saved by the Lord, saved for ever!
You shall never be put to shame or disgrace
in future ages.
For thus says the Lord,
the creator of the heavens,
who is God,
the designer and maker of the earth
who established it,
not creating it to be a waste,
but designing it to be lived in:
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I have not spoken from hiding
nor from some dark place of the earth.
And I have not said to the descendants of Jacob,
“Look for me in an empty waste.”
I, the Lord, promise justice,
I foretell what is right.
By myself I swear,
uttering my just decree
and my unalterable word:
To me every knee shall bend;
by me every tongue shall swear.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Romans 11:33-34)
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord/ or who has been his counselor?”
To him be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)
Canticle of Zechariah
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me. (Jn 7:29)
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 humility we pray:
R/Lord, we seek your face!
Against the presumption that can come with knowledge:
– protect us, O Lord! R/
Against the pride that can destroy prayer:
– protect us, O Lord! R/
Against the temptation to take you for granted:
– protect us, O Lord! R/
Personal intentions
Our Father….
O God of mystery and majesty, the enemies of Jesus imagined that they knew him, and yet they knew him not. Deliver us from pride of spirit and grant us the humility that always seeks your face, through Christ our Lord. Amen.