Prayer for the Morning (Wednesday, December 1)

Prayer for the Morning

The Lord is our shepherd:

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. Alleluia!

Hymn

Come, Lord, and tarry not;

Bring the long looked-for day;

O why these years of waiting here,

These ages of delay?

Come, for creation groans,

Impatient of your stay,

Worn out with these long years of ill,

These ages of delay.

Come, for love waxes cold,

Its steps are faint and slow;

Faith now is lost in unbelief,

Hope’s lamp burns dim and low.

Come, and make all things new,

Build up this ruined earth;

Restore our faded paradise,

Creation’s second birth.

Psalm 36:6-12

According to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pt 3:13)

Sometimes, in the midst of the satisfactions of everyday life, we might be tempted to wonder whether or not we really want Christ to come and transform the world as we know it. Then we remember the harsh realities of sickness, hunger, suffering, and death. Who does not long then for the everlasting riches of God’s house, given to us through the mercy of Christ our Shepherd and Savior?

Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven;

your truth to the skies.

Your justice is like God’s mountain,

your judgments like the deep.

To both man and beast you give protection.

O Lord, how precious is your love.

My God, the sons of men

find refuge in the shelter of your wings.

They feast on the riches of your house;

they drink from the stream of your delight.

In you is the source of life

and in your light we see light.

Keep on loving those who know you,

doing justice for upright hearts.

Let the foot of the proud not crush me

nor the hand of the wicked cast me out.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God. Isaiah 65:18-19

Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness/ in what I create;/ For I create Jerusalem to be a joy/ and its people to be a delight;/ I will rejoice in Jerusalem/ and exult in my people./ No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,/ or the sound of crying.

You will meet with joy and gladness;/ sorrow

and mourning will flee. (cf. Is 35:10)

Canticle of Zechariah

Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! (Is 25:9)

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

Let us pray to Christ, the Good Shepherd, whose coming we await with joy:

R/Come, Lord, and lead us to life.

You seek us in our hunger and our thirst, in our suffering and our pain:

– bring us to the joy of your holy mountain. R/

You feed the starving:

– nourish the hungry of heart with the bread of life and the hungry of body with daily sustenance. R/

You ward off the wolves of death with the staff of your cross:

– bring to peace those who live under death’s threat. R/

Personal intentions

Our Father….

Lamb of God and Shepherd of God’s people, Lord Jesus Christ, you come to gather into the kingdom all your straying flock. Heal us, feed us, call us to follow in your footsteps and to encourage one another in your ways, who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Read More

How God was known as a “good shepherd” in the Old Testament

Say this short powerful prayer when you feel weak in the morning.