Prayer for the Morning
Let us proclaim the greatness of our God!
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
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
To his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore his praises sing:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.
Praise him for his grace and favor
To our fathers in distress.
Praise him still the same as ever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glorious in his faithfulness.
Fatherlike he tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame he knows.
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Widely yet his mercy flows.
Canticle. Deuteronomy 32:3-7, 10-12
Guard me as the apple of your eye./ Hide me in the shadow of your wings. (Ps 17:8)
Now and then, God’s people of old needed to be reminded of the care with which his love had surrounded and protected them. Now and then, we do, too!
Oh, proclaim the greatness of our God!
The Rock—how faultless are his deeds,
how right all his ways!
A faithful God, without deceit,
how just and upright he is!
Yet basely has he been treated
by his degenerate children,
a perverse and crooked race!
Is the Lord to be thus repaid by you,
O stupid and foolish people?
Is he not your father who created you?
Has he not made you and established you?
Think back on the days of old,
reflect on the years of age upon age.
Ask your father and he will inform you,
ask your elders and they will tell you:
He found them in a wilderness,
a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them and cared for them,
guarding them as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle incites its nestlings forth
by hovering over its brood,
so he spread his wings to receive them
and bore them up on his pinions.
The Lord alone was their leader,
no strange god was with him.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God. Isaiah 63:15-16
Look down from heaven and regard us/ from your holy and glorious palace!/ Where is your zealous care and your might,/ your surge of pity and your mercy?/ O Lord, hold not back,/ for you are our father./ Were Abraham not to know us,/ nor Israel to acknowledge us,/ You, Lord, are our father,/ our redeemer you are named forever.
I will not leave you nor forsake you.
(Jos 1:5)
Canticle of Zechariah
O Lord, you are our father;/ we are the clay and you the potter:/ we are all the work of your hands. (Is 64:7)
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 will never forsake the work of his hands. Assured of his love, let us place before him our own needs and the needs of the world:
R/Our Redeemer you are named for ever!
You are the rock on which we stand firm:
– uphold those who seek to live justly in places of injustice. R/
You are without deceit:
– free those who conceal their hearts in falsehood and betray others’ trust. R/
You alone are our leader:
– protect us from the allure of false messiahs. R/
Personal intentions
Our Father….
O God of justice and of love, you care for your people in every time and place, despite our tendency to stray from you in our foolishness. Keep us in your care from morning until evening, that we may come to rest safely in the shadow of your all-powerful wings. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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When you feel weak in the morning, say this short powerful prayer