PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, JULY 11)
Prayer for the Evening
Vigil of the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Come in; let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us.
Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!
HYMN
Abide, O risen Savior,
Among us by your grace;
And may your presence lead us
In faith to seek your face.
Abide, O great Redeemer,
Among us by your word;
To light our path and guide us,
In grace and truth restored.
PSALM 81:6b-8a, 9, 11-14
If today you hear his voice,/ harden not your hearts. (cf. Ps 95:7-8)
A path is a place worn hard by the repeated passing of feet. The repeated passing of familiar thoughts through the landscape of the heart can wear hard paths no seed can penetrate without the saving action of the plow. Critical judgments, blind prejudices, unexamined beliefs, indifference can all harden the heart to the Word. Let us pray that the word God speaks to us today will break through the hardened places.
A voice I did not know said to me:
“I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load.
You called in distress and I saved you.
Listen, my people, to my warning,
O Israel, if only you would heed!
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
But my people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.
O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!”
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Jeremiah 7:22-24)
In speaking to your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I gave them no command concerning holocaust or sacrifice. This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
Jesus grieved at their hardness of heart. (cf. Mk 3:5)
CANTICLE OF MARY
They shall know that I, the Lord, am their God. I will give them hearts, and heedful ears. (Bar 2:31)
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
Although we do not always listen to the voice of God, God always listens to our voices raised in prayer. Let us ask him:
R/Let us hear your voice, O Lord!
Break up the hardness of heart created by habits of criticism, we pray: R/
Soften the hardness of heart created by prejudice, we pray: R/
Pierce with your word the hardness of heart created by indifference, we pray: R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
May the Lord rescue us from every evil threat and bring us safe to his heavenly kingdom. Amen. (cf. 2 Tm 4:18)
MARIAN ANTIPHON
Antiphon for the Memorial of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16,
from the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite
Your head is like Carmel,
and the hairs of your head,
bound in tresses,
even as royal purple, alleluia.
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.
