Prayer for the Evening
Vigil of the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
God is Lord of the harvest:
let us pray to him, that our lives may bear his fruit.
Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!
HYMN
All the world is God’s own field,
Fruit unto his praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.
For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take his harvest home;
From his field shall in that day
All offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store
In his garner evermore.
PSALM 37:1-4, 7-9
While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. (Mt 13:25)
The parable of the weeds and the wheat captures the tangled ambiguities of the human heart. The word translated as “weeds” actually refers specifically to darnel, also called “false wheat.” Darnel, poisonous to human beings, is easily mistaken for true wheat until the ear, the fruit, appears. Jesus counsels patience: the true will be sorted from the false when the time comes, even within our own souls.
Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not envy those who do evil:
for they wither quickly like grass
and fade like the green of the fields.
If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.
Be still before the Lord and wait in patience;
do not fret at the man who prospers;
a man who makes evil plots
to bring down the needy and the poor.
Calm your anger and forget your rage;
do not fret, it only leads to evil.
For those who do evil shall perish;
the patient shall inherit the land.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Matthew 7:16-20)
By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.
Every tree is known by its own fruit. (Lk 6:44)
CANTICLE OF MARY
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bear with one another through love. (cf. Eph 4:2)
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
We all experience the tangled growth of the good and the evil, the true and the false within our own hearts. Let us pray for the gifts of protection and discernment:
R/We trust in you, O Lord.
When we are tempted by harmful choices offered to us under a false guise of good,
– protect and guide us, we pray: R/
When we judge one another or ourselves too quickly,
– teach us patience and discernment, we pray: R/
When we fail to bear the good fruit of the word you have sown in us,
– nourish and prune us by the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray: R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
May the Lord strengthen our hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. (cf. 1 Thes 3:13)
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.
