PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19)

Prayer for the Evening

Vigil of the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us give praise to God, who loves justice and right!

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

To Jesus Christ, our Sov’reign King,

Who is the world’s salvation,

All praise and homage do we bring,

And thanks and adoration.

R/ Christ Jesus, Victor! Christ Jesus, Ruler!

Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

Thy reign extend, O King benign,

To ev’ry land and nation,

For in thy kingdom, Lord divine,

Alone we find salvation. R/

To thee and to thy Church, great King,

We pledge our hearts’ oblation,

Until before thy throne we sing,

In endless jubilation. R/

PSALM 99:1-5

My thoughts are not your thoughts,/ nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. (Is 55:8)

We often praise God’s justice, but we do not understand it. We try to narrow God’s gracious bounty down to our own narrow sense of retribution, God’s generosity to the size of our own. Tomorrow’s readings warn us that, fortunately for us, God’s ways are not ours.

The Lord is king; the peoples tremble.

He is throned on the cherubim; the earth quakes.

The Lord is great in Zion.

He is supreme over all the peoples.

Let them praise his name, so terrible and great.

He is holy, full of power.

You are a king who loves what is right;

you have established equity, justice and right;

you have established them in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God;

bow down before Zion, his footstool.

He the Lord is holy.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Titus 3:4-7)

When the kindness and generous love/ of God our savior appeared,/ not because of any righteous deeds we had done/ but because of his mercy,/ he saved us through the bath of rebirth/ and renewal by the holy Spirit,/ whom he richly poured out on us/ through Jesus Christ our savior,/ so that we might be justified by his grace/ and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

He will be gracious to you when you cry out,/

as soon as he hears he will answer you.

(Is 30:19)

CANTICLE OF MARY 

Gracious and merciful is God! (cf. Jl 2:13b)

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 

With grateful hearts, we pray:

R/You are good to all, compassionate toward all your works!

You have poured out upon a sinful world the gracious gift of your mercy in Jesus Christ:

– grant us a grateful spirit. R/

You have rewarded our small service to you with unimaginable blessings:

– grant us the humility to receive them with thanks. R/

You raise the dead to life:

– grant us the hope to trust in your generosity rather than our own merits. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

May the Lord be with us and bless us! Amen.

MARIAN ANTIPHON

Antiphon for the Feast of the Nativity

of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

8 September

With joy let us celebrate the nativity of blessed Mary,

that she may intercede for us

before the Lord Jesus Christ.

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.