PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26)

Prayer for the Evening

Vigil of the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are children of the living God:

let us give thanks and praise!

Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!

HYMN

Our Father, we have wandered

And hidden from your face;

In foolishness have squandered

Your legacy of grace.

But now, in exile dwelling,

We rise with fear and shame,

As distant but compelling,

We hear you call our name.

And now at length discerning

The evil that we do,

Behold us, Lord, returning

With hope and trust to you.

In haste you come to meet us

And home rejoicing bring,

In gladness there to greet us

With calf and robe and ring.

PSALM 40:8b-9, 12-14, 17-18

He said in reply, “I will not,” but afterwards he changed his mind and went. (Mt 21:29)

Wouldn’t we love to experience the kind of once-and-for-all conversion to God’s will that we see in someone like Saint Paul? Most of us, though, make our way more slowly, step by step, going astray at times, changing our minds, but ultimately enabled by the Holy Spirit to do as God desires, like the second son in this Sunday’s Gospel. God gives us room to grow.

In the scroll of the book it stands written

that I should do your will.

My God, I delight in your law

in the depth of my heart.

O Lord, you will not withhold

your compassion from me.

Your merciful love and your truth

will always guard me.

For I am beset with evils

too many to be counted.

My sins have fallen upon me

and my sight fails me.

They are more than the hairs of my head

and my heart sinks.

O Lord, come to my rescue,

Lord, come to my aid.

O let there be rejoicing and gladness

for all who seek you.

Let them ever say: “The Lord is great,”

who love your saving help.

As for me, wretched and poor,

the Lord thinks of me.

You are my rescuer, my help,

O God, do not delay.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Hosea 3:5, 2:1)

Then the people of Israel shall turn back/ and seek the Lord, their God…./ They shall come trembling to the Lord/ and to his bounty, in the last days.…/ Whereas they were called/ “Lo-ammi” [not my people],/ They shall be called,/ “Children of the living God.”

They shall turn to the Lord and he shall be won

over and heal them. (Is 19:22)

CANTICLE OF MARY

When someone falls, does he not rise again?/ if he goes astray, does he not turn back? (Jer 8:4)

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 

Let us turn to the Lord for mercy, to our God who is generous in forgiving. (cf. Is 55:7)

R/Lord, come to our aid!

When we waver, make us firm: R/

When we refuse to do your will, soften our hearts: R/

When we forget we are your children, bring us back to you: R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

May the Lord guard our going and coming/ both now and for ever. Amen. (cf. Ps 121:8)

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.