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.
