Prayer for the Evening
We are happy, whose God is the Lord:
let us give thanks and praise!
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
I would sing thy love, my Savior,
O, how can I silent be!
Though more sweetly, more sublimely
Many touch the chords to thee.
In thy mercy in abundance,
Not a stream but boundless main:
Let me but rehearse the riches
Jesus doth for worlds contain!
PSALM 48:10-15
For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. (Rom 14:8)
We who live for Christ must live as Christ lived: in compassion, in mercy, and in love. Thus do we show that we are indeed “the Lord’s,” his people, dearer to him than all other possessions. As those who dwell in the light of his love, we offer him our grateful worship.
O God, we ponder your love
within your temple.
Your praise, O God, like your name
reaches to the ends of the earth.
With justice your right hand is filled.
Mount Zion rejoices;
the people of Judah rejoice
at the sight of your judgments.
Walk through Zion, walk all round it;
count the number of its towers.
Review all its ramparts,
examine its castles,
that you may tell the next generation
that such is our God,
our God for ever and always.
It is he who leads us.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Exodus 19:5-6)
If you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites.
You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out
of darkness into his wonderful light.
(cf. 1 Pt 2:9)
CANTICLE OF MARY
You are a people sacred to the Lord, your God, who has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own. (Dt 14:2)
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
As God’s people, made holy in Christ, we pray:
R/We trust in your holy name!
You are our God, and we your people:
– keep us in your ways, we pray: R/
You are our light and our salvation:
– enlighten us in your love, we pray: R/
You are our joy and our hope:
– bring to everlasting life all those who are your own, we pray: R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
The Lord bless us and keep us!/ The Lord let his face shine upon us, and be gracious to us!/ The Lord look upon us kindly and give us peace! Amen. (cf. Nm 6:24-26)
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.
