PRAYER FOR THIS EVENING (WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16)
Prayer for the Evening
The Lord alone is God:
God alone do we worship and adore!
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
Let our choir new anthems raise,
Shout with joy and gladness:
God himself to joy and praise
Turns the martyrs’ sadness:
Joy that martyrs won their crown,
Opened heaven’s portal,
When they laid the mortal down
For the life immortal.
Never flinched they from the flame,
From the torment never;
Vain the tyrant’s sharpest aim,
Vain each fierce endeavor:
For by faith they saw the land
Decked in all its glory,
Where triumphant now they stand—
Sing the victors’ story.
PSALM 16:1-6
I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Is 45:18)
These martyrs refused to honor the gods of Rome in preference to the true God. Their legacy and challenge is this question: who or what, really, governs your daily choices?
Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: “You are my God.
My happiness lies in you alone.”
He has put into my heart a marvelous love
for the faithful ones who dwell in his land.
Those who choose other gods increase their sorrows.
Never will I offer their offerings of blood.
Never will I take their name upon my lips.
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.
The lot marked out for me is my delight:
welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me!
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Matthew 4:8-10)
Then the devil took [Jesus] up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:
‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship/ and him alone shall you serve.’”
I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have
other gods besides me.
(cf. Ex 20:2-3)
CANTICLE OF MARY
You will show me the path of life,/ the fullness of joy in your presence. (Ps 16:11)
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
Christ is our heritage and delight. Through the intercession of the martyrs whom we honor today, let us pray to him:
R/You are our Lord and God!
The martyrs knew that their happiness lay in you alone:
– teach us to love you with our whole mind, heart, and soul. R/
The martyrs loved your faithful ones and led them in the ways of the Gospel:
– protect us from the lure of the acceptance and
success promised to those who conform to the values of an unbelieving world. R/
The martyrs welcomed death in preference to a life bought by compromise:
– keep us faithful to the vows we made in baptism. R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
May God draw our hearts to himself, that we may follow him in everything and keep the commands, statutes, and ordinances which he enjoined on our fathers. Amen. (cf. 1 Kgs 8:58)
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.
