Saint Sixtus II and Companions; Saint Cajetan (First Friday of the Month)
Prayer for the Morning
To God our praise is due!
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
When God restored our captive state,
Joy was our song, and grace our theme,
The grace beyond our hopes so great
That joy appeared a painted dream.
When we review our dismal fears
’Twas hard to think they’d vanish so;
With God we left our flowing tears;
He makes our joys like rivers flow.
PSALM 65:2-4, 6
The Lord God will wipe away/ the tears from all faces;/ The reproach of his people he will remove/ from the whole earth. (Is 25:8)
The psalm calls to mind Saint Gregory of Nyssa’s word portrait of Christ the artist, tenderly wiping away all the grime of sin that disfigures the human face and restoring God’s image to its full beauty.
To you our praise is due
in Zion, O God.
To you we pay our vows,
you who hear our prayer.
To you all flesh will come
with its burden of sin.
Too heavy for us, our offenses,
but you wipe them away.
You keep your pledge with wonders,
O God our savior,
the hope of all the earth
and of far distant isles.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Isaiah 43:20c-21, 25)
I put water in the desert/ and rivers in the wasteland/ for my chosen people to drink,/ The people whom I formed for myself,/ that they might announce my praise.
It is I, I, who wipe out,/ for my own sake, your offenses;/ your sins I remember no more.
O wash me more and more from my guilt/
and cleanse me from my sin.
(Ps 51:4)
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Cease your cries of mourning,/ wipe the tears from your eyes./ The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward. (Jer 31:16)
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet
of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father…
INTERCESSIONS
God rewards with joy those who mourn for their sins and the sins of all our race. Let us pray with contrite hearts:
R/Hear our prayer; forgive our sins.
Where we have failed to be compassionate as you are compassionate:
– deepen our love for those who have fallen under the burden of their weakness. R/
Where we have failed to be faithful as you are faithful:
– renew our commitment to live the vows we made in baptism. R/
Where we have failed to be loving as you are loving:
– sharpen our willingness to put you and our neighbor before our own desires. R/
Where we have failed to be joyful as you free us to be:
– strengthen our trust in your unfailing love for us. R/
Personal intentions
Our Father….
Most merciful Lord and Savior, you wash away all our sins in the blood you shed upon the cross. Grant us the grace to rejoice in the freedom you have bought for us and to turn and set others free by the power of the love you have shown us, who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
