PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (MONDAY, AUGUST 3)

Prayer for the Morning

Come in; let us bow and bend low;

let us kneel before the God who made us! (cf. Ps 95:6)

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

Your words to me are light and truth;

From day to day they show

Their wisdom, passing earthly lore,

As in their truth I grow.

Your words to me are full of joy,

Of beauty, peace, and grace;

From them I learn your blessed will,

Through them I see your face.

Your words are perfected in one,

Yourself, the living Word;

Within my heart your image print

In clearest lines, O Lord.

PSALM 95:1-9

Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my ­people. (Jer 7:23)

What God’s voice tells us is the true story of his incredible love for us. No other storyteller, however gifted, can paint for us the full, living portrait of who we are and have been, and who we are becoming. Let us listen attentively, lest we forget and try to remake ourselves according to some other image.

Come, let us sing to the Lord

and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.

Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving

and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

The Lord is God, the mighty God,

the great king over all the gods.

He holds in his hands the depths of the earth

and the highest mountains as well.

He made the sea; it belongs to him,

the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.

Come, then, let us bow down and worship,

bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.

For he is our God and we are his people,

the flock he shepherds.

Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:

Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did

in the wilderness,

when at Meriba and Massah

they challenged me and provoked me,

although they had seen all of my works.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (James 1:22-25)

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does.

Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you,

O house of Israel.

(Jer 10:1)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” but not do what I command? (Lk 6:46)

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 speaks to us in every time and place. Let us pray for the gift of an open heart:

R/Today we hear your voice, O Lord.

You have spoken to us through your prophets:

– teach us to hear and heed your word. R/

You have spoken to us through your Son and Word:

– teach us to hear and love your word. R/

You have spoken to us through the teachers of your Church:

– teach us to hear and keep your word. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

O God, you have spoken your Word of love, your Son, into our world’s deafness. Open our ears to hear; open our hearts to heed; open our will to obey, that we may proclaim the Good News with our lives. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.