PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17)

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Prayer for the Morning

Let us offer to God a joyful sacrifice of 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

Christ, in whose passion once was sown

All virtue of all saints to be,

For the white field of these thine own

We praise the seed and sower, thee.

Thine was the first and holiest grain

To die and quicken and increase;

And then came these, and died again

That spring and harvest should not cease.

From thee the martyrs, we from those,

Each in thy grace’s measure, spring;

Their strength upon our weakness flows

And guides us to the goal we sing.

These were thy great ones: we, thy least,

One in desire and faith with them,

Called by the Lord to keep one feast,

Journey to one Jerusalem.

CANTICLE (Daniel 3:26, 39-41)

Through Christ let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. (cf. Heb 13:15)

The sacrifice which Saint Ignatius offered with joy was his own life, rendered to God in communion with Christ for the sake of the Church, which he loved and served with his whole being.

Blessed are you, and praiseworthy,

O Lord, the God of our fathers,

and glorious forever is your name.

With contrite heart and humble spirit

let us be received;

as though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks,

or thousands of fat lambs,

so let our sacrifice be in your presence today

as we follow you unreservedly;

for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

And now we follow you with our whole heart,

we fear you and we pray to you.

Glory to the Father….

Word of God (Romans 12:1-2)

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

You do not ask for holocaust and victim./

Instead, here am I.

(Ps 40:7c-8a)

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the limits of the earth. He who died in our place is the one object of my quest. (Saint Ignatius of Antioch)

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

Through the intercession of Saint Ignatius, we pray:

R/You are our light and our help, O Lord!

Fill us with the spirit of sacrifice which animates those who lay down their lives for the Gospel. R/

Strengthen us with the courage which sustains those who live their faith amid indifference and hostility. R/

Enliven us with the zeal which drives those who offer their lives in daily service to the mission of evangelization. R/

(Personal intentions)

Our Father….

O God of all the living, you called Saint Ignatius to offer his life as a living sacrifice of love through the power of Christ’s cross. Fill all your people with self-sacrificing love for the Gospel, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.