PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4)
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prayer for the Morning
Let Christ be in our minds and on our lips!
Let us sing songs 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
Jerusalem, my happy home,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?
Thy walls are made of precious stones,
Thy bulwarks diamonds square;
Thy gates are of right orient pearl;
Exceeding rich and rare;
Thy vineyards and thine orchards are
Most beautiful and fair,
Full furnishèd with trees and fruits,
Most wonderful and rare.
Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green:
There grow such sweet and pleasant flow’rs
As nowhere else are seen.
There’s nectar and ambrosia made,
There’s musk and civet sweet;
There many a fair and dainty plant
Is trodden under feet.
There cinnamon, there sugar grows,
Here nard and balm abound.
What tongue can tell or heart conceive
The joys that there are found?
PSALM 101
The Lord searches all hearts and understands all the mind’s thoughts. (1 Chr 28:9)
To cultivate the vineyard of our hearts in a healthy way, we must build suitable protective walls around it, like the vineyard owner. One strong wall is the habit of choosing to dwell on what is good, as Saint Paul recommends in the second reading. In this psalm, the faithful and the wicked who inhabit the inner house of the mind may be understood as the conflicting habits of thought that produce either nourishing fruit or only wild grapes.
My song is of mercy and justice;
I sing to you, O Lord.
I will walk in the way of perfection.
O when, Lord, will you come?
I will walk with blameless heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
whatever is base.
I will hate the ways of the crooked;
they shall not be my friends.
The false-hearted must keep far away;
the wicked I disown.
The man who slanders his neighbor in secret
I will bring to silence.
The man of proud looks and haughty heart
I will never endure.
I look to the faithful in the land
that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in the way of perfection
shall be my friend.
No man who practices deceit
shall live within my house.
No man who utters lies shall stand
before my eyes.
Morning by morning I will silence
all the wicked in the land,
uprooting from the city of the Lord
all who do evil.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Romans 2:15-16)
They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus.
Behold, I know your thoughts. (Jb 21:27)
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit. (Jn 15:5)
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
With Christ, let us pray:
R/Our song is of mercy and justice.
Purify our hearts,
– that we may think thoughts of peace. R/
Purify our minds,
– that we may think thoughts of truth. R/
Purify our tongues,
– that we may speak words of love. R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep Gospel thoughts in the hearts and minds of your people for ever, and direct their hearts toward you, through your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (cf. 1 Chr 29:18)
