PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13)
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prayer for the Morning
Jesus Christ is God’s peace: come, let us 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
Though unseen, O Lord, I love thee,
Wondrous is thy saving might,
Thus to wean my soul so sweetly
From its sinful chief delight:
More thou did in one short instant
Than a world could e’er have done,
Winning thee a happy dwelling
In this sterile heart of stone.
PSALM 37:3-9
Wrath and anger are hateful things,/ yet the sinner hugs them tight. (Sir 27:30)
Anger is a spontaneous emotional response to injury. To deny that we sometimes feel angry when offended is foolish and harmful. However, to nurse our anger is to harden our hearts so that we shut ourselves out of the life of love that animates Christ’s body and delights the human spirit.
If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.
Commit your life to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon-day sun.
Be still before the Lord and wait in patience;
do not fret at the man who prospers;
a man who makes evil plots
to bring down the needy and the poor.
Calm your anger and forget your rage;
do not fret, it only leads to evil.
For those who do evil shall perish;
the patient shall inherit the land.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Ephesians 4:31-32)
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. [And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
Bear with one another and forgive one another,
if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
(cf. Col 3:13)
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
See that no one returns evil for evil; rather, always seek what is good [both] for each other and for all. (1 Thes 5:15)
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
In the spirit of Christ, our peace, let us pray:
R/Have mercy, Lord our God!
For those who have angered us:
– grant them peace, we pray. R/
For those who have harmed our loved ones:
– grant them your forgiveness and ours, we pray. R/
For those whose hearts are hardened against forgiving:
– grant them healing, we pray. R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
God of mercy and compassion, you have forgiven us our sins through the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we remember with special gratitude on this holy day of worship. Remake our own hearts in his likeness, that we may forgive and love all those who offend us, as you have forgiven and loved us through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
