PRAYER FOR THIS MORNING (THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10)

Our Lady of Loreto

Prayer for the Morning

The Lord fulfills his promises:

let us place all our hope in him.

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

I’ll sing a hymn to Mary

The Mother of my God,

The Virgin of all virgins,

Of David’s Royal blood.

O teach me, holy Mary,

A loving song to frame,

When wicked men blaspheme thee,

To love and bless thy name.

O Lily of the Valley,

O mystic Rose what tree

Or flower, e’en the fairest,

Is half so fair as thee?

O let me, though so lowly,

Recite my Mother’s fame:

When wicked men blaspheme thee,

I’ll love and bless thy name.

O noble Tower of David,

Of gold and ivory,

The Ark of God’s Own promise,

The Gate of Heaven to me;

To live, and not to love thee,

Would fill my soul with shame:

When wicked men blaspheme thee,

I’ll love and bless thy name.

When troubles dark afflict me,

In sorrow and in care,

Thy light doth ever guide me,

O beauteous Morning Star.

So I’ll be ever ready

Thy goodly help to claim,

When wicked men blaspheme thee,

I’ll love and bless thy name.

PSALM 84:2-6, 11

I am going to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)

“Since the Middle Ages veneration for the Holy House of Loreto has been the origin of that particular shrine which still today is visited by many faithful pilgrims in order to nourish their faith in the Word of God made flesh for us. This shrine recalls the mystery of the Incarnation, leading all those who visit it to consider ‘the fullness of time,’ when God sent his Son, born of a woman.” (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments)

How lovely is your dwelling place,

Lord, God of hosts.

My soul is longing and yearning,

is yearning for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my soul ring out their joy

to God, the living God.

The sparrow herself finds a home

and the swallow a nest for her brood;

she lays her young by your altars,

Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

They are happy, who dwell in your house,

for ever singing your praise.

They are happy, whose strength is in you,

in whose hearts are the roads to Zion.

One day within your courts

is better than a thousand elsewhere.

The threshold of the house of God

I prefer to the dwellings of the wicked.

Glory to the Father…

Word of God (Luke 2:51–52)

He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God:

that we may be made worthy

of the promises of Christ.

Canticle of Zechariah

The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall call him Immanuel (Is 7:14)

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

Let us rely with great confidence on the intercession of the Mother of God:

R/Mother of fair love, help your children!

Mother of Christ, pray for all who seek to follow your Son,

– that they may be united with him for all eternity. R/

Mother of the Church, pray for all members of your Son’s Mystical Body,

– that they may be always united in charity and truth. R/

Mother of Divine Grace, pray for poor sinners,

– that the divine assistance may lead them to true sanctity. R/

Personal intentions

Our Father…

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord God, that we, your servants, may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body; and by the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may be delivered from present sorrow, and obtain eternal joy. Through Christ our Lord.