Prayer for the Morning
How great is the Lord our God!
Come, let us give thanks and 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
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might,
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above,
Thy clouds which are fountains
of goodness and love.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render; O help us to see
’Tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.
PSALM 104:1-5, 33-34, 35b
Clouds hide him;/ he walks upon the vault of the heavens! (cf. Jb 22:14)
One dimension of God is mystery so awesome in its brightness that before it we are blinded. We imagine the God of mystery as dwelling far away, above and beyond the heavens he has made. Yet this same God of mystery dwells very near to us, in our midst, in Jesus Christ.
Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory,
wrapped in light as in a robe!
You stretch out the heavens like a tent.
Above the rains you build your dwelling.
You make the clouds your chariot,
you walk on the wings of the wind,
you make the winds your messengers
and flashing fire your servants.
You founded the earth on its base,
to stand firm from age to age.
I will sing to the Lord all my life,
make music to my God while I live.
May my thoughts be pleasing to him.
I find my joy in the Lord.
Bless the Lord, my soul.
Glory to the Father….
Word of God (Amos 9:6)
Ihave built heaven, my upper chamber,/ and established my vault over the earth;/ I summon the waters of the sea/ and pour them out upon the surface of the earth,/ I, the Lord by name.
He alone has immortality,
who dwells in unapproachable light,
and whom no human being has seen or can see.
(cf. 1 Tm 6:16)
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him. (Jn 1:18)
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
The Lord our God is concealed in fiery light and revealed in the human face of Jesus Christ. In awestruck love, we dare to say:
R/Blessed are you, O Lord our God!
You created the heavens and the earth and all they contain:
– reveal to all who seek you the beauty of your presence there. R/
You dwell in light inaccessible:
– deepen our hunger to know you, the one true God. R/
You make manifest your redeeming love in Word and Sacrament:
– make of us, your people, a credible sign of your presence and work. R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
O God of light and glory, you are the beauty we seek, the power to whom we entrust ourselves, the love for whom we hunger and thirst. Make yourself known to all people through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
