Prayer for the Morning
God gives life to all that lives:
come, let us return thanks and praise!
Glory to the Father…. Alleluia!
HYMN
God, when creation’s work was done,
Thy providence still labored on
Preserving all that thou hadst made
In beauteous majesty arrayed—
Without whom naught that is could be,
Unless both willed and kept by thee.
Thy rule extends to every place,
To stars in farthest realms of space,
Or nameless, trodden grain of sand:
Thou holdest all within thy hand.
The lowly sparrow, little worth,
Without thee cannot fall to earth.
The glories of earth, sea and sky
Thy pow’r and wisdom magnify;
The roseate dawn, the living breeze,
The flow’r-decked fields, the surging seas,
All sing in wordless song to thee,
To whom exist all things that be.
PSALM 104 (1a, 14-18, 33-34, 35b)
Do not worry and say, “What are we to eat?” or “What are we to drink?” or “What are we to wear?” (Mt 6:31)
God did not create the world only to abandon it to its own devices. He cares day by day for all that he has made, though we do not always recognize his hand at work.
Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord God, how great you are!
You make the grass grow for the cattle
and the plants to serve man’s needs,
that he may bring forth bread from the earth
and wine to cheer man’s heart;
oil, to make him glad
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
the cedars he planted on Lebanon;
there the birds build their nests:
on the tree-top the stork has her home.
The goats find a home on the mountains
and rabbits hide in the rocks.
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 (Matthew 6:26-30)
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
Is not life more than food and the body
more than clothing? (Mt 6:25)
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (cf. Mt 6:32)
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 trust in the love our heavenly Father has for us, we pray:
R/You are our life, O Lord!
You care for all the works of your hands:
– teach us to help and not to hinder your loving providence. R/
You feed and clothe all your children:
– forgive us the greediness that seeks to deprive others for our own benefit. R/
You provide for all the earth:
– grant us the wisdom to see and to serve your
purposes. R/
(Personal intentions)
Our Father….
Loving Father, you desire to feed, clothe, and shelter all your children. Forgive the sin that seeks to feed, to dress, and to live at the expense of those in need; grant the generosity that seeks to care for all that you have given, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
