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Morning Prayer (Lauds)

If you have already recited the Invitatory Psalm today, you should use the alternative opening.

Lord, open our lips.

And we shall praise your name.

Invitatory Psalm	Psalm 66 (67)

Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.

Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.

(repeat antiphon*)

O God, take pity on us and bless us,

and let your face shine upon us,

so that your ways may be known across the world,

and all nations learn of your salvation.

(repeat antiphon*)

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and rejoice,

for you judge the peoples with fairness

and you guide the nations of the earth.

(repeat antiphon*)

Let the peoples praise you, O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has produced its harvest:

may God, our God, bless us.

May God bless us,

may the whole world revere him.

(repeat antiphon*)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

(repeat antiphon*)

* If you are reciting this on your own, you can choose to say the antiphon once only at the start of the psalm and not repeat it.

Hymn

Creator of the earth and skies,

To whom the words of life belong,

Grant us thy truth to make us wise;

Grant us thy power to make us strong.

Like theirs of old, our life is death,

Our light is darkness, till we see

The eternal Word made flesh and breath,

The God who walked by Galilee.

We have not known thee: to the skies

Our monuments of folly soar,

And all our self-wrought miseries

Have made us trust ourselves the more.

We have not loved thee: far and wide

The wreckage of our hatred spreads,

And evils wrought by human pride

Recoil on unrepentant heads.

For this, our foolish confidence,

Our pride of knowledge and our sin,

We come to thee in penitence;

In us the work of grace begin.

Psalm 42 (43)
Longing for the temple

Lord, send forth your light and your truth.

Vindicate me, Lord:

judge my case against an unholy nation,

rescue me from betrayers, from the wicked.

For you are the God of my refuge;

why have you rejected me?

why must I suffer while my enemies torment me?

Send forth your light and your truth;

let them lead me away,

let them lead me up your holy mountain,

up to your sanctuary.

I shall go in to the altar of God,

to the God of my gladness and joy.

I will sing out to you on the lyre,

O God, my God.

Why are you so sad, my soul,

and anxious within me?

Put your hope in the Lord, I will praise him still,

my saviour and my God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord, send forth your light and your truth.

Canticle	Isaiah 38

The psalm of Hezekiah on recovering from sickness

Lord, come to our help all the days of our life.

I said, in the middle of my days

I am going to the gates of the underworld.

Where shall I find the remainder of my years?

I said, I will not see the Lord God in the land of the living,

I will never see another of the inhabitants of the earth.

My dwelling-place is taken away, taken far away from me,

like the tent of a shepherd.

Like a weaver, he has rolled up my life

and cut it off from the loom.

From morning to night,

you have made an end of me.

I cried for help till daybreak;

like a lion, he has crushed all my bones.

From morning to night,

you have made an end of me.

I twitter like a fledgling sparrow,

make noises like a dove.

My eyes are weak

from looking upward.

But you have pulled my soul out of the pit of destruction,

you have put all my sins behind you.

For after all, the underworld will not proclaim you,

nor death praise you;

those who go down there

do not wait in hope for your faithfulness.

It is the living, the living who will proclaim you,

as I do today.

Fathers will pass on to their children

the truth of your faithfulness.

Save me, Lord,

and to the sound of the harp we will sing to you,

all the days of our life,

in the house of the Lord.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord, come to our help all the days of our life.

Psalm 64 (65)
A solemn thanksgiving

To you our praise is due in Sion, O God.†

To you we owe praise, O God, in Zion;

to you we will fulfil our vows, in Jerusalem.

It is you who answer prayers:

to you must all men come,

because we are sinners;

even if our transgressions overwhelm us,

you will blot them out.

Blessed is the man you have taken up and chosen:

he will live within your halls.

We shall be filled with the good things of your house,

with the holiness of your temple.

Marvellous is the justice with which you listen to us,

God of our salvation,

hope of all the earth and far-off coasts.

You make firm the mountains in their place,

clothed in your power and might.

You make still the roaring of the sea,

the crash of its waves; and the tumult of the peoples.

Those who live at the ends of the earth

will tremble at your wonders.

You will fill the east and the west with joy.

You have come to the earth, you have filled it,

saturated it with fruitfulness.

The river of God is filled with water,

as you prepare the harvest:

for thus you have prepared the land,

watering its furrows,

smoothing its roughnesses,

softening it with showers,

blessing the seeds within it.

You have crowned the year with your kindness.

Your footsteps will drip with fruitfulness.

The desert pastures will be soaked,

the hills will be wrapped in rejoicing.

The fields will be clothed with flocks,

the vales overflow with corn.

They will cry out, and sing your praise.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

To you our praise is due in Sion, O God.

Scripture Reading	Joel 2:12-13

Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning. Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent.

Short Responsory

It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.

– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.

And from the evil word.

– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

– It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.

Canticle	Benedictus

The Messiah and his forerunner

You have only one Teacher, who is in heaven, Christ the Lord.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption.

He has raised up the sign of salvation

in the house of his servant David,

as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones,

his prophets through the ages:

to rescue us from our enemies

and all who hate us,

to take pity on our fathers,

to remember his holy covenant

and the oath he swore to Abraham our father,

that he would give himself to us,

that we could serve him without fear

– freed from the hands of our enemies –

in uprightness and holiness before him,

for all of our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High:

for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path,

to let his people know their salvation,

so that their sins may be forgiven.

Through the bottomless mercy of our God,

one born on high will visit us

to give light to those who walk in darkness,

who live in the shadow of death;

to lead our feet in the path of peace.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

You have only one Teacher, who is in heaven, Christ the Lord.

Prayers and intercessions

Let us pray to God the Father, who gave his own Son, the Word made flesh, to be our bread of life.