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Saturday 22 March 2025    (other days)
Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent 

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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 PsalmPsalm 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 91 (92)
Praise of God, the Creator

Lord, we proclaim your love in the morning and your truth in the watches of the night.
It is good to praise the Lord,
  and to sing psalms to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your mercy in the morning
  and your faithfulness by night;
on the ten-stringed lyre and the harp,
  with songs upon the lyre.
For you give me joy, Lord, in your creation:
  I rejoice in the work of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord,
  how immeasurably deep your thoughts.
The fool does not hear,
  the slow-witted do not understand.
When the wicked sprout up like grass,
  and the doers of evil are in full bloom,
it will come to nothing, for they will perish for ever and ever;
  but you, Lord, are the Highest eternally.
For behold, Lord, your enemies, how your enemies will perish,
  how wrongdoers will be scattered.
You will give me strength as the wild oxen have;
  I have been anointed with the purest oil.
I will look down upon my enemies,
  and hear the plans of those who plot evil against me.
The just will flourish like the palm tree,
  grow tall like the cedar of Lebanon.
They will be planted in the house of the Lord;
  in the courts of our God they will flourish.
They will bear fruit even when old,
  fresh and luxuriant through all their days.
They will proclaim how just is the Lord, my refuge,
  for in him there is no unrighteousness.
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, we proclaim your love in the morning and your truth in the watches of the night.

How to listen
CanticleDeuteronomy 32

The things God has done for his people

Proclaim the greatness of our God.
Listen, heavens to what I say;
  earth, hear the words of my mouth!
Let my teaching fall like the rain,
  my speech descend like the dew,
  like a shower on the grass,
  like rain on the wheat.
For I shall call on the name of the Lord:
  give praise to the greatness of our God!
His works are like a rock: they are perfect,
  for all his ways are just.
God is faithful, he can do no wrong:
  he is just and upright.
They have sinned against him, they are no children of his –
  this filthy generation, wicked and perverse.
Is this how you repay the Lord,
  you foolish and witless people?
Is he not your father, who took charge of you,
  created you and made you exist?
Remember the days of old: think upon each generation.
Ask your father and he will tell you;
  ask your ancestors, and they will let you know.
When the Most High divided the peoples,
  when he was separating the children of Adam,
he laid down the boundaries of the people
  according to the number of the children of Israel:
the Lord’s own portion was his people,
  Jacob the measure of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror,
  in the howling wilderness.
He protected him, looked after him,
  guarded him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle teaching its chicks to fly, hovering close above them,
  he spread out his wings and lifted him up,
  carried him on his back.
The Lord alone led Jacob; no foreign god was with him.
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.
Proclaim the greatness of our God.

Psalm 8
The greatness of God, the dignity of man

How great is your name, Lord, through all the earth.
How wonderful is your name over all the earth,
  O Lord, our Lord!
How exalted is your glory
  above the sky!
Out of the mouths of children and infants you have brought praise,
  to confound your enemies, to destroy your vengeful foes.
When I see the heavens, the work of your fingers,
  the moon and stars, which you set in their place –
what is man, that you should take thought for him?
  what is the son of man, that you should look after him?
You have made him but one step lower than the angels;
  you have crowned him with glory and honour;
  you have set him over the works of your hands.
You have put everything beneath his feet,
  cattle and sheep and the beasts of the field,
the birds in the air and the fish in the sea,
  whatever passes along the paths of the waters.
How wonderful is your name above all the earth,
  O Lord, our 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.
How great is your name, Lord, through all the earth.
Scripture ReadingIsaiah 1:16-18
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us talk this over, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
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.
CanticleBenedictus

The Messiah and his forerunner

Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.
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.
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.
Prayers and intercessions
Let us give thanks always to Christ, our Saviour, and pray to him with confidence.
– Lord, help us by your grace.
Lord, may we keep our bodies free from sin;
  may the Holy Spirit dwell within us.
– Lord, help us by your grace.
Teach us to offer ourselves this morning for our fellow men,
  and strengthen us to do your will throughout the day.
– Lord, help us by your grace.
Grant that we may hunger for the food of eternal life;
  give us the bread of your word and your body.
– Lord, help us by your grace.
May your Mother, the refuge of sinners, intercede for us;
  through her prayers forgive us in your mercy.
– Lord, help us by your grace.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
  hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
  Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
  and forgive us our trespasses,
  as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
  but deliver us from evil.
Almighty God, whose healing grace even here on earth
  brings us the gifts of heaven,
guide us in this present life
  and lead us to that light in which you have your dwelling.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
  Amen.

The psalms and canticles here are our own translation from the Latin. The Grail translation of the psalms, which is used liturgically in most of the English-speaking world, cannot be displayed on the Web for copyright reasons. The Universalis apps and programs do contain the Grail translation of the psalms.

Universalis podcast: The week ahead – from 23 to 29 March

The Liturgy of the Hours: how to do psalms, and the origin of the psalm-prayers. How to get the psalm-prayers in Universalis. The Annunciation; the namelessness of God; St Etheldreda’s and the tax-collectors. An example of justice. (18 minutes)
Episode notes.

You can also view this page in Latin and English.

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