Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
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. Alleluia.

A suitable hymn may be inserted at this point.

Psalm 43 (44)
In time of defeat
Our own ears have heard, O God, and our fathers have proclaimed it to us, what you did in their days, the days of old: how with your own hand you swept aside the nations and put us in their place, struck them down to make room for us. It was not by their own swords that our fathers took over the land, it was not their own strength that gave them victory; but your hand and your strength, the light of your face, for you were pleased in them. You are my God and my king, who take care for the safety of Jacob. Through you we cast down your enemies; in your name we crushed those who rose against us. I will not put my hopes in my bow, my sword will not bring me to safety; for it was you who saved us from our afflictions, you who set confusion among those who hated us. We will glory in the Lord all the day, and proclaim your name for all ages. 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.

Psalm 43 (44)

In time of defeat

Our own ears have heard, O God,
and our fathers have proclaimed it to us,
what you did in their days, the days of old:
how with your own hand you swept aside the nations
and put us in their place,
struck them down to make room for us.

It was not by their own swords that our fathers took over the land,
it was not their own strength that gave them victory;
but your hand and your strength,
the light of your face,
for you were pleased in them.

You are my God and my king,
who take care for the safety of Jacob.
Through you we cast down your enemies;
in your name we crushed those who rose against us.

I will not put my hopes in my bow,
my sword will not bring me to safety;
for it was you who saved us from our afflictions,
you who set confusion among those who hated us.
We will glory in the Lord all the day,
and proclaim your name for all ages.

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.

Psalm 43 (44)
But now, God, you have spurned us and confounded us, so that we must go into battle without you. You have put us to flight in the sight of our enemies, and those who hate us plunder us at will. You have handed us over like sheep sold for food, you have scattered us among the nations. You have sold your people for no money, not even profiting by the exchange. You have made us the laughing-stock of our neighbours, mocked and derided by those who surround us. The nations have made us a by-word, the peoples toss their heads in scorn. All the day I am ashamed, I blush with shame as they reproach me and revile me, my enemies and my persecutors. 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.

Psalm 43 (44)

But now, God, you have spurned us and confounded us,
so that we must go into battle without you.
You have put us to flight in the sight of our enemies,
and those who hate us plunder us at will.
You have handed us over like sheep sold for food,
you have scattered us among the nations.

You have sold your people for no money,
not even profiting by the exchange.
You have made us the laughing-stock of our neighbours,
mocked and derided by those who surround us.
The nations have made us a by-word,
the peoples toss their heads in scorn.

All the day I am ashamed,
I blush with shame
as they reproach me and revile me,
my enemies and my persecutors.

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.

Psalm 43 (44)
All this happened to us, but not because we had forgotten you. We were not disloyal to your covenant; our hearts did not turn away; our steps did not wander from your path; and yet you brought us low, with horrors all about us: you overwhelmed us in the shadows of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God, if we had spread out our hands before an alien god — would God not have known? He knows what is hidden in our hearts. It is for your sake that we face death all the day, that we are reckoned as sheep to be slaughtered. Awake, Lord, why do you sleep? Rise up, do not always reject us. Why do you turn away your face? How can you forget our poverty and our tribulation? Our souls are crushed into the dust, our bodies dragged down to the earth. Rise up, Lord, and help us. In your mercy, redeem us. 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.

Psalm 43 (44)

All this happened to us,
but not because we had forgotten you.
We were not disloyal to your covenant;
our hearts did not turn away;
our steps did not wander from your path;
and yet you brought us low,
with horrors all about us:
you overwhelmed us in the shadows of death.

If we had forgotten the name of our God,
if we had spread out our hands before an alien god —
would God not have known? He knows what is hidden in our hearts.
It is for your sake that we face death all the day,
that we are reckoned as sheep to be slaughtered.

Awake, Lord, why do you sleep?
Rise up, do not always reject us.
Why do you turn away your face?
How can you forget our poverty and our tribulation?

Our souls are crushed into the dust,
our bodies dragged down to the earth.
Rise up, Lord, and help us.
In your mercy, redeem us.

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.

Reading	Isaiah 62:1-12 ©
About Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch. The nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer. You are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land ‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’; for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding. Like a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you. On your walls, Jerusalem, I set watchmen. Day or night they must never be silent. You who keep the Lord mindful must take no rest. Nor let him take rest till he has restored Jerusalem, and made her the boast of the earth. The Lord has sworn it by his right hand and by his mighty arm: Never again shall I give your corn to feed your enemies. Never again will foreigners drink your wine that you laboured for. But those who gather the harvest will eat it and praise the Lord. Those who gathered the grapes will drink in the courts of my sanctuary. Pass through, pass through the gates. Make a way for the people. Bank up, bank up the highway, clear it of stones. Hoist the signal for the peoples. This the Lord proclaims to the ends of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your saviour comes, the prize of his victory with him, his trophies before him.’ They shall be called ‘The Holy People’, ‘the Lord’s Redeemed.’ And you shall be called ‘The-sought-after’, ‘City-not-forsaken.’

Reading

Isaiah 62:1-12 ©

About Zion I will not be silent,
about Jerusalem I will not grow weary,
until her integrity shines out like the dawn
and her salvation flames like a torch.

The nations then will see your integrity,
all the kings your glory,
and you will be called by a new name,
one which the mouth of the Lord will confer.
You are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord,
a princely diadem in the hand of your God;

no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’,
nor your land ‘Abandoned’,
but you shall be called ‘My Delight’
and your land ‘The Wedded’;
for the Lord takes delight in you
and your land will have its wedding.

Like a young man marrying a virgin,
so will the one who built you wed you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
so will your God rejoice in you.

On your walls, Jerusalem,
I set watchmen.
Day or night
they must never be silent.

You who keep the Lord mindful
must take no rest.
Nor let him take rest
till he has restored Jerusalem,
and made her
the boast of the earth.

The Lord has sworn it by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
Never again shall I give your corn
to feed your enemies.
Never again will foreigners drink your wine
that you laboured for.

But those who gather the harvest will eat it
and praise the Lord.
Those who gathered the grapes will drink
in the courts of my sanctuary.

Pass through, pass through the gates.
Make a way for the people.
Bank up, bank up the highway,
clear it of stones.
Hoist the signal for the peoples.

This the Lord proclaims
to the ends of the earth:

Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Look,
your saviour comes,
the prize of his victory with him,
his trophies before him.’
They shall be called ‘The Holy People’,
‘the Lord’s Redeemed.’
And you shall be called ‘The-sought-after’,
‘City-not-forsaken.’

Reading	A discourse on the Theophany by psudo-Hippolytus
Water and the Spirit
That Jesus should come and be baptized by John is surely cause for amazement. To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed in a poor little stream of the eternal, the unfathomable fountainhead that gives life to all men being immersed in the shallow waters of this transient world! He who fills all creation, leaving no place devoid of his presence, he who is incomprehensible to the angels and hidden from the sight of man, came to be baptized because it was his will. And behold, the heavens opened and a voice said: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The beloved Father begets love, and the immaterial Light generates light inaccessible. This is he who was called the son of Joseph and in his divine nature is my only Son. This is my beloved Son. Though hungry himself, he feeds thousands; though weary, he refreshes those who labour. He has no place to lay his head yet he holds all creation in his hand. By his suffering he heals all sufferings; by receiving a blow on the cheek he gives the world its liberty; by being pierced in the side he heals the wound in Adam’s side. And now, please pay close attention, for I want to return to that fountain of life and contemplate its healing waters as they gush out. The Father of immortality sent his immortal Son and Word into the world, to come to us men and cleanse us with water and the Spirit. To give us a new birth that would make our bodies and souls immortal, he breathed into us the spirit of life and armed us with incorruptibility. Now if we become immortal, we shall also be divine; and if we become divine after rebirth in baptism through water and the Holy Spirit, we shall also be heirs along with Christ, after the resurrection of the dead. So I cry out, like a herald: Let peoples of every nation come and receive the immortality that flows from baptism. This is the water that is linked to the Spirit, the water that irrigates Paradise, makes the earth fertile, gives growth to plants, and brings forth living creatures. In short, this is the water by which a man receives new birth and life, the water in which even Christ was baptized, the water into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude and becomes an adopted son. He comes up from baptism resplendent as the sun and radiating purity and, above all, he comes as a son of God and a co-heir with Christ. To him be glory and power, to him and his most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, both now and for ever. Amen.

Reading

A discourse on the Theophany by psudo-Hippolytus

Water and the Spirit

That Jesus should come and be baptized by John is surely cause for amazement. To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed in a poor little stream of the eternal, the unfathomable fountainhead that gives life to all men being immersed in the shallow waters of this transient world!
He who fills all creation, leaving no place devoid of his presence, he who is incomprehensible to the angels and hidden from the sight of man, came to be baptized because it was his will. And behold, the heavens opened and a voice said: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
The beloved Father begets love, and the immaterial Light generates light inaccessible. This is he who was called the son of Joseph and in his divine nature is my only Son.
This is my beloved Son. Though hungry himself, he feeds thousands; though weary, he refreshes those who labour. He has no place to lay his head yet he holds all creation in his hand. By his suffering he heals all sufferings; by receiving a blow on the cheek he gives the world its liberty; by being pierced in the side he heals the wound in Adam’s side.
And now, please pay close attention, for I want to return to that fountain of life and contemplate its healing waters as they gush out.
The Father of immortality sent his immortal Son and Word into the world, to come to us men and cleanse us with water and the Spirit. To give us a new birth that would make our bodies and souls immortal, he breathed into us the spirit of life and armed us with incorruptibility. Now if we become immortal, we shall also be divine; and if we become divine after rebirth in baptism through water and the Holy Spirit, we shall also be heirs along with Christ, after the resurrection of the dead.
So I cry out, like a herald: Let peoples of every nation come and receive the immortality that flows from baptism. This is the water that is linked to the Spirit, the water that irrigates Paradise, makes the earth fertile, gives growth to plants, and brings forth living creatures. In short, this is the water by which a man receives new birth and life, the water in which even Christ was baptized, the water into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.
Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude and becomes an adopted son. He comes up from baptism resplendent as the sun and radiating purity and, above all, he comes as a son of God and a co-heir with Christ.
To him be glory and power, to him and his most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, both now and for ever. Amen.

Concluding Prayer
O God, your only-begotten Son appeared in our human form. We have seen him sharing our outward likeness: grant, we pray you, that we may be inwardly transformed to resemble him. He lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

January 2009
Tue 6	The Epiphany of the Lord Solemnity
Wed 7	7 January or Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Priest
Thu 8	8 January
Fri 9	9 January
Sat 10	10 January
Sun 11	The Baptism of the Lord Feast
Mon 12	Monday of week 1 of the year
Tue 13	Tuesday of week 1 of the year or Saint Hilary, Bishop, Doctor
Wed 14

Calendar used: General Calendar

Scripture readings taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. For on-line information about other Random House, Inc. books and authors, see the Internet web site at http://www.randomhouse.com.

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