Morning Prayer (Lauds)
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.
A suitable hymn may be inserted here.
Psalm 107 (108)
Praise of the Lord and a plea for help |
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My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
My heart is ready, O God –
my heart is ready.
I shall sing and make music.
Awake, my glory!
Rise up, harp and lyre!
We will awaken the dawn.
I will proclaim you to the peoples, O Lord,
sing of you to the nations:
for your kindness is great, it reaches the heavens;
great is your faithfulness, high as the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory stretch over the earth.
Give deliverance to your beloved,
let your right hand bring safety – answer my prayer!
God has spoken from his holy place:
“I shall triumph, dividing Shechem,
measuring off the vale of Succoth.
Mine is Gilead, mine is Manasseh;
Ephraim my helmet, Judah my sceptre.
But Moab shall be my wash-basin,
on Edom I will place my sandal;
I will cry in triumph over the Philistine.”
Who shall lead me to the fortified city?
Who shall lead me to Edom?
Surely you, God – although you rejected us.
Will you not come out, O God, with our armies?
Give us help in our troubles,
for vain is the help of man.
With God we shall triumph –
he will trample our enemies.
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.
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.
| The prophet rejoices over the new Jerusalem |
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The Lord has clothed me in the garments of salvation.
I will rejoice with joy in the Lord,
and my spirit shall be joyful in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation
and wrapped me round with the robe of justice,
like a bridegroom decked with a crown,
like a bride adorned with her jewels.
Just as the earth sends up its shoots,
and the garden makes its seeds to sprout,
so the Lord God will make justice spring up
and praise before all the nations.
For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,
for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still
until her justice comes forth as brightness,
and her salvation is lit up like a torch.
And the Gentiles shall see your justice,
and all the kings see your glory.
You shall be called by a new name,
chosen by the mouth of the Lord.
You shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
No longer called “Forsaken,”
your land no longer called “Desolate,”
you will be called “My pleasure in her,”
and your land “The Wedded”;
for the Lord has been well pleased with you,
and your land will receive its bridegroom.
For as a young man takes a virgin to wife,
so will your sons take you;
and as a husband takes joy in his spouse,
so your God will rejoice at you.
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.
The Lord has clothed me in the garments of salvation.
Psalm 145 (146)
The blessedness of those who hope in the Lord |
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I will praise my God as long as I live.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life,
make music to my God as long as I exist.
Do not trust in princes to save you,
they are only sons of men.
One day their breath will leave them, they will return to the ground;
on that day perish all their plans.
Happy the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth and all that is in them,
who keeps faith for ever,
who gives justice to the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord frees prisoners,
he gives light to the blind,
he raises the fallen.
The Lord loves the upright, cares for strangers,
sustains orphans and widows;
but the wicked he sends astray.
The Lord will reign for all ages,
your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.
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.
I will praise my God as long as I live.
| Short reading | Deuteronomy 7:6,8-9 © |
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It is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the earth. It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know then that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who is true to his covenant and his graciousness for a thousand generations towards those who love him and keep his commandments.
He himself will free me from the hunter’s snare.
– He himself will free me from the hunter’s snare.
And from evil slander.
– He himself will free me from the hunter’s snare.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– He himself will free me from the hunter’s snare.
| The Messiah and his forerunner |
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I tell you most solemnly, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life.
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.
I tell you most solemnly, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life.
| Prayers and Intercessions | |
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Let us give thanks to God the Father, who fills our hearts with the Holy Spirit and thus purifies them and makes them steadfast in love:
– Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.
Grant that we may receive good things from your hands with gratitude
and accept the bad things with patience.
– Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.
Although we long to perform grand and magnificent acts of love,
may we still take all the tiny opportunities for love that each day brings.
– Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.
Give us the gift of abstaining from excess,
so that we can give more to our poorer brethren.
– Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.
May we carry your Son’s death around in our bodies:
for through his body you have given us life.
– Lord, give us your Holy Spirit.
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.
O God, you give the just the reward that their merits deserve
and to sinners you give forgiveness gained by their penitence.
Take pity on those who make their prayers to you:
may the confession of their guilt
make them worthy to receive pardon for their transgressions.
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.
May the Lord bless us and keep us from all harm; and may he lead us to eternal life.
A M E N
The psalms and canticles here are our own translation. 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 downloadable versions of Universalis do contain the Grail translation of the psalms.
