Saturday 19 April 2025 (other days)
Holy Saturday
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· Spoken Word · Donate · Tweet · Show QR codeMorning Prayer (Lauds)
If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.| INTRODUCTION |
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O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help 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.
| Hymn |
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Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us didst fast and pray,
Teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
And close by thee to stay.
As thou with Satan didst contend,
And didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
In thee to conquer sin.
As thirst and hunger thou didst bear,
So teach us, gracious Lord,
To die to self, and daily live
By thy most holy word.
And through these days of penitence,
And through thy Passiontide,
Yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus, with us abide.
Psalm 63 (64)
A prayer against enemies
They will mourn for him as for an only son, since it is the innocent one of the Lord who has been slain.
Listen, O God, to my voice;
keep me safe from fear of the enemy.
Protect me from the alliances of the wicked,
from the crowd of those who do evil.
They have sharpened their tongues like swords,
aimed poisonous words like arrows,
to shoot at the innocent in secret.
They will attack without warning, without fear,
for they are firm in their evil purpose.
They have set out to hide their snares
– for they say, “Who will see us?”
They have thought out plans to commit wicked deeds,
and they carry out what they have planned.
Truly the heart and soul of a man
are bottomless depths.
And God has shot them with his arrow:
in a moment, they are wounded –
their own tongues have brought them low.
All who see them will shake their heads;
all will behold them with fear
and proclaim the workings of God
and understand what he has done.
The just will rejoice and hope in the Lord:
the upright in heart will give him glory.
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.
They will mourn for him as for an only son, since it is the innocent one of the Lord who has been slain.
| Canticle | Isaiah 38 |
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The psalm of Hezekiah on recovering from sickness
Save my soul from the gates of hell, Lord.
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.
Save my soul from the gates of hell, Lord.
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord
I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of hell.
Praise the Lord in his sanctuary,
praise him in his mighty firmament.
Praise him for his mighty deeds,
praise him for all his greatness.
Praise him with trumpet-blasts,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with timbrel and dance,
praise him with strings and pipes,
praise him with cymbals resounding,
praise him with cymbals of jubilation.
All that breathes, praise 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.
I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of hell.
| Scripture Reading | Hosea 5:15-6:2 |
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The Lord says this: They will search for me in their misery. ‘Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence.’
| Short Responsory |
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Christ humbled himself for us and, in obedience, accepted death, even death on a cross. Therefore God raised him to the heights and gave him the name which is above all other names.
| Canticle | Benedictus |
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The Messiah and his forerunner
Save us, Saviour of the world. By your cross and the shedding of your blood you have redeemed us. Come to help us, Lord, our God.
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.
Save us, Saviour of the world. By your cross and the shedding of your blood you have redeemed us. Come to help us, Lord, our God.
| Prayers and intercessions |
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Let us pray to our Redeemer, who suffered for us, was buried, and rose from the dead.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, our Lord, you saw your mother standing by the cross;
may we share your saving passion in our time of suffering.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, our Saviour, you died like a grain of wheat falling into the ground;
gather us to yourself in the harvest of redemption.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, our shepherd, lying in the tomb you were hidden from men;
teach us to love our real life, which is hidden with you in God.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, the new Adam, you went down into the world of the dead to free the just;
may those who are dead in sin hear your voice and live.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
Son of the living God, we were buried with you in baptism;
let us rise with you, alive to God for ever.
– Lord, have mercy on us.
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, ever-living God,
whose Only-Begotten Son descended to the realm of the dead,
and rose from there to glory,
grant that your faithful people,
who were buried with him in baptism,
may, by his resurrection, obtain eternal life.
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 20 to 26 April
Easter joy as an engine for the soul. The Resurrection as a step forward, not back. Our own healing and our own resurrection. The Easter Alleluias. (17 minutes)
Episode notes.
You can also view this page in Latin and English.
