Office of Readings
If the Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is observed, the complete texts may be found in the ‘Prayers’ section of the iBreviary. The ferial texts of the Saturday are given below:
INVITATORY
The Invitatory is said when this is the first ‘hour’ of the day.
Go to the Hymn
Go to the Psalmody
Lord, + open my lips.
– And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
The antiphon is repeated. In individual recitation, the antiphon may be said only at the beginning of the psalm; it need not be repeated after each strophe.
Go to Psalm 24
Go to Psalm 67
Go to Psalm 100
Psalm 95
A call to praise God
Encourage each other daily while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13).
Come, let us sing to the Lord *
and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving *
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
The Lord is God, the mighty God, *
the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth *
and the highest mountains as well.
He made the sea; it belongs to him, *
the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Come, then, let us bow down and worship, *
bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.
For he is our God and we are his people, *
the flock he shepherds.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Today, listen to the voice of the Lord: †
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did
in the wilderness, *
when at Meriba and Massah
they challenged me and provoked me, *
Although they had seen all of my works.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Forty years I endured that generation. *
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray
and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger, *
“They shall not enter into my rest.”
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Go to the Hymn
Psalm 24
The Lord’s entry into his temple
Christ opened heaven for us in the manhood he assumed (Saint Irenaeus).
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness, *
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas; *
on the waters he made it firm.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? *
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart, †
who desires not worthless things, *
who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbor.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord *
and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him, *
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
O gates, lift high your heads; †
grow higher, ancient doors. *
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Who is the king of glory? †
The Lord, the mighty, the valiant, *
the Lord, the valiant in war.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
O gates, lift high your heads; †
grow higher, ancient doors. *
Let him enter, the king of glory!
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Who is he, the king of glory? †
He, the Lord of armies, *
he is the king of glory.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Go to the Hymn
Psalm 67
People of all nations will worship the Lord
You must know that God is offering his salvation to all the world (Acts 28:28).
O God, be gracious and bless us *
and let your face shed its light upon us.
So will your ways be known upon earth *
and all nations learn your saving help.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Let the nations be glad and exult *
for you rule the world with justice.
With fairness you rule the peoples, *
you guide the nations on earth.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
The earth has yielded its fruit *
for God, our God, has blessed us.
May God still give us his blessing *
till the ends of the earth revere him.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Go to the Hymn
Psalm 100
The joyful song of those entering God’s temple
The Lord calls his ransomed people to sing songs of victory (Saint Athanasius).
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. †
Serve the Lord with gladness. *
Come before him, singing for joy.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Know that he, the Lord, is God. †
He made us, we belong to him, *
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Go within his gates, giving thanks. †
Enter his courts with songs of praise. *
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Indeed, how good is the Lord, †
eternal his merciful love. *
He is faithful from age to age.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Let us listen to the voice of God; let us enter into his rest.
If the Invitatory is not said, then the following is used:
God, + come to my assistance.
– Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
– as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
HYMN
Praise the Lord, ye heavens, adore him;
Praise him, angels in the height;
Sun and moon, rejoice before him;
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord for he has spoken;
Worlds his mighty voice obeyed;
Laws which never shall be broken,
For their guidance he has made.
Praise the Lord, for he is glorious,
Never shall his promise fail;
God has made his saints victorious,
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation;
Hosts on high his power proclaim;
Heaven and earth and all creation,
Praise and magnify his name.
Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto thee;
Young and old, thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heaven adore thee,
We would bow before thy throne;
As thine angels serve before thee,
So on earth thy will be done.
Tune: Austria 87.87 D
Music: Franz Josef Haydn, 1797
Text: Stanzas 1 and 2, Foundling Hospital Collection, c. 1801; stanza 3, Edward Osler, 1836
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 The Lord summons heaven and earth to witness his judgment on his people.
Psalm 50
Genuine love of God
I have come not to abolish the law but to bring it to perfection (Matthew 5:17).
I
The God of gods, the Lord, *
has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting. *
Out of Zion’s perfect beauty he shines.
Our God comes, he keeps silence no longer.
Before him fire devours, *
around him tempest rages.
He calls on the heavens and the earth *
to witness his judgment of his people.
“Summon before me my people *
who made covenant with me by sacrifice.”
The heavens proclaim his justice, *
for God himself is the judge.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. The Lord summons heaven and earth to witness his judgment on his people.
Ant. 2 Come to me in your distress, and I will save you.
II
“Listen, my people, I will speak; *
Israel, I will testify against you,
for I am God your God. *
I accuse you, lay the charge before you.
I find no fault with your sacrifices, *
your offerings are always before me.
I do not ask more bullocks from your farms, *
nor goats from among your herds.
For I own all the beasts of the forest, *
beasts in their thousands on my hills.
I know all the birds in the sky, *
all that moves in the field belongs to me.
Were I hungry, I would not tell you, *
for I own the world and all it holds.
Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, *
or drink the blood of goats?
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God *
and render him your votive offerings.
Call on me in the day of distress. *
I will free you and you shall honor me.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Come to me in your distress, and I will save you.
Ant. 3 A sacrifice of praise will give me glory.
III
But God says to the wicked:
“But how can you recite my commandments *
and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my law *
and throw my words to the winds,
you who see a thief and go with him; *
who throw in your lot with adulterers,
who unbridle your mouth for evil *
and whose tongue is plotting crime,
you who sit and malign your brother *
and slander your own mother’s son.
You do this, and should I keep silence? *
Do you think that I am like you?
Mark this, you who never think of God, *
lest I seize you and you cannot escape;
a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me *
and I will show God’s salvation to the upright.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, *
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, *
and will be for ever. Amen.
Psalm Prayer
Father, because Jesus, your servant, became obedient even unto death, his sacrifice was greater than all holocausts of old. Accept the sacrifice of praise we offer you through him, and may we show the effects of it in our lives by striving to do your will until our whole life becomes adoration in spirit and truth.
Ant. A sacrifice of praise will give me glory.
We are always praying earnestly for you.
– That you may have a deep knowledge of God’s will.
READINGS
FIRST READING
From the book of the prophet Malachi
3:1-24
The day of the Lord
Thus says the Lord God:
Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the Lord whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
But who will endure the day of his coming?
And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like the refiner’s fire,
or like the fuller’s lye.
He will sit refining and purifying [silver],
and he will purify the sons of Levi,
Refining them like gold or like silver
that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord.
Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem
will please the Lord,
as in days of old, as in years gone by.
I will draw near to you for judgment,
and I will be swift to bear witness
Against the sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers,
those who defraud the hired man of his wages,
Against those who defraud widows and orphans;
those who turn aside the stranger,
and those who do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Surely I, the Lord, do not change,
nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob.
Since the days of your fathers you have turned aside
from my statutes, and have not kept them.
Return to me, and I will return to you,
says the Lord of hosts.
Yet you say, “How must we return?”
Dare a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!
And you say, “How do we rob you?”
In tithes and in offerings!
You are indeed accursed,
for you, the whole nation, rob me.
Bring the whole tithe
into the storehouse,
That there may be food in my house,
and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts:
Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven,
to pour down blessing upon you without measure?
For your sake I will forbid the locust
to destroy your crops;
And the vine in the field will not be barren,
says the Lord of hosts.
Then all nations will call you blessed,
for you will be a delightful land,
says the Lord of hosts.
You have defied me in word, says the Lord,
yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”
You have said, “It is vain to serve God,
and what do we profit by keeping his command,
And going about in penitential dress
in awe of the Lord of hosts?
Rather must we call the proud blessed;
for indeed evildoers prosper,
and even tempt God with impunity.”
Then they who fear the Lord spoke with one another,
and the Lord listened attentively;
And a record book was written before him
of those who fear the Lord and trust in his name.
And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts,
my own special possession, on the day I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.
Then you will again see the distinction
between the just and the wicked;
Between him who serves God,
and him who does not serve him.
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the Lord of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays;
And you will gambol like calves out of the stall
and tread down the wicked;
They will become ashes under the soles of your feet,
on the day I take action, says the Lord of hosts.
Remember the law of Moses my servant,
which I enjoined him on Horeb,
The statutes and ordinances
for all Israel.
Lo, I will send you
Elijah, the prophet,
Before the day of the Lord comes,
the great and terrible day,
To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike
the land with doom.
RESPONSORY
Malachi 3:1; Luke 1:76
See I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me.
– The Lord whom you seek shall enter his temple;
the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, shall come.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
– The Lord whom you seek shall enter his temple;
the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, shall come.
SECOND READING
From the pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world of the Second Vatican Council
(Gaudium et spes, nn. 40, 45)
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last
The way in which the earthly and the heavenly city interpenetrate each other can be recognized only by faith; of a history always troubled by sin until the glory of the sons of God is fully revealed.
As she pursues her appointed goal of bringing salvation to men, the Church not only communicates the divine life to mankind but also in some measure reflects the light of that life over the whole world. She does this especially through her work of restoring and enhancing the dignity of the human person, of strengthening the fabric of human society, and of enriching the daily activity of men with a deeper meaning and importance. The Church believes that in this way she can make a great contribution, through individual members and the community as a whole, toward bringing a greater humanity to the family of man and to its history.
While the Church helps the world and herself receives much from the world, she has one object in view: the coming of God’s kingdom and the salvation of the whole human race. Every good that the people of God in the course of its earthly pilgrimage can confer on the family of men derives from the fact that the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation, revealing, and at the same time bringing into operation, the mystery of God’s love for man.
The Word of God, through whom all things were made, was himself made flesh so that as perfect man he might save all men and bring all things into unity. The Lord is the final end of human history, the point toward which the aspirations of history and civilization are moving, the focus of the human race, the joy of all hearts and the fulfillment of their desires. He it is whom the Father raised from the dead, lifted up on high and set at his right hand, appointing him judge of the living and the dead. In his Spirit we have been brought to life and gathered into unity, and so make our pilgrim way toward the goal of human history, a goal in complete harmony with the loving plan of God to make all things one in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on earth.
The Lord himself says: See, I am coming soon; I bring my recompense with me, to give to everyone what his deeds deserve. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
RESPONSORY
Acts 10:36; 4:12; 10:42
God sent his word
and proclaimed the good news of his peace
through Jesus Christ.
– He is Lord of all,
and there is no salvation in anyone else.
God appointed him to judge the living and the dead.
– He is Lord of all,
and there is no salvation in anyone else.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Let us pray.
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.
Or:
May your grace, O Lord, we pray,
at all times go before us and follow after
and make us always determined
to carry out good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.
ACCLAMATION
Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.
******
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