Teresa of Avila, Teacher of the Faith, 1582
Evening Prayer – Week A
O God, make speed to save us;
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!* you are clothed with majesty and splendour. (Ps. 104.1)
Opening (from Psalm 104)
1 You appointed the moon to mark the seasons,*
and the sun knows the time of its setting.
2 You make darkness that it may be night,*
in which all the beasts of the forest prowl.
3 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;*
may the Lord rejoice in all his works.
4 May these words of mine please him;*
I will rejoice in the Lord.
Glory to the Father…
or a suitable hymn
Psalm 18.21-50
21 The Lord rewarded me because of my righteous dealing;*
because my hands were clean he rewarded me;
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord*
and have not offended against my God;
23 For all his judgements are before my eyes,*
and his decrees I have not put away from me;
24 For I have been blameless with him*
and have kept myself from iniquity;
25 Therefore the Lord rewarded me according to my righteous dealing,*
because of the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
26 With the faithful you show yourself faithful, O God;*
with the forthright you show yourself forthright.
27 With the pure you show yourself pure,*
but with the crooked you are wily.
28 You will save a lowly people,*
but you will humble the haughty eyes.
29 You, O Lord, are my lamp;*
my God, you make my darkness bright.
30 With you I will break down an enclosure;*
with the help of my God I will scale any wall.
31 As for God, his ways are perfect;
the words of the Lord are tried in the fire;*
he is a shield to all who trust in him.
32 For who is God, but the Lord?*
who is the rock, except our God?
33 It is God who girds me about with strength*
and makes my way secure.
34 He makes me sure-footed like a deer*
and lets me stand firm on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for battle*
and my arms for bending even a bow of bronze.
36 You have given me your shield of victory;*
your right hand also sustains me;
your loving care makes me great.
37 You lengthen my stride beneath me,*
and my ankles do not give way.
38 I pursue my enemies and overtake them;*
I will not turn back till I have destroyed them.
39 I strike them down, and they cannot rise;*
they fall defeated at my feet.
40 You have girded me with strength for the battle;*
you have cast down my adversaries beneath me;
you have put my enemies to flight.
41 I destroy those who hate me;
they cry out, but there is none to help them;*
they cry to the Lord, but he does not answer.
42 I beat them small like dust before the wind;*
I trample them like mud in the streets.
43 You deliver me from the strife of the peoples;*
you put me at the head of the nations.
44 A people I have not known shall serve me;
no sooner shall they hear than they shall obey me;*
strangers will cringe before me.
45 The foreign peoples will lose heart;*
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Blessed is my rock!*
Exalted is the God of my salvation!
47 He is the God who gave me victory*
and cast down the peoples beneath me.
48 You rescued me from the fury of my enemies;
you exalted me above those who rose against me;*
you saved me from my deadly foe.
49 Therefore will I extol you among the nations, O Lord,*
and sing praises to your name.
50 He multiplies the victories of his king;*
he shows loving-kindness to his anointed,
to David and his descendants for ever.
Conclusion (from 1 John 4)
1 Beloved let us love one another,*
for love is of God;
2 And those who love are born of God*
and know God.
3 Those who do not love do not know God,*
for God is love.
4 In this the love of God was made manifest among us,*
that God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might live through him.
5 In this is love: not that we loved God,*
but that God loved us and sent his Son
to be the expiation for our sins.
6 Beloved, if God so loved us,*
we also ought to love one another.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!
you are clothed with majesty and splendour.
READING(S)
Matthew 10:34-42
‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’
Response (Ps. 119.105)
Your word is a lantern to my feet.
Your word is a lantern to my feet.
A light upon my path.
A lantern to my feet.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Your word is a lantern to my feet.
MAGNIFICAT
Magnificat Antiphon: Show, O Lord, the strength of your arm;* scatter the proud and exalt the lowly.
1 My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,*
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
2 for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant;*
from this day all generations will call me blessed.
3 The Almighty has done great things for me*
and holy is his name.
4 He has mercy on those who fear him*
in every generation.
5 He has shown the strength of his arm;*
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
6 He has cast down the mighty from their thrones*
and has lifted up the lowly.
7 He has filled the hungry with good things,*
and the rich he has sent away empty.
8 He has come to the help of his servant Israel,*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
9 the promise he made to our forebears,*
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)
Magnificat Antiphon: Show, O Lord, the strength of your arm;* scatter the proud and exalt the lowly.
PRAYERS
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Collect of the Day
Almighty God, in our baptism you adopted us for your own. Quicken, we pray, your Spirit within us, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!
The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing:
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
