Evening Prayer: Monday 21 July 2025

Monday 21 July 2025

This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.

William Wilberforce, 1833
Week C

O God make speed to save us;
O Lord make haste to help us.

Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Search me out, O God, and know my heart;* try me and know my restless thoughts.
(Psalm 139.23)

Opening (from Psalm 139)

1. You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.

2. Indeed there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

3. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night’.

4. Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.

Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn

Psalm 58

1. Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers? *
Do you judge the peoples with equity?

2. No; you devise evil in your hearts, *
and your hands deal out violence in the land.

3. The wicked are perverse from the womb; *
liars go astray from their birth.

4. They are as venomous as a serpent, *
they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,

5. which does not heed the voice of the charmer, *
no matter how skillful the charming.

6. O God, break their teeth in their mouths; *
pull the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.

7. Let them vanish like water that runs off; *
let them wither like trodden grass.

8. Let them be like the snail that melts away, *
like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

9. Before they bear fruit, let them be cut down like a brier; *
like thorns and thistles let them be swept away.

10. The righteous will be glad when they see the vengeance; *
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11. And they will say, “Surely, there is a reward for the righteous; *
surely, there is a God who rules in the earth.”

Glory …

Psalm 60

1. O God, you have cast us off and broken us; *
you have been angry; oh, take us back to you again.

2. You have shaken the earth and split it open; *
repair the cracks in it, for it totters.

3. You have made your people know hardship; *
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.

4. You have set up a banner for those who fear you, *
to be a refuge from the power of the bow.

5. Save us by your mighty hand and answer us, *
that those who are dear to you may be delivered.

6. You spoke from your holy dwelling and said: *
“I will exult and parcel out Shechem; I will divide the valley of Succoth.

7. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine; *
Ephraim is my helmet and Judah my sceptre.

8. Moab is my wash basin, on Edom I throw down my sandal to claim it, *
and over Philistia will I shout in triumph.”

9. Who will lead me into the strong city? *
Who will bring me into Edom?

10. Have you not cast us off, O God? *
you no longer go out, O God, with our armies.

11. Grant us your help against the enemy, *
for vain is the help of mortals.

12. With you we will do valiant deeds, *
and you shall tread our enemies under foot.

Conclusion

A song of Pilgrimage

1. While I was still young, before I began my travels,*
I sought for wisdom openly in my prayers.

2. I asked for wisdom outside the temple sanctuary,*
and I will seek until the end.

3. Wisdom has been the delight of my heart,*
from first blossom to early fruit.

4. I have kept firmly to the true path;*
I have followed in wisdom’s steps since my youth.

5. I bowed my ear a little and received;*
I found wisdom and was well instructed.

6. Glory to the One who gives me wisdom!*
I will live according to God’s way.

7. From the beginning I gained understanding from the Lord;*
therefore I will never be deserted.

8. Because I longed to find wisdom with all my heart,*
I have gained a good possession.

9. As my reward the Lord has given me a tongue*
with which I shall sing God’s praises.

Glory …

Antiphon: Search me out, O God, and know my heart;* try me and know my restless thoughts.

READING(S)

Mark 4.1-20

"Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that “they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.”’ And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’"

Silence

Response Sirach 51.26

Buy wisdom without money, take wisdom’s yoke upon you.
Buy wisdom without money, take wisdom’s yoke upon you.
Let your souls receive instruction.
Take wisdom’s yoke upon you.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Buy wisdom without money, take wisdom’s yoke upon you.

SONG OF MARY

Song of Mary Antiphon: The Spirit of God fills the earth: * in Christ all is made new.

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)

Song of Mary Antiphon: The Spirit of God fills the earth: * in Christ all is made new.

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 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

O God of power and might,
all good things belong to you:
sow in our hearts the love of your name,
and make us grow in the life of faith;
nurture the things that are good,
and tend them with your loving care;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
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.