Evening Prayer: Thursday 15 May 2025

Thursday 15 May 2025

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

Thursday after Fourth Sunday after Easter
Easter

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: With you is the well of life,* and in your light we see light.
(Psalm 36.9)

Opening (from (Psalm 36))

1. Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,*
and your faithfulness to the clouds.

2. Your righteousness is like the strong mountains, your justice like the great deep;*
you save both man and beast, O Lord.

3. How priceless is your love, O God!*
your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

4. They feast upon the abundance of your house;*
you give them drink from the river of your delights.

Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn

Psalm 40

1. I waited patiently upon the Lord *
who stooped to me and heard my cry.

2. God lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay, *
and set my feet on a high cliff and made my footing sure.

3. God put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; *
many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord.

4. Happy are they who trust in the Lord! *
they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.

5. Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! how great your wonders and your plans for us!
There is none who can be compared with you. *
Oh, that I could make them known and tell them, but they are more than I can count.

6. In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure *
(you have given me ears to hear you); burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required.

7. And so I said, “Behold, I come. *
In the roll of the book it is written concerning me:

8. ‘I love to do your will, O my God; *
your law is deep within my heart.’”

9. I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; *
behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O Lord, you know

10. Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; *
I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.

11. You are the Lord; do not withhold your compassion from me; *
let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever.
12. For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; *
they are more in number than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails me.

13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; *
O Lord, make haste to help me.

14. Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it; *
let them draw back and be disgraced who take pleasure in my misfortune.

15. Let those who say “Aha!” and gloat over me be confounded, *
because they are ashamed.

16. Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad; *
let those who love your salvation continually say, “Great is the Lord!”

17. Though I am poor and afflicted, *the Lord will have regard for me.
You are my helper and my deliverer; *do not tarry, O my God.

Glory …

Conclusion

Colossians 1

1. Give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;*
he has delivered us from the dominion of darkness.

2. He has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,*
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

3. He is the image of the invisible God,*
the first-born of all creation.

4. For in him all things were created,*
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

5 He is the head of the body, the church;*
he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead.

6. In him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,*
to reconcile all things to himself, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Glory …

Antiphon: With you is the well of life,* and in your light we see light.

READING(S)

Matthew 24.15-31

‘So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; someone on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; someone in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, “Look! Here is the Messiah!” or “There he is!”—do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, “Look! He is in the wilderness”, do not go out. If they say, “Look! He is in the inner rooms”, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. ‘Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Silence

Response (Psalm 30.1)

I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up; alleluia, alleluia.
I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up; alleluia, alleluia.
You have not let my enemies triumph over me.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up; alleluia, alleluia.

SONG OF MARY

Song of Mary Antiphon: I am the resurrection* and the life, says the Lord; alleluia!

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: I am the resurrection* and the life, says the Lord; alleluia!

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,
the light of whose truth stretches out to those who go astray,
that they may return to the path of righteousness:
give your grace to all who profess themselves Christians,
that they may cast out what is harmful,
and pursue all that gives life;
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.