Morning Prayer: Friday 24 March 2023

Friday 24 March 2023

Paul Couturier, Priest, 1953
Returning to God

Week 4 of Lent

O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

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 God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you. Psalm 63.1

Opening

Venite

1 O come let us sing out to the Lord,*
let us shout in triumph to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving*
and cry out to him joyfully in psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God,*
and a great king above all gods.
4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,*
and the peaks of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his and he made it;*
his hands moulded dry land.
6 Come let us worship and bow down,*
and kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he himself is our God;*
we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
8 Today if only you would hear his voice:*
‘Do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness;
9 when your fathers tested me;*
put me to proof though they had seen my works.
10 Of whom I swore in my wrath:*
“They shall not enter my rest.”’


Glory to the Father
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Psalm 63)

1 My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,*
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
2 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;*
my lips shall give you praise.
3 For you have been my helper,*
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
4 My soul clings to you;*
your right hand holds me fast.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;*
in your great compassion blot out my offences.

2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness*
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,*
and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you only have I sinned*
and done what is evil in your sight.

5 And so you are justified when you speak*
and upright in your judgement.

6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth,*
a sinner from my mother's womb.

7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me,*
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.

8 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure;*
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.

9 Make me hear of joy and gladness,*
that the body you have broken may rejoice.

10 Hide your face from my sins*
and blot out all my iniquities.

11 Create in me a clean heart, O God,*
and renew a right spirit within me.

12 Cast me not away from your presence*
and take not your holy Spirit from me.

13 Give me the joy of your saving help again*
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

14 I shall teach your ways to the wicked,*
and sinners shall return to you.

15 Deliver me from death, O God,*
and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
O God of my salvation.

16 Open my lips, O Lord,*
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

17 Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice,*
but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.

18 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit;*
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

19 Be favourable and gracious to Zion,*
and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

20 Then you will be pleased with the appointed sacrifices,
with burnt-offerings and oblations;*
then shall they offer young bullocks upon your altar.

Glory to the Father...

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord.

Conclusion

Ezekiel 36

1 I will gather you from every country,*
and bring you home to your own land.
2 I will pour clean water over you,*
and cleanse you from your idols.
3 A new heart I will give you,*
and put a new spirit within you.
4 I will take from your body the heart of stone.*
and give you a heart of flesh.
5 I will put my spirit within you.*
and make you walk in my ways and observe my decrees.
6 You will live in the land that I gave to your forebears;*
you will be my people and I will be your God.

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon: O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you.

READING(S)

Jeremiah 23.1-8

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt’, but ‘As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they shall live in their own land.

Romans 8.28-39

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Silence

Response Psalm (6.4)

Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.
Save me for your mercy's sake.
And deliver me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon: I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, Father I have sinned against heaven and before you. Luke 15.18

1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,* for he has come to his people and set them free.
2 He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,* born of the house of his servant David.
3 Through his holy prophets he promised of old* that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us.
4 He promised to show mercy to our forebears,* and to remember his holy covenant.
5 This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:* to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6 free to worship him without fear,* holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
7 You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,* for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8 to give his people knowledge of salvation* by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9 In the tender compassion of our God* the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,* and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father... (may be said by all)

Benedictus antiphon: I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, Father I have sinned against heaven and before you. Luke 15.18

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

Almighty God,
grant that we, who are weighed down by our sins,
may be relieved and encouraged by your grace;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen

God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen

Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!

The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;
and bring us to life eternal.
Amen.