The Office

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

Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Alleluia.

Psalm 108 (107)

My heart is ready, O God;
I will sing, sing your praise.
Awake, my soul;
awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the dawn.

I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples,
among the nations I will praise you,
for your love reaches to the heavens
and your truth to the skies.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth!

O come and deliver your friends;
help with your right hand and reply.
From his holy place God has made this promise;
“I will triumph and divide the land of Shechem,
I will measure out the valley of Succoth.

Gilead is mine and Manasseh,
Ephraim I take for my helmet,
Judah for my commander’s staff.
Moab I will use for my washbowl,
on Edom I will plant my shoe.
Over the Philistines I will shout in triumph.”

But who will lead me to conquer the fortress?
Who will bring me face to face with Edom?
Will you utterly reject us, O God,
and no longer march with our armies?

Give us help against the foe,
for the help of man is vain.
With God we shall do bravely
and he will trample down our foes.

Grail Psalter

Reading of the Day

In ancient times Christians all over the world began it with a morning salutation. Each man said to his neighbour, ‘Christ is risen’; and his neighbour answered him, ‘Christ is risen indeed and hath appeared unto Simon’. Even to Simon, the coward disciple who denied him thrice, Christ is risen; even to us who long ago vowed to obey him, and yet so often denied him before men, so often taken part with sin, and followed the world, when Christ called us another way.

‘Christ is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon!’: to Simon Peter the favoured Apostle, on whom the Church is built, Christ appeared. He has appeared to his Holy Church first of all, and in the Church he dispenses blessings, such as the world knows not of. Blessed are they in that they knew their blessedness, who are allowed as we are, week after week, and Festival after Festival, to seek and find in that Holy Church the Saviour of their souls! Blessed are they beyond language or thought, to whom it is vouchsafed to receive these tokens of his love, which cannot otherwise be gained by man, the pledges and means of his special presence, in the Sacrament of his Supper; who are allowed to eat and drink the food of immortality, and receive life from the bleeding side of the Son of God!

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, “Christ, a Quickening Spirit” in Parochial and Plain Sermons II

Silent reflection

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Collect of the Day in the Novena

O Lord, support us all the day long,
until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done.
Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging,
and a holy rest, and peace at the last,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for the Novena

O God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people
by the sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit;
Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things,
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of that same Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Conclusion

May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen