Order of Prayers 2
10 p.m.-12:00 a.m.
Opening Prayer
This short introductory prayer is traditional in our Society. It helps us to set the tone, spirit, and purpose of our recitation.
ALL KNEEL
Leader: (as all bless themselves with the Sign of the Cross)
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen
O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine.All: All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.
Leader: Blessed be the holy and Immaculate Conception.
All: Of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
THE INVITATION TO PRAYER
ALL STAND and make the Sign of the Cross on their lips as the Leader says:
Leader: O Lord, open my lips
All: and I will proclaim your praise.
Leader: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
All: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
PSALM 95
Leader: O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!All: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
Leader: For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods,
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The Sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which
his hands have formed.All: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
Leader: O Come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our god, and the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today, you would listen to his voice!All: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
Leader: Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.All: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
Leader: For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways."
Therefore in my anger I swore "They shall not enter my rest."All: Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.
Left Reader: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us adore Christ, the Lord, the bread of life.Leader: Day and night
All: We cry to you, our God.
PSALM 88(Right Reader)
This Psalm is the anguished prayer of a very sick person. All of us are more or less sick spiritually. We cry to God for help, confident that He takes care of us through the Bread of Life.
Right Reader: O Lord, God of my salvation,
ALL SIT
Right Side: when at night I cry out in your presence,
Left Side: let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.
R: For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
L: I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
I am like those who have no help,R: like those forsaken among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave.L: like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.R: You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
in the regions dark and deep.L: Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves.R: You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a thing of horror to them.L: I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
my eye grows dim through sorrow.R: Every day I call on you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.L: Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the shades rise up to praise you?R: Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?L: Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?R: But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.L: O Lord, why do you cast me off?
Why do you hide your face from me?R: Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.L: Your wrath has swept over me;
your dread assaults destroy me.R: They surround me like a flood all day long;
from all sides they close in on me.L: You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me;
my companions are in darkness.All: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.All: Day and night we cry to you, our God.
Leader STANDS
A short reading from the Book of Jeremiah (14:9):
Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!
ALL STAND
Right Reader: Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirit.*
All: Yes, Lord, into your hands we commend our spirit.
Left Reader: You have redeemed us, Lord, God of truth.
All: Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirit.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirit.
The Leader SITS and pauses for a couple of minutes to allow the adorers to think on the words he has just read.
ALL STAND
Right Reader: Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirit.
All: Yes, Lord, into your hands we commend our spirit.
Left Reader: You have redeemed us, Lord, God of truth.
All: Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirit.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: Into your hands, Lord, we commend our spirit.
Leader: Save us, Lord.
All: While we are awake; protect us while we sleep; that we may keep watch with Christ and rest with him in peace.
Leader as all bless themselves with the Sign of the Cross.
Gospel Canticle (Luke 2:29-32)
Leader: "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
All: according to your word:Leader: for my eyes have seen your salvation,
All: which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
Leader: a light for revelation to the Gentiles
All: and for glory to your people Israel."
Leader: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.
All: Save us, Lord, while we are awake; protect us while we sleep; that we may keep watch with Christ and rest with him in peace.
Leader: Let us pray (pause): Lord, be with us throughout this night. When the day comes, may we rise from sleep to rejoice in the Resurrection of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
All: Amen.
All: The Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. Amen.
ANTIPHON IN HONOR OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Leader: Loving mother of the Redeemer,
All: Gate of heaven, and star of the sea, assist your people who have fallen yet strive to rise again. To the wonderment of nature, you bore your Creator, yet remained a virgin after as before. You who received Gabriel's joyful greeting, have pity on us poor sinners.
All SIT
Here the Leader announces a period of silent meditative prayer. (5-7 minutes)
OFFICE OF READINGS
All STAND
Leader: O God, come to my assistance.
All: Lord, make haste to help me.
All: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.The following hymn may be recited or sung--preferably sung, whenever possible. (See No. 280 of the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours.) Any other better known hymn to the Blessed Sacrament may be substituted for this one, if so desired.
HYMN
Leader:
Forth from on high the Father sendsRight Side:
His Son, who yet stays by his side.
The Word made man, for man then spends
his life till life's last eventide.Left Side:
While Judas plans the traitor's sign,
The mocking kiss that love betrays,
Jesus in form of bread and wine
His loving sacrifice displays.Right Side:
He gives himself that faith may see
The heavenly food on which men feed,
That flesh and blood of man may be
Fed by his Flesh and Blood, indeed.Left Side:
By birth he makes himself man's kin;
As food before his guests he lies;
To death he bears man's cross of sin;
In heaven he reigns as man's blest prize.Right Side:
O Priest and Victim, Lord of Life,
Throw wide the gates of Paradise!
We face our foes in mortal strife;
Thou art our strength! O heed our cries!Left Side:
To Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
One only God, be ceaseless praise!
May he in goodness grant us rest
In heaven, our home, for endless days!Leader: See how the Cross of the Lord
All: Stands revealed as the tree of life!
PSALM 1
(Leader):
This Psalm compares the lot of the just -- the tree planted by a good stream -- and that of the wicked -- the one driven like straw. The tree of the Cross is the well-planted tree bringing us salvation through the Eucharist.
Leader: Happy are those
All SIT
Right Side: who do not follow the advice of the wicked;
Left Side: or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;R: but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.L: They are like trees planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,R: and their leaves do not wither.
In all they do, they prosper.L: The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.R: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;L: for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.All: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.All: See how the cross of the Lord stands revealed as the tree of life.
The Right Reader STANDS
Right Reader: He who eats this bread
All: Will live forever.
PSALM 2
(Right Reader)
God's chosen king is His own Son who rules "all nations." His rule is one of firmness and compassion. Firmness because it cost Him His life on the Cross. Compassion because He gives us the benefits of His death in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Right Reader: Why this tumult among nations,*
Right Reader SITS
Right Side: Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
Left Side: The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying,R: "Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us."
L: He who sits in the heavens laughs: the Lord has them in derision.
R: Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,L: "I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."
R: I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, "You are my son; today I have begotten you.L: Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.R: You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."L: Now therefore, O kings, be wise:
be warned, O rulers of the earth.R: Serve the Lord with fear,
with trembling kiss his feet,L: or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.R: Happy are all who take refuge in him.
All: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.All: He who eats this bread will live forever.
Left Reader STANDS
Left Reader: Lord, you are my protector;
All: You have raised me up in glory.
PSALM 3
(Left Reader)
David wrote this Psalm after he ran away from his own Son, Absalom. He expresses confidence that the Lord will help him "from his sacred hill." It is from the hill of Calvary and our altars that help comes to us.
Left Reader: O Lord, how many are my foes!
Left Reader SITS
Left Side: Many are rising against me;
R: many are saying to me,
"There is no help for you in God."L: But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.R: I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.L: I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.R: I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around!L: Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord; may your blessing be on your people!All: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
All: Lord, you are my protector; You have raised me up in glory.
Leader STANDS
Leader: I will go to the altar of God.
All: My food is Christ who restores my youth.
Leader: A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (9:11-28).
The excerpt we are about to read isn't the easiest to understand! Yet it expresses a great truth that goes to the very heart of the Eucharistic Mystery, and is well worth our attentive study.
There is question here of two Covenants -- the Old Testament and the New Testament.
A covenant is nothing more than a special relationship between God and man.
In the Old Testament, it was God Himself who offered a special relationship to His people. But he laid down one condition - the keeping of His law, the ten commandments. This covenant He confirmed and sealed in blood - the blood of animals offered in sacrifice and accepted by God; the blood sprinkled by Moses after spelling out the ten commandments; the blood smeared on doorposts and recognized by the angel of God in his visitation of destruction; blood brought into the Holy of Holies by the High Priest. But for all its great value, this blood, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, could cleanse men only from sins against the law, and not men's consciences.
Then Christ came to establish a new and deeper relationship between God and man -- one that went beyond the mere external observance of the law, and penetrated into the very depths of man's conscience. This New Testament, this new covenant, is also sealed in blood -- not in animal blood, but in the blood of Christ. It was this blood that Christ took into the Holy of Holies, not a created one this time, but heaven itself; it was this blood He shed in sacrifice once for all, to cleanse our consciences and set us free; it is in this blood that He will appear a second time.
Now the Holy Eucharist we are worshipping by our presence here is Christ renewing His sacrifice, reentering into Heaven's Holy of Holies, sealing for us in His blood the new covenant, the new special relationship He came to establish between God and man. This is the basis on which the whole New Testament is built. (Pause a few moments, then read on...)But when came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called my receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will only takes effect at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you." And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of god on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, nor to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.Leader SITS and pauses for at least two minutes to give the adorers time to think on what he has just read to them.
Leader STANDS
Leader: I am the living bread of life. Your forefathers ate manna in the desert, and they died.*
All: I am speaking of the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and never die.
Leader: I am that living bread which has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he shall live forever.*
All: I am speaking of the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and never die.
Leader SITS
Reader (Optional Left or Right) STANDS
A reading from the Instructions of Saint John Chrysostom to catechumens. (Pause a moment)
Saint John, whose surname "Chrysostom" means "golden tongue," was all that the surname signifies. He was one of the greatest preachers the Church has ever had, a powerful expounder of Christ's teachings, and a vigorous defender of the Church against her enemies. In the selection from his instructions to his future converts which we are about to read, he speaks about one of his favorite topics: the power of the Blood of Christ, prefigured in the Old Testament sacrifices, and now the source and strength of the Church, and the nourishment of our souls in the Blessed Sacrament.
Do you wish to know of the power of Christ's blood? Let us go back to the ancient accounts of what took place in Egypt, where Christ's blood is foreshadowed.
Moses said: "Sacrifice a lamb without blemish and smear the doors with its blood." (Exodus, 12:21-23) What does this mean? Can the blood of a sheep without reason save man who is endowed with reason? Yes, Moses replies, not because it is blood, but because it is a figure of the Lord's blood. So today if the devil sees, not the blood of the figure smeared on the doorposts, but the blood of the Reality smeared on the lips of the faithful, which are the doors of the temple of Christ, with all the more reason will he draw back.
Do you wish to learn from another source the power of this blood? See where it began to flow, from what spring it flowed down from the cross, from the Master's side. The gospel relates that when Christ had died and was hanging on the cross, a soldier approached him and pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out water and blood. The one was a symbol of Baptism, the other of the mysteries. That soldier, then, pierced his side: he breached the wall of the holy temple, and I found the treasure and acquired the wealth. Similarly with the lamb. The Jews slaughtered it in sacrifice, and I gathered the fruit of that sacrifice -- salvation.
"There came out from his side water and blood." (John, 19:34) Dearly beloved, do not pass the secret of this great mystery by without reflection. For I have another interpretation to give you. I said that Baptism and the mysteries were symbolized in that blood and water. It is from these two that the holy Church has been born "by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus, 3:5), by Baptism and by the mysteries. Now the symbols of Baptism and the mysteries came from his side. It was from his side, then, that Christ formed the Church, as from the side of Adam he formed Eve.
That is why in his account of the first man, Moses has the words, "bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis, 2:23), giving us a hint here of the Master's side. For as at the time God took a rib from Adam's side and formed woman, so Christ gave us blood and water from his side and formed the Church. Just as then he took the rib while Adam was in deep sleep (Genesis, 2:21), so now he gave the blood and water after his death.
Have you understood how Christ has united his bride, the Church, to himself? Have you seen with what kind of food he feeds us all? By the same food we are formed and fed. As a mother feeds her child with her own blood and milk, so too Christ continually feeds those whom he has begotten, with his own blood.Reader SITS and pauses for at least two minutes to give the adorers time to think on what he has just read to them.
Same Reader STANDS
Reader: Your ransom was not paid in anything corruptible, neither in silver nor gold, but in the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish.
All: Through him we all have access to the Father in the one Spirit.
Reader: The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin.
All: Through him we all have access to the Father in the one Spirit.
All STAND
Leader: Let us pray (Pause a moment here) Lord, Jesus Christ, you gave your Church an admirable sacrament as the abiding memorial of your passion. Teach us so to worship the sacred mystery of your Body and Blood, that its redeeming power may sanctify us always, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen.
All KNEEL
Leader: Prayer to our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.
All: O Virgin Immaculate, Mother of Jesus and our own Mother, our Lady of the most Blessed Sacrament, we honor you. It is from you that our Savior, present and living in the Holy Eucharist, took his flesh and blood, - the same flesh and blood which he offered in sacrifice to the Father, and with which he feeds us in Holy Communion. Give us a deeper appreciation of the Eucharistic Mystery, an unwavering loyalty to the words of your Son: "This is my body...this is my blood," a practical faith in what the Holy Eucharist means to the Church. Increase our love for Christ whose living presence we honor by our presence here. May we be blessed through your intercession, for, in the divine plan, it was you who made it possible for us to receive the source of life, our Lord, Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns in the Holy Eucharist for love of us. Amen.
All SIT
-- The Leader announces a period of silent prayer stating how many minutes it will last (usually 5-7 minutes).
-- When that time is over he announces one of the prayers in Part III, Prayer of Adoration, or Thanksgiving, or Reparation, or Petition.
N.B. The idea is to offer variety by using different sections every month. If there is time two sections may be used - for example adoration and reparation, one month; thanksgiving and petition, another month; adoration and thanksgiving, etc., etc. in any combination, different each month. the Moderator will determine what practice to follow.
-- Five minutes before the end of the hour the Leader says:
Prayers for the Deceased.
-- He finishes the Hour with
Prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father, to gain the Plenary Indulgence granted for the Hour.
Our Father (once)
Hail Mary (once)
Office of the Blessed Sacrament