Order of Prayers 4
2:00-4:00 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: I will take up the cup of salvation.
All: And I will offer a sacrifice of praise.PSALM 104 - I
Leader: This Psalm, which in this hour is broken into three sections, covers a long list of the gifts the Almighty has showered on man - the glories of nature that reflect to the praise of our wonderful God. As we pray this Psalm we are reminded of the long list of graces God has bestowed on us personally, not the least of which is the Holy Eucharist.
Leader: Bless the Lord, O my soul.
All SIT
Right Side: O lord my God, you are very great,
Left Side: you are clothed with honor and majesty,
R: wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
L: you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
R: you make the winds our messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
L: You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
R: You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
L: At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
R: They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys, to the place that you appointed for them.
L: You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
R: You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
L: giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
R: By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
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: I have longed to eat this meal with you before I suffer.
Right Reader STANDS
Right Reader: Christ the Lord is a priest forever
All: In the line of Melchisedech; he offered up bread and wine.
PSALM 104 II
Right Reader: From your dwelling you water the hills;
Right Reader SITS
Right Side: Earth drinks its fill of your gift.
Left Side: You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and the plants for people to use,
R: to bring forth food from the earth, and wine to gladden the human heart,
L: oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
R: The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
L: In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
R: The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the badgers.
L: You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
R: You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
L: The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
R: When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
L: People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
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: Christ, the Lord, is a priest forever in the line of Melchisedech; he offered up bread and wine.
Left Leader STANDS
Left Reader: They recognized the Lord Jesus
All: In the breaking of the bread.
PSALM 104 - III
Left Reader: O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all;
Left Reader SITS
Left Side: the earth is full of your creatures.
R: Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
L: There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
R: These all look to you to give them their food in due season,
L: when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R: When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
L: When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
R: May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works --
L: who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
R: I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
L: May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
R: Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!
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.
Leader STANDS
Leader: He gave them bread from heaven,
All: We have eaten the bread of angels
Leader: A readying from the Book of Exodus. (12:21-32)
The Jewish people had been in exile in Egypt for several generations, and subjected to an always increasing oppression from the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who feared their numbers and their influence. Day and night the people prayed to God that He would deliver them and bring them back to their homeland. The Almighty finally heard their plea and appointed Moses to lead them to a land of promise. An enterprise involving thousands and thousands of people could hardly have been done without attracting the notice of Pharaoh. So Moses sought his permission to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. But the king wasn't about to give up the cheap labor of the Jews! He kept refusing to give his permission. It was to make him change his mind about that that God visited Egypt with a series of evils known as the "Plagues," the greatest of which was the death of the first-born in every home not marked with the blood of the Passover Lamb. In precise detail, God had instructed His people through Moses and Aaron how to prepare and sacrifice the lamb, and what tot do with its blood. The blood-mark would serve to identify the Jewish homes and spare their first-born as the angel of destruction went over the land. The death of all the Egyptian first-born that night finally broke the king's resolve and he permitted the Jews to start on their long trek to the Promised Land. The Passover Lamb had saved and delivered God's chosen people! (Pause a moment here.)
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this observance?' you shall say, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Egyptians but spared our houses.'"And the people bowed down and worshiped.
The Israelites went and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. then he summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, "Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord, as you said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And bring a blessing on me too!"
The Leader SITS for at least two minutes to give the adorers time to think on what he has just read to them.
Leader STANDS
Leader: The sons of Israel shall take some of the blood of the lamb, and put it on two doorposts and the lintel of their houses.
All: This blood shall serve as a sign to you.
Leader: You were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish.
All: This blood shall serve as a sign to you.
Leader SITS
Reader (Optional Left or Right) STANDS
Reader: A reading from a treatise of Saint Gaudentius.
From earliest Christianity, the Passover Lamb was recognized as prefigure, a type of Christ. When he introduced our Lord to the world, Saint John the Baptist could find no more meaningful way to do it than to call Him "Lamb of God" who takes away the sins of the world."
The similarity and link between the Passover Lamb and Christ is easy to see. Just as the blood of the sacrificed Passover Lamb assured the safe passage and deliverance of the Israelites from the oppressive bondage of the Egyptian King, so the blood of Christ, shed for us on Calvary and given to us in the Holy Eucharist, saves us from the slavery of sin. To the Israelites the blood of the Passover Lamb was the identifying mark that saved them from death; to us Christians, the blood of Christ is the source of our redemption from the death of sin.
Saint Guadentius in the following passage expresses the relationship between the blood of the Old Testament figure, and the blood of the New Testament reality as well as anyone has ever done. (Pause a few moments here.)
One man died for all. In every house, that is is in every church, the mystery of the bread and wine, being sacrificed, Christ restores us; being believed, he gives us life; and being consecrated, he sanctifies those who consecrate.
This is the Lamb's flesh; this is his blood. For the bread who came down from heaven declared: "The bread which I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world." It is right that the appearance of wine should be the sign of his blood, for he said himself in the gospel: "I am the true vine." These words show that any wine offered as a sign of his passion is his blood. For reason, the patriarch Jacob had prophesied concerning the Messiah in these words: "He will wash his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes." For he was destined to put on the garments of our body, and wash them in his own blood.
He is the creator and lord of all natures. He makes the earth yield bread, and then makes from the bread his own body; for this he promised, and this he has power to do. He made wine from water, and from wine he makes his own blood.
"It is the Lord's Pasch" - that is, the Lord's Passover. For you are not to regard this heavenly effect as something earthly; it was produced through Christ, and Christ passes into it, and has made it his own body and blood.
What you receive is the body of that heavenly Bread, the blood of that sacred Vine. For when he offered the consecrated bread and wine to his disciples, he said: "This is my body; this is my blood." We believe in him; so let us believe his words. Truth cannot lie.
When Jesus was speaking to the crowd about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, they were bewildered and murmured: "This is a hard saying, and who can listen to it." So to purge away with heavenly fire those thoughts which I have just told you to avoid, he added these words: "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."
Reader SITS and pauses for at least two minutes to give the adorers time to think on what has just been read to them.
Reader STANDS
Reader: Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new batch of bread, for Christ, our Paschal Lamb, has been sacrificed.
All: Let us celebrate the Sacred Mystery in honor of the Lord.
Reader: He was put to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.
All: Let us celebrate the Sacred Mystery in honor of the Lord.
All STAND
Leader: Let us pray (pause here a moment)
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, forever and ever.
All: Amen.
ANTIPHON IN HONOR OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Leader: Hail, Holy Queen,
All: Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this our exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!All SIT
Here the Leader announces a period of silent meditative prayer. (5-7 minutes)
MORNING PRAYER
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 sends
Right 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: You fed your people with the bread of angels;
All: You gave them bread from heaven.
PSALM 118
(Leader) This Psalm is a prayer of thanks for victory against countless enemies. the Psalm sings the praise of God who turned a rejected building stone into a cornerstone, the most important of all. Christ was rejected and became the cornerstone of Christianity.
Leader: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
All SIT
Right Side: his steadfast love endures forever!
Left Side: Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever."
R: Let the house of Aaron say, "His steadfast love endures forever."
L: Let those who fear the Lord say, "His steadfast love endures forever."
R: Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
L: With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?
R: The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
L: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to be put confidence in mortals.
R: All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
L: They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
R: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
L: The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
R: There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous;
L: "The right hand of the Lord does valiantly; the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
R: The right hand of the Lord does valiantly." I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
L: The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
R: Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
L: This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
R: I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
L: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
R: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
L: This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
R: Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
L: Blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
R: We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light.
L: Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
R: You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.
L: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
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: You fed your people with the bread of angels; you gave them bread from heaven.
Right Reader STANDS
Right Reader: Holy Priests
All: Will offer incense and bread.
CANTICLE (Daniel 3:52-57)
(Right Reader) For refusing to adore the statue of Nabuchadnezzer, three youths were thrown into a fiery furnace. Miraculously saved, they sang this canticle. Their praises we apply to Christ Eucharistic.
Right Reader: May you be blessed, Lord, God of our ancestors,
Right Reader SITS
Right Side: Be praised and extolled forever.
Left Side: "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
R: Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, praiseworthy and glorious forever.
L: Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R: Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
L: Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, praiseworthy and exalted forever.
All: Holy priests will offer incense and bread to God.
Left Reader STANDS
Left Reader: I will give to the victorious
All: The hidden bread and a new name.
PSALM 150
(Left Reader) This is the last Psalm in the Book of Psalms. It is an exuberant hymn of praise to God for His goodness. Remembering what the Blessed Sacrament means to us, we use the words of the Psalm to glorify our Savior.
Left Reader: Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary;
Left Side: praise him in his mighty firmament!
Right Side: Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
L: Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
R: praise him with tambourine and dance;
L: praise him with strings and pipe!
R: Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
L: Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
All: Glory to the Father, the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
All: I will give to the victorious the hidden bread and a new name.
Leader STANDS
Leader: A short reading from Saint Paul's First Letter to the Christians in the city of Corinth. (10:16-17)
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Leader SITS and pauses for a couple of minutes to allow the adorers to think on what has just been read.
All STAND
Leader: He gave them bread from heaven.
All: He gave them bread from heaven.
Leader: We have eaten the bread of angels.
All: He gave them bread from heaven.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All: He gave them bread from heaven.
Leader: How kind and gentle you are, O Lord!
All: You showed your kindness to your sons and daughters by giving them bread from heaven. You filled the hungry with good things, and the rich you sent away empty.
GOSPEL CANTICLE (Luke 1:68-79)
Right Reader, as all sign themselves with the Sign of the Cross:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;Right Side: for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
Left Side: He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David,
R: as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
L: Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant,
R: The oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
L: might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
R: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
L: to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
R: By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
L: to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
All: Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
All: how kind and gentle you are, Lord! You showed your kindness to your sons by giving them bread from heaven. You filled the hungry with good things, and the rich you sent away empty.
INTERCESSIONS
Leader: Christ invites all to the supper in which he gives his Body and Blood for the world. Let us ask him:
Leader: Christ invites all to the supper in which he gives his Body and Blood for the world. Let us ask him:
All: Christ, the bread of heaven, grant us everlasting life.
Leader: Christ, son of the living God, you commanded that this Eucharistic Mystery be done in memory of you,
All: Enrich your Church through the faithful celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
Right Reader: Christ, eternal priest of the Most High,you have commanded your priests to renew the saving Mystery of the Cross,
All: May they exemplify in their lives the great Mystery they celebrate.
Right Reader: Christ, bread from heaven, you unite into one body all who partake of the one bread,
All: Refresh with peace and harmony all who believe, and share in the one bread.
Left Reader: Christ, through your bread you offer the source of immortality and the pledge of future resurrection,
All: Restore hope to sinners, and health to all our sick and suffering.
Left Reader: Christ, priest and victim, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, strengthen our faith and our love,
All: Make our Society and its members ever true to their commitment of sharing in the sorrow and prayer of your Agony.
Leader: Christ, King and Redeemer, you commanded that the Eucharist be celebrated as a proclamation of your death and resurrection,
All: Grant that as we praise you in your redemptive action, our deceased fellow members will obtain eternal resurrection in you.
Leader: We pause a few moments to formulate our personal intentions.
Here adorers are encouraged to make know and share their intentions. They should be brief and direct. When all have spoken...
Leader: Lord, we have made known and shared with each other our needs,
All: In your goodness hear our confident prayers.
Leader: And now let us make our prayer and praise complete by offering the Lord's prayer:
All: Our Father....
Leader: Lord Jesus Christ, we worship you living among us in the sacrament of your Body and Blood. May we offer to our Father in heaven a solemn pledge of undivided love. May we offer to all a life truly dedicated to the service of that kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen.
Leader: May the Lord bless us all, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
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 was 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 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.
The Leader announces a period of silent prayer stating how many minutes it will last (usually 5-7 minutes).
When that time is over the Leader 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, page
The Leader 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).