(Make the sign of the cross with your right thumb on your lips, saying:)

Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise.

INVITATORY: Lord, wash away my guilt; cleanse me from my sin, alleluia.

Psalm 98 (99)
The Lord is king, the peoples tremble.
He is throned on the cherubim, the earth quakes.
The Lord is great in Zion.

He is supreme over all the peoples.
Let them praise his name, so terrible and great,
he is holy, full of power.

You are a king who loves what is right;
you have established equity, justice, and right;
you have established them in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before Zion, his footstool.
He the Lord is holy.

Among his priests were Aaron and Moses,
among those who invoked his name was Samuel.
They invoked the Lord and he answered.

To them he spoke in the pillar of cloud.
They did his will, they kept the law,
which he, the Lord, had given.

O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who forgives;
yet you punished all their offenses.

Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before his holy mountain
for the Lord our God is holy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen

Lord, wash away my guilt; cleanse me from my sin, alleluia.

ANT: Come into the Lord's presence singing for joy, alleluia.

Canticle 50 (Isaiah 40:10-17)
Here is the Lord God coming with power
his arm subduing all things to himself.
The prize of his victory is with him,
his trophies all go before him.

Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
holding them against his breast
and leading the ewes with care.

Who has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea
and marked off the heavens with a span?
Who has held in a measure the dust of the earth,
weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

Who has directed the spirit of the Lord
or instructed him as his counselor?
Whom did he consult to gain knowledge?

Who taught him the path of judgment
or showed him the way of understanding?

The nations count as a drop in the bucket,
as rust on the scales;
the coastlands weigh no more than dust.

Lebanon is not enough for the fires,
nor its beasts for the holocaust.

All the nations are as naught in his presence,
for him they count as nothingness and emptiness.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen

ANT: Come into the Lord's presence singing for joy, alleluia.

READING (Acts 5:30-32)
The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus whom you put to death, hanging him on a tree. He whom God has exalted at his right hand as ruler and savior is to bring repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We testify to this. So too does the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those that obey him.

[Reflect on the Reading, applying it to your life today.]

ANT: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood shall live in me and I in them, alleluia.

CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH (Luke 1:68-79)
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham;
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen

ANT: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood shall live in me and I in them, alleluia.

INTERCESSIONS
As God the Father raised Christ from the dead; we pray that he will raise up our mortal bodies.

May all we do today be for Jesus' glory and the sanctification of the world.

Let our work today not be in vain but for the good of our community and ultimately lead us to your kingdom.

Open our hearts to love and serve our brothers and sisters we meet today.

(Pray for your special intentions.)

OUR FATHER
And now we pray to God the Father in the words that Jesus taught us.

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 those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen

PRAYER
Father, in your plan of salvation your Son Jesus Christ accepted the cross and freed us from the power of the enemy. May we come to share the glory of his resurrection, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen