(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: Come, let us worship Christ,
who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

Psalm 92 (91)
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to make music to your name, O most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your truth in the watches of the night,
on the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,
with the murmuring sound of the harp.

Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad;
for the work of your hands I shout with joy.
O Lord, how great are your works!
How deep are your designs!
The stupid cannot know this
and the foolish cannot understand.

Though the wicked spring up like grass
and all who do evil thrive,
they are doomed to be eternally destroyed.
But you, Lord are eternally on high.
See how your enemies perish;
all doers of evil are scattered.

To me you give the wild ox's strength;
you anoint me with the purest oil.
My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;
my ears heard gladly of their fall.
The just will flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a Lebanon cedar.

Planted in the house of the Lord
they will flourish in the courts of our God,
still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
to proclaim that the Lord is just.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong.

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

Come, let us worship Christ,
who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

ANT: Extol the greatness of our God, the Rock!
Faultless are his deeds.

Canticle 1 (Deuteronomy 32:1-12)
Let the heavens hear what I have to say;
let the earth give ear to the words of my mouth.

May my teaching fall like rain,
my words drop down like dew,
like gentle rain upon the grass,
like a light shower upon fresh fields.

For I shall praise the name of the Lord
and proclaim the glory of our God.
How perfect is the work of God, our Rock!
He is faithful, true, and just.

But you are a faithless and crooked lot,
whose faults have proved you not of God.
Is it thus that you repay the Lord,
O stupid and brutish people?

Is he not your Father who created you,
who brought you into being and sustains you?

Think back upon your history;
consider the years and ages of the past.
Ask your father to tell you the tale;
ask your elders to recount the story.

When the Most High parceled out the nations
and dispersed the sons of men,
he set up the boundaries for every people
according to the number of the sons of God.

But the Lord's own portion was his people,
Jacob was his share of the inheritance.
He found them in a wilderness,
a howling, desolate wasteland.

He protected them and cared for them
and guarded them as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle guards its nest and shields its young,
so he spread his wings to lift them up.

The Lord alone was with them as their guide;
no foreign god was with them at their side.

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: Extol the greatness of our God, the Rock!
Faultless are his deeds.

READING (Isaiah 1:16-18)
Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim; redress the wronged,
hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.

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

ANT: If you want to be true children of your heavenly Father,
then you must pray for those who persecute you
and speak all kinds of evil against you, says the Lord.

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: If you want to be true children of your heavenly Father,
then you must pray for those who persecute you
and speak all kinds of evil against you, says the Lord.

INTERCESSIONS
Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
clothe us with compassion, kindness and humility.

Teach us to be true neighbors to all in trouble and distress,
and so imitate you, the Good Samaritan.

May Mary, your Mother, pray for all those vowed to a life of virginity,
that they may deepen their dedication to you and to the Church.

Grant us the gift of your mercy
so we may show it to all 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
Eternal Father, turn our hearts to you.
By seeking your kingdom and loving one another,
may we become a people who worship you in spirit and truth.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen