Every day, we will post a few brief prayers inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours.
O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall declare your praise.
Psalm 48
The Lord is great and worthy to be praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain rises in beauty, the joy of all the earth. Mount Zion, true pole of the earth, the Great King’s city! God, in the midst of its citadels, has shown himself its stronghold. For the kings assembled together, together they advanced. They saw; at once they were astounded; dismayed, they fled in fear. A trembling seized them there, like the pangs of birth. By the east wind you have destroyed the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of our God, in the city of the Lord of hosts which God upholds for ever. O God, we ponder your love within your temple. Your praise, O God, like your name reaches the ends of the earth. With justice your right hand is filled. Mount Zion rejoices; the people of Judah rejoice at the sight of your judgments. Walk through Zion, walk all round it; count the number of its towers. Review all its ramparts, examine its castles, that you may tell the next generation that such is our God, our God for ever and always. It is he who leads us.
Reading: From the Moral Reflections on Job by St. Gregory the Great
When he writes, the night is passed, Paul does not add, the day is come, but rather, the day is at hand. Since he argues that after the night has passed, the day as yet is not come but is rather at hand, he shows that the period before full daylight and after darkness is without doubt the dawn, and that he himself is living in that period. It will be fully day for the Church of the elect when she is no longer darkened by the shadow of sin. It will be fully day for her when she shines with the perfect brilliance of interior light. This dawn is aptly shown to be an ongoing process when Scripture says: And you showed the dawn its place. A thing which is shown its place is certainly called from one place to another. What is the place of the dawn but the perfect clearness of eternal vision? When the dawn has been brought there, it will retain nothing belonging to the darkness of night. When the Psalmist writes: My soul thirsts for the living God; when shall I go and see the face of God?, does he not refer to the effort made by the dawn to reach its place? Paul was hastening to the place which he knew the dawn would reach when he said he wished to die and to be with Christ. He expressed the same idea when he said: For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
The Canticle of Mary
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
Intercessions
May we imitate you today.
Lord, bless us and bring us close to you!
Preserve us in unity of the Spirit with the bond of peace.
Lord, bless us and bring us close to you!
May we all come to share in the happiness of your Kingdom.
Lord, bless us and bring us close to you!
Dear Jesus,
Cast the darkness of sin out of our hearts. Fill us with the light of your truth. We ask the Father for this in your name in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
