Friday after Ash Wednesday
Leader: O Lord, open my lips. All: And my mouth shall declare your praise.
Come, let us worship Christ, our Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
Psalm 8
Antiphon: On the lips of children and infants you have found perfect praise.
How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!
Your majesty is praised above the heavens;
on the lips of children and of babes
you have found praise to foil your enemy,
to silence the foe and the rebel.
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god;
with glory and honor you crowned him,
gave him power over the works of your hand,
put all things under his feet.
All of them, sheep and cattle,
yes, even the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and fish
that make their way through the waters.
How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!
Glory to the Father...
Antiphon: On the lips of children and infants you have found perfect praise.
Reading: From the treatise Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus
Our Lord, the Word of God, first drew men to God as servants, but later he freed those made subject to him. He himself testified to this: I do not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead I call you friends, since I have made known to you everything that I have learned from my Father. Friendship with God brings the gift of immortality to those who accept it.
Pray either the Canticle of Zechariah or the Canticle of Mary. You can find them here.
Antiphon for the Canticle of Zechariah: Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither rust nor moth can destroy.
Antiphon for the Canticle of Mary: Christ died for our sins, the innocent for the guilty, to bring us back to God. In the body he was put to death, but in the spirit he was raised to life.
Intercessions
Keep our hearts pure.
Lord, help us with your grace.
Help us to do your will in all we do today.
Lord, help us with your grace.
Forgive us our sins.
Lord, help us with your grace.
Prayer
Dear Father,
Look with pity on our weakness. Help us to draw closer to you through this Lenten season. We ask this through Jesus your Son in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
