Thursday, Fourth Week of Lent

Leader: O Lord, open my lips. All: And my mouth shall declare your praise.
Come let us worship Christ the Lord who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.

Psalm 95

Antiphon:  Come, let us worship before the Lord our Maker.

Come, let us sing to the Lord 
and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving 
and sing joyful songs to the Lord.

The Lord is God, the mighty God, 
the great king over all the gods.
He holds in his hands the depths of the earth 
and the highest mountains as well.
He made the sea; it belongs to him, 
the dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.

Come, then, let us bow down and worship, 
bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.
For he is our God and we are his people, 
the flock he shepherds.

Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness,
when at Meriba and Massah they challenged me and provoked me,
Although they had seen all of my works.

Forty years I endured that generation.
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray 
and they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my anger, 
“They shall not enter into my rest.”

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon:  Come, let us worship before the Lord our Maker.

Reading: From a sermon by St. Leo the Great

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance. Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

Pray either the Canticle of Zechariah or the Canticle of Mary. You can find them here.
Antiphon for the Canticle of Zechariah:   John bore testimony to the truth, and although I have no need of human testimony, says the Lord, I remind you of this for your own salvation.
Antiphon for the Canticle of Mary:  The works that I do speak on my behalf, says the Lord. They prove that the Father has sent me.

Intercessions

May we accept your testimony.
Turn our hearts back to you, Lord!
Help us to value the will of God more than human praise.
Turn our hearts back to you, Lord!
Help us to hear the voices of those you send into our lives.
Turn our hearts back to you, Lord!

Dear Jesus,
May we listen to your words. Help us to never turn away from you for you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen.