Evening Prayer
INTRODUCTION
God, + come to my assistance.
— Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory 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.
HYMN
Alternate Hymns
O Jesus, you have set apart
these forty days for abstinence
and you decreed a lenten fast
to heal and save our mind and heart.
Now come, be present to your Church,
be near and aid our penitence,
as we bow down before you, Lord,
and beg you wash away our sins.
Remit and pardon with your grace
misdeeds from which we turn aside;
from future perils keep us safe
by your most meek and gentle guard,
That, filled with sorrow for our sins
and cleansed by yearly penitence,
we may press on to celebrate
the Paschal Feast with worthy praise.
Let all your works adore you, Lord,
O merciful and Triune God.
Renewed by pardon, let us sing
a new song to your holy name. Amen.
Tune: JENA, 8 8 8 8
Music: later form of melody by Melchior Vulpius, ca. 1570-1615, composed in 1609
or Mode IV, melody 81; Liber Hymnarius, Solesmes, 1983
Text: Iesu, quadragenariæ, ca. 10th c., © 2023 ICEL
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 He is my comfort and my refuge. In him I put my trust.
Psalm 144
Prayer for victory and peace
Christ learned the art of warfare when he overcame the world, as he said: “I have overcome the world” (Saint Hilary).
I
Blessed be the Lord, my rock †
who trains my arms for battle, *
who prepares my hands for war.
He is my love, my fortress; *
he is my stronghold, my savior,
my shield, my place of refuge. *
He brings peoples under my rule.
Lord, what is man that you care for him, *
mortal man, that you keep him in mind;
man, who is merely a breath, *
whose life fades like a shadow?
Lower your heavens and come down; *
touch the mountains; wreathe them in smoke.
Flash your lightnings; rout the foe, *
shoot your arrows and put them to flight.
Reach down from heaven and save me; *
draw me out from the mighty waters,
from the hands of alien foes †
whose mouths are filled with lies, *
whose hands are raised in perjury.
Glory 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. He is my comfort and my refuge. In him I put my trust.
Ant. 2 Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.
II
To you, O God, will I sing a new song; *
I will play on the ten-stringed harp
to you who give kings their victory, *
who set David your servant free.
You set him free from the evil sword; *
you rescued him from alien foes
whose mouths were filled with lies, *
whose hands were raised in perjury.
Let our sons then flourish like saplings *
grown tall and strong from their youth:
our daughters graceful as columns, *
adorned as though for a palace.
Let our barns be filled to overflowing *
with crops of every kind;
our sheep increasing by thousands, †
myriads of sheep in our fields, *
our cattle heavy with young,
no ruined wall, no exile, *
no sound of weeping in our streets.
Happy the people with such blessings; *
happy the people whose God is the Lord.
Glory 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.
Psalm Prayer
Lord, God of strength, you gave your Son victory over death. Direct your Church’s fight against evil in the world. Clothe us with the weapons of light and unite us under the one banner of love, that we may receive our eternal reward after the battle of earthly life.
Ant. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.
Ant. 3 Now the victorious reign of our God has begun.
Canticle: Revelation 11:17-18; 12:10b-12a
The judgment of God
We praise you, the Lord God Almighty, *
who is and who was.
You have assumed your great power, *
you have begun your reign.
The nations have raged in anger, *
but then came your day of wrath
and the moment to judge the dead: *
the time to reward your servants the prophets
and the holy ones who revere you, *
the great and the small alike.
Now have salvation and power come, †
The reign of our God and the authority *
of his Anointed One.
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, *
who night and day accused them before God.
They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb †
and by the word of their testimony; *
love for life did not deter them from death.
So rejoice, you heavens, *
and you that dwell therein!
Glory 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. Now the victorious reign of our God has begun.
READING
James 4:7-8, 10
Submit to God; resist the devil and he will take flight. Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you backsliders. Be humbled in the sight of the Lord and he will raise you on high.
RESPONSORY
To you, O Lord, I make my prayer for mercy.
— To you, O Lord, I make my prayer for mercy.
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
— I make my prayer for mercy.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
— To you, O Lord, I make my prayer for mercy.
GOSPEL CANTICLE
Ant. The works that I do speak on my behalf, says the Lord. They prove that the Father has sent me.
Canticle of Mary
Luke 1:46-55
The soul rejoices in the Lord
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.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory 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. The works that I do speak on my behalf, says the Lord. They prove that the Father has sent me.
INTERCESSIONS
In his mercy, God sends the Holy Spirit to shine on us, so that our lives may radiate holiness and faith. Let us raise our voices in prayer and say:
Lord, give life to your people, whom Christ has redeemed.
Lord, source of all holiness, draw bishops, priests and deacons closer to Christ through the Eucharistic mystery,
— may they grow daily in the grace of their ordination.
Lord, give life to your people, whom Christ has redeemed.
Teach Christ’s faithful people to be devout and attentive at the table of his word and of his Body,
— so that they may bring into their daily lives the grace they receive through faith and sacrament.
Lord, give life to your people, whom Christ has redeemed.
Grant, Lord, that we may see in each person the dignity of one redeemed by your Son’s blood,
— so that we may respect the freedom and the conscience of all.
Lord, give life to your people, whom Christ has redeemed.
Teach us to restrain our greed for earthly goods,
— and to have concern for the needs of others.
Lord, give life to your people, whom Christ has redeemed.
Be merciful to your faithful people whom you have called to yourself today,
— grant them the gift of eternal happiness.
Lord, give life to your people, whom Christ has redeemed.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
(Gathering our prayer and praises into one, let us offer the prayer Christ himself 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.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Merciful Father,
may the penance of our lenten observance
make us your obedient people.
May the love within us be seen in what we do
and lead us to the joy of Easter.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
Or:
We invoke your mercy in humble prayer, O Lord,
that you may cause us, your servants,
corrected by penance and schooled by good works,
to persevere sincerely in your commands
and come safely to the paschal festivities.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
DISMISSAL
If a priest or deacon presides, he dismisses the people:
The Lord be with you.
— And with your spirit.
May almighty God bless you,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
— Amen.
Another form of the blessing may be used, as at Mass.
Then he adds:
Go in peace.
— Thanks be to God.
In the absence of a priest or deacon and in individual recitation, Evening Prayer concludes:
May the Lord + bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
— Amen.
******
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Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us did fast and pray,
Teach us with you to mourn our sins,
And close by you to stay.
As you with Satan did contend
And did the vict’ry win,
O give us strength in you to fight,
In you to conquer sin.
As you did hunger and did thirst,
So teach us, gracious Lord,
To die to self and so to live
By your most holy word.
Abide with us that through this life
Of suff’ring and of pain
An Easter of unending joy
We may at last attain.
Tune: St. Flavian C.M.
Music: Day’s Psalter, 1562
Text: Claudia Hernaman, 1838-1898, alt.
Continue with the Psalmody
Or:
Take up your cross, the Savior said,
If you would my disciple be;
Deny yourself, the world forsake,
And humbly follow after me.
Take up your cross, let not its weight
Fill your weak spirit with alarm;
His strength shall bear your spirit up,
Shall brace your heart and nerve your arm.
Take up your cross then in his strength,
And ev’ry danger calmly brave,
To guide you to a better home,
And vict’ry over death and grave.
Take up your cross and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown.
To you, great Lord, the One in three,
All praise for evermore ascend;
O grant us here below to see
The heav’nly life that knows no end.
Tune: Breslau or Winchester New L.M.
Music: (Breslau) As Hymnodus Sacer, 1625, or (Winchester New) Musikalisches Handbuch, Hamburg, 1690
Text: Charles William Everest, 1814-1877, adapted by Anthony G. Petti
Continue with the Psalmody
Or:
Forty days and forty nights
You were fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted and yet undefiled.
Shall not we your sorrow share
And from worldly joys abstain,
Fasting with unceasing prayer,
Strong with you to suffer pain?
Then if Satan on us press,
Flesh or spirit to assail,
Victor in the wilderness,
Grant we may not faint nor fail!
So shall we have peace divine:
Holier gladness ours shall be;
Round us, too, shall angels shine,
Such as served you faithfully.
Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
Ever constant by your side;
That with you we may appear
At the ’ternal Eastertide.
Tune: Heinlein 77.77
Music: Attributed to Martin Herbst, 1654-1681
Text: George Hunt Smyttan 1822-1870
Continue with the Psalmody
