Vespers (Evening Prayer)
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.
To thee our inmost heart doth cry,
Our voice resounds in melody,
For thee chaste love with longing yearns,
Our humbled soul doth worship thee.
And when dense blackness falls to close
The day in thickest folds of night,
Let not our faith such darkness know,
But by that faith let dark be light.
Allow thou not our souls to rest;
Our sins in rest, we pray thee, bind:
Let pure, refreshing faith be strong
To cool all dreams that heat the mind.
Stripped clean from senses’ danger, let
Our inmost heart dream deep of thee;
Let not our envious foe disturb
Our rest with guile and treachery.
Psalm 26 (27)
Keeping faith in time of peril |
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The Lord is my light and my help: whom shall I fear?
The Lord is my light and my help:
whom should I fear?
The Lord protects my life:
what could terrify me?
When they come to do me harm,
to consume my flesh,
my enemies and my persecutors,
it is they who stumble and fall.
If their armies encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
if battle flares up against me,
even then will I hope.
One thing I beg of the Lord, one thing will I ask:
that I may live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
so that I may behold the joys of the Lord
and always see his temple.
For he will shelter me in his tent in the time of evils.
He will hide me in the hidden parts of the tabernacle;
then raise me up on a rock,
lift me high up above the enemies who surround me.
In his tabernacle I will offer him a sacrifice
of shouts, of songs, of psalms to the Lord.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
The Lord is my light and my help: whom shall I fear?
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek: hide not your face.
Listen, Lord, to my voice as I cry:
have mercy and listen to me.
“Seek his face,” my heart has said,
and so I will seek your face, O Lord.
Do not turn your face away from me,
do not turn from your servant in anger.
You are my helper, do not reject me;
do not abandon me, God, my help.
For when my father and mother have abandoned me,
the Lord will take me up.
Show me your ways, Lord, and guide me along the right path,
out of the reach of my enemies.
Do not hand me over to the whim of those who would persecute me,
when lying witnesses have risen up against me,
with those who plan to do me violence.
I trust I shall see the joys of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Hope in the Lord, be brave,
let your heart take comfort and trust in the Lord.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek: hide not your face.
| Christ, firstborn of all creatures and firstborn from the dead |
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He is the first-born of all creation, he is supreme over all creatures.
Let us give thanks to God the Father,
who has made us worthy to share in the light that is the saints’ inheritance.
He has rescued us from the power of the shadows
and brought us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption
and the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the first-born of all creation,
for in him all things were created,
in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
thrones and dominations,
principalities and powers.
All things were created through him and for him:
he is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the Church.
He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead,
and so he is pre-eminent above all.
For it was the Father’s will that the fullness of God should dwell in him,
and that through him all things should be reconciled to himself.
Through the blood of the Cross he brought peace to all things,
both on Earth and in the heavens.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
He is the first-born of all creation, he is supreme over all creatures.
| Short Reading | James 1:22,25 © |
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You must do what the word tells you, and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves. But the man who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and makes that his habit – not listening and then forgetting, but actively putting it into practice – will be happy in all that he does.
Redeem me, Lord, and show me your mercy.
– Redeem me, Lord, and show me your mercy.
Do not cast me away with sinners.
– Redeem me, Lord, and show me your mercy.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– Redeem me, Lord, and show me your mercy.
| My soul rejoices in the Lord |
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The Almighty has done great things for me; holy is his name.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation.
For he has shown me such favour –
me, his lowly handmaiden.
Now all generations will call me blessed,
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
His name is holy,
his mercy lasts for generation after generation
for those who revere him.
He has put forth his strength:
he has scattered the proud and conceited,
torn princes from their thrones;
but lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
The Almighty has done great things for me; holy is his name.
| Prayers and intercessions | |
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The world is ablaze with the glory of God, who cares for his chosen people with infinite love. In the name of the Church we pray:
– Lord, show your love to all men.
Be mindful of your Church:
keep her free from evil and make her perfect in your love.
– Lord, show your love to all men.
Let all peoples acknowledge that you alone are God, and that Jesus Christ is your Son;
give them the light of faith.
– Lord, show your love to all men.
Grant to those around us all that they need,
so that they may know thankfulness and live in peace.
– Lord, show your love to all men.
Keep us mindful of those whose work is hard and unrewarding:
may we give every man the respect which is his right.
– Lord, show your love to all men.
Give peace to those who have died today;
grant them eternal rest.
– Lord, show your love to all men.
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.
Lord, support us as we pray,
protect us day and night,
so that we who under your guiding hand live in a world of change
may always draw strength from you,
with whom there is no shadow of alteration.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
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