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Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. III:
Ordinary: 651
Psalter: Thursday, Week I, 765
Proper of Seasons: 65 (verse, first reading)
Proper of Saints: 1304 (second reading, concluding prayer)
Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings.
Office of Readings for Thursday in Ordinary Time, for the Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot
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. Alleluia.
HYMN
Sing praise to God who reigns above,
The God of all creation,
The God of power, the God of love,
The God of our salvation;
With healing balm my soul he fills,
And every faithless murmur stills:
To God all praise and glory.
What God’s almighty power hath made,
His gracious mercy keepeth;
By morning glow or evening shade
His watchful eye never sleepeth;
Within the kingdom of his might,
Lo! all is just and all is right:
To God all praise and glory.
Then all my gladsome way along,
I sing aloud thy praises,
That men may hear the grateful song
My voice unwearied raises;
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart,
Both soul and body, bear your part:
To God all praise and glory.
O ye who name Christ’s holy name,
Give God all praise and glory;
All ye who own this power, proclaim
Aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from this throne.
The Lord is God, and he alone:
To God all praise and glory.
“Sing praise to God who reigns above” performed by The Choir of King’s School; Melody: Mit Freuden Zart 87.87.887; Music: Bohemian Brethren’s Hymnbook, 1566; Text: Johan J. Schutz, 1640-1690; Translator: Frances E. Cox, 1812-1897
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 The word of the Lord is a strong shield for all who put their trust in him.
Psalm 18:31-51
Hymn of thanksgiving
If God is on our side who can be against us? (Romans 8:31).
IV
As for God, his ways are perfect;
the word of the Lord, purest gold.
He indeed is the shield
of all who make him their refuge.
For who is God but the Lord?
Who is a rock but our God?
The God who girds me with strength
and makes the path safe before me.
My feet you made swift as the deer’s;
you have made me stand firm on the heights.
You have trained my hands for battle
and my arms to bend the heavy bow.
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 word of the Lord is a strong shield for all who put their trust in him.
Ant. 2 Your strong right hand has upheld me, Lord.
V
You gave me your saving shield;
you upheld me, trained me with care.
You gave me freedom for my steps;
my feet have never slipped.
I pursued and overtook my foes,
never turning back till they were slain.
I smote them so they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
You girded me with strength for battle;
you made my enemies fall beneath me,
you made my foes take flight;
those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried, but there was no one to save them;
they cried to the Lord, but in vain.
I crushed them fine as dust before the wind;
trod them down like dirt in the streets.
You saved me from the feuds of the people
and put me at the head of the nations.
People unknown to me served me:
when they heard of me they obeyed me.
Foreign nations came to me cringing:
foreign nations faded away.
They came trembling out of their strongholds.
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. Your strong right hand has upheld me, Lord.
Ant. 3 May the living God, my Savior, be praised for ever.
VI
Long life to the Lord, my rock!
Praised be the God who saves me,
the God who gives me redress
and subdues people under me.
You saved me from my furious foes.
You set me above my assailants.
You saved me from violent men,
so I will praise you, Lord, among the nations:
I will sing a psalm to your name.
He has given great victories to his king
and shown his love for his anointed,
for David and his sons 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.
Psalm-prayer
Lord God, our strength and salvation, put in us the flame of your love and make our love for you grow to a perfect love which reaches to our neighbor.
Ant. May the living God, my Savior, be praised for ever.
Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell)
A moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.
The Lord led this holy man along a sure path.
– He showed him the kingdom of God.
READINGS
First reading
From the book of Sirach
42:15 – 43:12
All creation gives praise to God
Now will I recall God’s works;
what I have seen, I will describe.
At God’s word were his works brought into being;
they do his will as he has ordained for them.
As the rising sun is clear to all,
so the glory of the Lord fills all his works;
Yet even God’s holy ones must fail
in recounting the wonders of the Lord,
Though God has given these, his hosts, the strength
to stand firm before his glory.
He plumbs the depths and penetrates the heart;
their innermost being he understands.
The Most High possesses all knowledge,
and sees from of old the things that are to come:
He makes known the past and the future,
and reveals the deepest secrets.
No understanding does he lack;
no single thing escapes him.
Perennial is his almighty wisdom;
he is from all eternity one and the same,
With nothing added, nothing taken away;
no need of a counselor for him!
How beautiful are all his works!
even to the spark and the fleeting vision!
The universe lives and abides forever;
to meet each need, each creature is preserved.
All of them differ, one from another,
yet none of them has he made in vain,
For each in turn, as it comes, is good;
can one ever see enough of their splendor?
The clear vault of the sky shines forth
like heaven itself, a vision of glory.
The orb of the sun, resplendent at its rising:
what a wonderful work of the Most High!
At noon it seethes the surface of the earth,
and who can bear its fiery heat?
Like a blazing furnace of solid metal,
it sets the mountains aflame with its rays;
By its fiery darts the land is consumed;
the eyes are dazzled by its light.
Great indeed is the Lord who made it,
at whose orders it urges on its steeds.
The moon, too, that marks the changing times,
governing the seasons, their lasting sign,
By which we know the feast days and fixed dates,
this light-giver which wanes in its course:
As its name says, each month it renews itself;
how wondrous in this change!
The beauty, the glory, of the heavens are the stars
that adorn with their sparkling the heights of God,
At whose command they keep their place
and never relax in their vigils.
A weapon against the flood waters stored on high,
lighting up the firmament by its brilliance,
Behold the rainbow! Then bless its Maker,
for majestic indeed is its splendor;
It spans the heavens with its glory,
this bow bent by the mighty hand of God.
RESPONSORY Revelation 4:11; see Esther 13:10-11
You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power,
– for you created all things, and only through your will they were created and have being.
You created everything that is, heaven and earth, and all that the heavens hold within their span;
– For you created all things, and only through your will they were created and have being.
Second reading
From the Life of Saint Anthony by Saint Athanasius, bishop
Saint Anthony receives his vocation
When Anthony was about eighteen or twenty years old, his parents died, leaving him with an only sister. He cared for her as she was very young, and also looked after their home.
Not six months after his parents’ death, as he was on his way to church for his usual visit, he began to think of how the apostles had left everything and followed the Savior, and also of those mentioned in the book of Acts who had sold their possessions and brought the apostles the money for distribution to the needy. He reflected too on the great hope stored up in heaven for such as these. This was all in his mind when, entering the church just as the Gospel was being read, he heard the Lord’s words to the rich man: If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor—you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me.
It seemed to Anthony that it was God who had brought the saints to his mind and that the words of the Gospel had been spoken directly to him. Immediately he left the church and gave away to the villagers all the property he had inherited, about 200 acres of very beautiful and fertile land, so that it would cause no distraction to his sister and himself. He sold all his other possessions as well, giving to the poor the considerable sum of money he collected. However, to care for his sister he retained a few things.
The next time he went to church he heard the Lord say in the Gospel: Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Without a moment’s hesitation he went out and gave the poor all that he had left. He placed his sister in the care of some well-known and trustworthy virgins and arranged for her to be brought up in the convent. Then he gave himself up to the ascetic life, not far from his own home. He kept a careful watch over himself and practiced great austerity. He did manual work because he had heard the words: If anyone will not work, do not let him eat. He spent some of his earnings on bread and the rest he gave to the poor.
Having learned that we should always be praying, even when we are by ourselves, he prayed without ceasing. Indeed, he was so attentive when Scripture was read that nothing escaped him and because he retained all he heard, his memory served him in place of books.
Seeing the kind of life he lived, the villagers and all the good men he knew called him the friend of God, and they loved him as both son and brother.
RESPONSORY Matthew 19:21; Luke 14:33
If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor; you will be rich in heaven.
– Then come, follow me.
No one who will not renounce all his possessions can be my disciple.
– Then come, follow me.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
O God,
who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony to serve you
by a wondrous way of life in the desert,
grant, through his intercession,
that, denying ourselves,
we may always love you above all things.
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.
ACCLAMATION (only added when praying in community)
Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.
The English translation of The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) ©1974, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. Used with permission by Surgeworks, Inc for the Divine Office Catholic Ministry. DivineOffice.org website, podcast, apps and all related media is © 2006-2011 Surgeworks, Inc. All rights reserved. (280)
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