Invitatory
℣. Lord, open my lips.
℟. And my mouth shall declare Thy praise.
Antiphon:
Come, let us adore Christ, the Prince of Peace.
🎶 Hymn (Week II Cycle)
O blest Creator of the light,
Who mak’st the day with radiance bright,
And o’er the forming world didst call
The light from chaos first of all;
Whose wisdom joined in meet array
The morn and eve, and named them Day:
Night comes with all its darkling fears;
Regard Thy people’s prayers and tears.
Lest, sunk in sin, and whelmed with strife,
They lose the gift of endless life;
While thinking but the thoughts of time,
They weave new chains of woe and crime.
But grant them grace that they may strain
The heavenly gate and prize to gain:
Each harmful lure aside to cast,
And purge away each error past.
O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Doth live and reign eternally. Amen.
📖 Psalmody
Psalm 62 (63)
Antiphon: My soul thirsts for Thee, O Lord, my God.
O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day.
For Thee my soul hath thirsted; for Thee my flesh, O how many ways!
In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water:
So in the sanctuary have I come before Thee, to see Thy power and Thy glory.
For Thy mercy is better than lives:
Thee my lips shall praise.
Thus will I bless Thee all my life long:
And in Thy name I will lift up my hands.
Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness:
And my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips.
If I have remembered Thee upon my bed, I will meditate on Thee in the morning:
Because Thou hast been my helper.
And I will rejoice under the covert of Thy wings:
My soul hath stuck close to Thee: Thy right hand hath received me.
Canticle — Daniel 3
Antiphon: All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord:
Praise and exalt Him above all for ever.
O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord:
O ye heavens, bless the Lord.
O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord:
O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord.
O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord:
O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord.
O every shower and dew, bless the Lord:
O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord.
O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord:
O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord.
O ye sons of men, bless the Lord:
O Israel, bless the Lord:
Praise and exalt Him above all for ever.
Psalm 149
Antiphon: Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
Let His praise be in the church of the saints.
Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him:
And let the children of Sion be joyful in their king.
Let them praise His name in choir:
Let them sing to Him with the timbrel and the psaltery.
For the Lord is well pleased with His people:
And He will exalt the meek unto salvation.
The saints shall rejoice in glory:
They shall be joyful in their beds.
The high praises of God shall be in their mouth:
And two-edged swords in their hands.
📜 Short Reading
(1 Thessalonians 5:4–5)
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
For all you are the children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
🎵 Benedictus
Antiphon: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
Because He hath visited and wrought the redemption of His people:
And hath raised up a horn of salvation to us,
In the house of David His servant:
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers,
And to remember His holy testament,
The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
That He would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
We may serve Him without fear,
In holiness and justice before Him,
All our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to His people,
Unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God,
In which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death:
To direct our feet into the way of peace.
🙏 Intercessions
Christ is the Prince of Peace. Let us call upon Him:
℟. Lord, give us Thy peace.
— In a restless world, grant us hearts that trust in Thee.
℟. Lord, give us Thy peace.
— In our work and duties, keep us steady and faithful.
℟. Lord, give us Thy peace.
— In anxiety and fear, speak again Thy word of calm.
℟. Lord, give us Thy peace.
— In our homes and communities, make us instruments of Thy peace.
℟. Lord, give us Thy peace.
✠ Concluding Prayer
O God, who dost order all things in heaven and on earth,
mercifully hear the prayers of Thy people,
and grant us Thy peace in our days.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
God, world without end. Amen.
✨ Paradox of the Day
Peace is not found when the storm disappears,
but when a man discovers that the storm cannot reach his center.
📚 G.K. Chesterton
“What is called the ‘peace of God’ is not the absence of war, but the presence of a power.”
🕊️ Reflection
There is a peculiar thing about peace: it is almost always mistaken for silence.
A quiet room is not necessarily a peaceful one; it may be merely empty. A calm sea is not necessarily safe; it may be merely waiting. And a man without conflict is not necessarily at rest; he may simply have surrendered.
When Christ says, “My peace I give unto you,” He is not offering the fragile peace of circumstances, but the stubborn peace of sovereignty. It is not the peace that comes when everything goes right, but the peace that remains when everything appears to go wrong.
The world’s peace is like a carefully balanced tower—it stands only so long as nothing disturbs it. But the peace of Christ is like a rooted tree—it grows precisely because the winds come against it.
This is why the saints were not serene in the modern sense. They were often embattled, opposed, misunderstood—and yet, curiously unshaken. Their peace was not the absence of trouble but the presence of a King.
And this is the great reversal: that peace is not something we build by arranging our lives, but something we receive by surrendering them.
The man who tries to control everything will never be at peace. But the man who entrusts everything—to God—discovers that peace was never fragile at all.
It was simply waiting to be believed.
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