Invitatory
V. Lord, open my lips.
R. And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Antiphon: Come, let us adore the Lord, for He is our God.
Psalm 94 (95)
Come let us praise the Lord with joy:
let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth:
and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it:
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down:
and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God:
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:
as in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness:
where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said:
These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways:
so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Antiphon: Come, let us adore the Lord, for He is our God.
Hymn
The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended
Psalmody
Psalm 62 (63) — A thirst for 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 will 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 3:57–88, 56
All ye works of the Lord, bless 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 ye 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 dews and hoar frost, bless the Lord:
O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord.
O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord:
O ye nights and days, bless the Lord.
O ye light and darkness, bless the Lord:
O ye lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.
O let the earth bless the Lord:
let it praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye mountains and hills, bless the Lord:
O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord.
O ye fountains, bless the Lord:
O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord.
O ye whales and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord:
O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord.
O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord:
O ye sons of men, bless the Lord.
O let Israel bless the Lord:
let them praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord:
O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord.
O ye spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord:
O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord.
O Ananias, Azarias, Misael, bless the Lord:
praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost:
let us praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Blessed art thou, O Lord, in the firmament of heaven:
and worthy of praise, and glorious, and exalted above all for ever.
Psalm 149 — The joy of the saints
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:
To execute vengeance upon the nations,
chastisements among the people:
To bind their kings with fetters,
and their nobles with manacles of iron.
To execute upon them the judgment that is written:
this glory is to all his saints.
Short Reading — Romans 13:11–12
And that, knowing the time, that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep.
For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed.
The night is passed, and the day is at hand.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.
Responsory
R. My God stands by me, all my trust is in Him.
V. I find refuge in Him and I am truly free.
R. All my trust is in Him.
Benedictus
Antiphon: Serve the Lord in holiness all the days of your life.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an 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
Let us praise Christ, the light of the nations, and call upon Him:
— Lord, bring your light to all men.
You came to heal the contrite,
— bind up the wounds of those who seek You.
You give sight to the blind,
— guide those who walk in darkness.
You are the resurrection and the life,
— strengthen our hope in eternal glory.
You call us to holiness in daily work,
— make our labor pleasing in Your sight.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…
Concluding Prayer
O God, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding:
pour into our hearts such love towards thee, that we, loving thee in all things and above all things,
may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Paradox of the Day
He who thinks he has time to waste has already lost eternity;
he who thinks eternity has begun finds time redeemed.
G.K. Chesterton Quote
“There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.”
Reflection
The modern man wakes reluctantly because he believes the day belongs to him. The Christian wakes urgently because he suspects the day belongs to God.
There is all the difference in the world between these two awakenings.
St. Paul does not suggest that we might consider rising. He declares that it is already late. Not late in the trivial sense of missing a meeting, but late in the profound sense that eternity has already begun to press upon time. The sun has risen on a kingdom most men have not yet noticed.
This is why Christianity has always been a religion of morning people—even when practiced by those who prefer sleep. It insists that reality is not something we ease into, but something we are summoned into.
To “put on the armor of light” is a curious phrase. Armor is for battle, but light is for seeing. The Christian, then, is armed not merely to fight, but to perceive—to recognize that every hour, every task, every interruption is already lit by something eternal.
The tragedy is not that men are busy. It is that they are busy in the dark.
But the man who realizes that the day is at hand will begin differently. He will forgive before he argues. He will act before he delays. He will hope before he despairs.
Because he knows something wonderfully unreasonable:
The light is not coming.
It is already here.
— Chesterton Radio
“The Open Door is always open.”