Dec 22, Office of Readings for Monday of the 4th week of Advent

Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. I:
Ordinary: 649
Proper of Seasons: 359
Psalter: Monday, Week IV, 1065

Office of Readings for December 22, Monday of the 4th Week of Advent

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.

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 How good is the God of Israel to the pure of heart!

Psalm 73
Why is it that the good have many troubles?
Blessed is the man who does not lose faith in me (Matthew 11:6).

I

How good God is to Israel,
to those who are pure of heart.
Yet my feet came close to stumbling,
my steps had almost slipped
for I was filled with envy of the proud
when I saw how the wicked prosper.

For them there are no pains;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They do not share in men’s sorrows;
they are not stricken like others.

So they wear their pride like a necklace,
they clothe themselves with violence.
Their hearts overflow with malice,
their minds seethe with plots.

They scoff; they speak with malice;
from on high they plan oppression.
They have set their mouths in the heavens
and their tongues dictate to the earth.

So the people turn to follow them
and drink in all their words.
They say: “How can God know?
Does the Most High take any notice?”
Look at them, such are the wicked,
but untroubled, they grow in wealth.

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. How good is the God of Israel to the pure of heart!

Ant. 2 Their laughter will turn to weeping, their merriment to grief.

II

How useless to keep my heart pure
and wash my hands in innocence,
when I was stricken all day long,
suffered punishment day after day.

Then I said: “If I should speak like that,
I should betray the race of your sons.”
I strove to fathom this problem,
too hard for my mind to understand,
until I pierced the mysteries of God
and understood what becomes of the wicked.

How slippery the paths on which you set them;
you make them slide to destruction.
How suddenly they come to their ruin,
wiped out, destroyed by terrors.
Like a dream one wakes from, O Lord,
when you wake you dismiss them as phantoms.

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. Their laughter will turn to weeping, their merriment to grief.

Ant. 3 Those who depart from you will perish; my joy is to remain with you, my God.

III

And so when my heart grew embittered
and when I was cut to the quick,
I was stupid and did not understand,
no better than a beast in your sight.

Yet I was always in your presence;
you were holding me by my right hand.
You will guide me by your counsel
and so you will lead me to glory.

What else have I in heaven but you?
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.
My body and my heart faint for joy;
God is my possession for ever.

All those who abandon you shall perish;
you will destroy all those who are faithless.
To be near God is my happiness.
I have made the Lord God my refuge.
I will tell of your works
at the gates of the city of Zion.

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

It is good to be with you, Father; in you is fullness of life for your faithful people; in you all hope resides. May you lead us to everlasting happiness.

Ant. Those who depart from you will perish; my joy is to remain with you, my God.

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.

Hear the word of the Lord, all you nations.
— Proclaim it to the ends of the earth.

READINGS

First reading
From the book of the prophet Isaiah
49:14-50:1
The restoration of Zion

Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.
See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name;
your walls are ever before me.
Your rebuilders make haste,
as those who tore you down and laid you waste go forth from you;

Look about and see,
they are all gathering and coming to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you shall be arrayed with them all as with adornments,
like a bride you shall fasten them on you.
Though you were waste and desolate,
a land of ruins,
Now you shall be too small for your inhabitants,
while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
The children whom you had lost
shall yet say to you,
“This place is too small for me,
make room for me to live in.”
You shall ask yourself:
“Who has borne me these?
I was bereft and barren
exiled and repudiated;
who has reared them?
I was left all alone;
where then do these come from?”

Thus says the Lord God:
See, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
Kings shall be your foster fathers,
their princesses your nurses;
Bowing to the ground, they shall worship you
and lick the dust at your feet.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
and those who hope in me shall never be disappointed.

Thus says the Lord:
Can booty be taken from a warrior?
or captives be rescued from a tyrant?
Yes, captives can be taken from a warrior,
and booty be rescued from a tyrant;
Those who oppose you I will oppose,
and your sons I will save.

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood
as with the juice of the grape.
All mankind shall know
that I, the Lord, am your savior,
your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Thus says the Lord:
Where is the bill of divorce
with which I dismissed your mother?
Or to which of my creditors
have I sold you?
It was for your sins that you were sold,
for your crimes that your mother was dismissed.

RESPONSORY Isaiah 49:15; see Psalm 27:10

Could a mother ever forget her infant,
and not take compassion on the child of her womb?
— Even if a mother should forget, I would never forget you, says the Lord.

My father and my mother have neglected me,
but you, Lord, have lifted me up.
— Even if a mother should forget, I would never forget you, says the Lord.

Second reading
From a commentary of Luke by Venerable Bede, priest
The Magnificat

Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. The Lord has exalted me by a gift so great, so unheard of, that language is useless to describe it, and the depths of love in my heart can scarcely grasp it. I offer then all the powers of my soul in praise and thanksgiving. As I contemplate his greatness, which knows no limits, I joyfully surrender my whole life, my senses, my judgment, for my spirit rejoices in the eternal Godhead of that Jesus, that Savior, whom I have conceived in this world of time.

The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

Mary looks back to the beginning of her song, where she said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. Only that soul for whom the Lord in his love does great things can proclaim his greatness with fitting praise and encourage those who share her desire and purpose, saying: Join with me in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord; let us extol his name together.

Those who know the Lord, yet refuse to proclaim his greatness and sanctify his name to the limit of their power, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. His name is called holy because in the sublimity of his unique power he surpasses every creature and is far removed from all that he had made. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy. In a beautiful phrase Mary calls Israel the servant of the Lord. The Lord came to his aid to save him. Israel is an obedient and humble servant, in the words of Hosea: Israel was a servant, and I loved him.

Those who refuse to be humble cannot be saved. They cannot say with the prophet: See, God comes to my aid; the Lord is the helper of my soul. But anyone who makes himself humble like a little child is greater in the kingdom of heaven.

The promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever. This does not refer to the physical descendants of Abraham, but to his spiritual children. These are his descendants, sprung not from the flesh only, but who, whether circumcised or not, have followed him in faith. Circumcised as he was, Abraham believed, and this was credited to him as an act of righteousness.

The coming of the Savior was promised to Abraham and to his descendants for ever. These are the children of promise, to whom it is said: If you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs in accordance with the promise.

RESPONSORY Luke 1:48-50

From this day, all generations will call me blessed.
— The almighty has done great things for me, holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
— The almighty has done great things for me, holy is his Name.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God, who,
seeing the human race fallen into death,
willed to redeem it by the coming of your Only Begotten Son,
grant, we pray, that those who confess his Incarnation
with humble fervor may merit his company as their Redeemer.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.

ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)

Let us praise the Lord.
— And give him thanks.