Lord, open our lips.
  And we shall praise your name.

Invitatory Psalm	Psalm 94 (95)

Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
(repeat antiphon*)
Come, let us rejoice in the Lord,
  let us acclaim God our salvation.
Let us come before him proclaiming our thanks,
  let us acclaim him with songs.
  (repeat antiphon*)
For the Lord is a great God,
  a king above all gods.
For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,
  and the peaks of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his: he made it;
  and his hands formed the dry land.
  (repeat antiphon*)
Come, let us worship and bow down,
  bend the knee before the Lord who made us;
for he himself is our God and we are his flock,
  the sheep that follow his hand.
  (repeat antiphon*)
If only, today, you would listen to his voice:
  “Do not harden your hearts
  as you did at Meribah,
on the day of Massah in the desert,
  when your fathers tested me –
they put me to the test,
  although they had seen my works.”
  (repeat antiphon*)
“For forty years they wearied me,
  that generation.
I said: their hearts are wandering,
  they do not know my paths.
I swore in my anger:
  they will never enter my place of rest.”
  (repeat antiphon*)
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.
(repeat antiphon*)

* If you are reciting this on your own, you can choose to say the antiphon once only at the start of the psalm and not repeat it.

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Hymn

Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us didst fast and pray,
Teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
And close by thee to stay.
As thou with Satan didst contend,
And didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
In thee to conquer sin.
As thirst and hunger thou didst bear,
So teach us, gracious Lord,
To die to self, and daily live
By thy most holy word.
And through these days of penitence,
And through thy Passiontide,
Yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus, with us abide.

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Psalm 91 (92)
Praise of God, the Creator

It is good to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning.
It is good to praise the Lord,
  and to sing psalms to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your mercy in the morning
  and your faithfulness by night;
on the ten-stringed lyre and the harp,
  with songs upon the lyre.
For you give me joy, Lord, in your creation:
  I rejoice in the work of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord,
  how immeasurably deep your thoughts.
The fool does not hear,
  the slow-witted do not understand.
When the wicked sprout up like grass,
  and the doers of evil are in full bloom,
it will come to nothing, for they will perish for ever and ever;
  but you, Lord, are the Highest eternally.
For behold, Lord, your enemies, how your enemies will perish,
  how wrongdoers will be scattered.
You will give me strength as the wild oxen have;
  I have been anointed with the purest oil.
I will look down upon my enemies,
  and hear the plans of those who plot evil against me.
The just will flourish like the palm tree,
  grow tall like the cedar of Lebanon.
They will be planted in the house of the Lord;
  in the courts of our God they will flourish.
They will bear fruit even when old,
  fresh and luxuriant through all their days.
They will proclaim how just is the Lord, my refuge,
  for in him there is no unrighteousness.
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 good to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning.

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Canticle	Ezekiel 36

The Lord will renew his people

I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you.
I will take you from among the Gentiles,
  I will bring you together from all the earth,
  I will lead you into your own land.
I will pour clean water on you,
  and you will be cleansed from your filth:
  from all your worship of idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I will take the stone heart from your breast and put a heart of flesh in its place.
I will put my spirit among you,
  so that you will walk in the paths of my law,
  keep my judgements and obey them.
You shall live in the land I gave to your fathers.
You shall be a people for me, and I will be your God.
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.
I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you.

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Psalm 8
The greatness of God, the dignity of man

On the lips of children and of babes you have found praise, Lord.
How wonderful is your name over all the earth,
  O Lord, our Lord!
How exalted is your glory
  above the sky!
Out of the mouths of children and infants you have brought praise,
  to confound your enemies, to destroy your vengeful foes.
When I see the heavens, the work of your fingers,
  the moon and stars, which you set in their place –
what is man, that you should take thought for him?
  what is the son of man, that you should look after him?
You have made him but one step lower than the angels;
  you have crowned him with glory and honour;
  you have set him over the works of your hands.
You have put everything beneath his feet,
  cattle and sheep and the beasts of the field,
the birds in the air and the fish in the sea,
  whatever passes along the paths of the waters.
How wonderful is your name above all the earth,
  O Lord, our 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.
On the lips of children and of babes you have found praise, Lord.

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Short Reading	Isaiah 1:16-18 ©

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us talk this over, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

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Short Responsory

It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
–  It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
And from the evil word.
–  It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
–  It is he who will free me from the snare of the hunters.

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Canticle	Benedictus

The Messiah and his forerunner

No one has ever spoken like this man.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
  for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption.
He has raised up the sign of salvation
  in the house of his servant David,
as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones,
  his prophets through the ages:
to rescue us from our enemies
  and all who hate us,
to take pity on our fathers,
  to remember his holy covenant
and the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
  that he would give himself to us,
that we could serve him without fear
 – freed from the hands of our enemies –
in uprightness and holiness before him,
  for all of our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High:
  for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path,
to let his people know their salvation,
  so that their sins may be forgiven.
Through the bottomless mercy of our God,
  one born on high will visit us
to give light to those who walk in darkness,
  who live in the shadow of death;
  to lead our feet in the path of peace.
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.
No one has ever spoken like this man.

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Prayers and intercessions

Let us give thanks always to Christ, our Saviour, and pray to him with confidence.
–  Lord, help us by your grace.
Lord, may we keep our bodies free from sin;
  may the Holy Spirit dwell within us.
–  Lord, help us by your grace.
Teach us to offer ourselves this morning for our fellow men,
  and strengthen us to do your will throughout the day.
–  Lord, help us by your grace.
Grant that we may hunger for the food of eternal life;
  give us the bread of your word and your body.
–  Lord, help us by your grace.
May your Mother, the refuge of sinners, intercede for us;
  through her prayers forgive us in your mercy.
–  Lord, help us by your grace.

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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.

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In your gentle mercy, Lord,
  guide our wayward hearts,
for we know that left to ourselves
  we cannot do your will.
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.

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The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
  Amen.