Opening
Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Hymn
In the stillness, one true Word Is enough to hold the soul. We do not come to master you; We come to be made whole. Open the book, open the heart. Where we have hurried, slow us down. Where we have feared, be near and kind Until your light is found.
Original – Prayer on Fire
Psalm I
Antiphon
Mary, quiet flame of faith, keep us near your Son.
Psalm 51 (50):12–14
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
Psalm
Create a clean heart in me, O God. And renew an upright spirit within my inmost being. Do not cast me away from your face; and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and confirm me with an unsurpassed spirit.
Glory Be
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.
Antiphon
Mary, quiet flame of faith, keep us near your Son.
Psalm II
Antiphon
Handmaid of the Lord, help us say yes when we are afraid.
Psalm 63 (62):2–5
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
Psalm
O God, my God: to you, I keep vigil until first light. For you, my soul has thirsted, to you my body, in so many ways. By a deserted land, both inaccessible and waterless, so I have appeared in the sanctuary before you, in order to behold your virtue and your glory. For your mercy is better than life itself. It is you my lips will praise. So will I bless you in my life, and I will lift up my hands in your name.
Glory Be
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.
Antiphon
Handmaid of the Lord, help us say yes when we are afraid.
Silence
A moment of silence
First Reading
Isaiah 7:10–14
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
And the Lord spoke further to Ahaz, saying: Ask for a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, from the depths below, even to the heights above. And Ahaz said, “I will not ask, for I will not tempt the Lord.” And he said: “Then listen, O house of David. Is it such a small thing for you to trouble men, that you must also trouble my God? For this reason, the Lord himself will grant to you a sign. Behold, a virgin will conceive, and she will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.
Responsory
The Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Second Reading
On the nativity of Mary
Original – Prayer on Fire
A child is born, and the Church keeps the day as if the world’s hope had already begun to breathe. Mary’s nativity is not a private family story. It is the first quiet ringing of a bell that will sound at Bethlehem. God is preparing a dwelling, and the dwelling is a girl. We honour her beginning because we have learned her ending: a life wholly given, a will that did not bargain, a mother who stood when standing was the only possible love. Grace was at work before she could speak. That is how God saves. He is beforehand. If your own beginning was tangled, this feast is still yours. The Lord does not need a clean first chapter in order to write a true one. He asks for the page that is open now. Thank him for Mary’s birth as you would thank him for a door left unlatched in a hard season. Pray for children, for mothers, for every hidden start that the world does not notice. Then take up the day as one who knows that small lives matter. Heaven once waited on a newborn girl in Nazareth, and the waiting was not wasted.
Intercessions
For the Church, that Mary’s yes may still teach us how to trust.
R. Speak, Lord, we are listening.
For the lowly, that they may be lifted as she was lifted.
R. Speak, Lord, we are listening.
For the dying, that they may be received into the same joy.
R. Speak, Lord, we are listening.
For our own hearts, that we may keep the Word as she kept it.
R. Speak, Lord, we are listening.
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. Amen.
Closing prayer
God our Father, on this Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, you lifted her into the joy of your presence. Receive our praise this day, and keep us near her Son until we too are gathered home. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.