Opening
Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Hymn
We offer You the morning, Lord, Its noise not yet begun. Receive our work, our waiting too, Before the race is run. If joy should meet us on the road, Or trial mark the hour, Still keep us near Your quiet fire, And under love’s true power.
Original, Prayer on Fire
Psalm I
Antiphon
New mercy for a new day — I place my plans in your hands.
Psalm 51 (50)
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
Psalm
Be merciful to me, O God, according to your great mercy. And, according to the plentitude of your compassion, wipe out my iniquity. Wash me once again from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is ever before me. Against you only have I sinned, and I have done evil before your eyes. And so, you are justified in your words, and you will prevail when you give judgment. For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sinfulness did my mother conceive me. For behold, you have loved truth. The obscure and hidden things of your wisdom, you have manifested to me. You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed. You will wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow. In my hearing, you will grant gladness and rejoicing. And the bones that have been humbled will exult. Turn your face away from my sins, and erase all my iniquities. 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. I will teach the unjust your ways, and the impious will be converted to you. Free me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will extol your justice. O Lord, you will open my lips, and my mouth will announce your praise. For if you had desired sacrifice, I would certainly have given it, but with holocausts, you will not be delighted. A crushed spirit is a sacrifice to God. A contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn. Act kindly, Lord, in your good will toward Zion, so that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up. Then you will accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations, and holocausts. Then they will lay calves upon your altar.
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
New mercy for a new day — I place my plans in your hands.
Psalm II
Antiphon
Rise in my heart, O Sun of Justice, and scatter what is false.
Psalm 90 (89)
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
Psalm
O Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation. Before the mountains became, or the land was formed along with the world: from ages past, even to all ages, you are God. And, lest man be turned aside in humiliation, you have said: Be converted, O sons of men. For a thousand years before your eyes are like the days of yesterday, which have passed by, and they are like a watch of the night, which was held for nothing: so their years shall be. In the morning, he may pass away like grass; in the morning, he may flower and pass away. In the evening, he will fall, and harden, and become dry. For, at your wrath, we have withered away, and we have been disturbed by your fury. You have placed our iniquities in your sight, our age in the illumination of your countenance. For all our days have faded away, and at your wrath, we have fainted. Our years will be considered to be like a spider’s web. The days of our years in them are seventy years. But in the powerful, they are eighty years, and more of these are with hardship and sorrow. For mildness has overwhelmed us, and we shall be corrected. Who knows the power of your wrath? And, before fear, can your wrath be numbered? So make known your right hand, along with men learned in heart, in wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long? And may you be persuaded on behalf of your servants. We were filled in the morning with your mercy, and we exulted and delighted all our days. We have been rejoicing, because of the days in which you humbled us, because of the years in which we saw evils. Look down upon your servants and upon their works, and direct their sons. And may the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. And so, direct the works of our hands over us; direct even the work of our hands.
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
Rise in my heart, O Sun of Justice, and scatter what is false.
Silence
Let the last verse rest in you.
Reading
Ephesians 4:29–32
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
Let no evil words proceed from your mouth, but only what is good, toward the edification of faith, so as to bestow grace upon those who listen. And do not be willing to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed, unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and outcry and blasphemy be taken away from you, along with all malice. And be kind and merciful to one another, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you in Christ.
Responsory
Let the light of your face shine upon us. And we shall be saved. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Benedictus
Antiphon
Go before the face of the Lord this day, and prepare his way in our work.
Luke 1:68–79
Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)
Canticle
“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited and has wrought the redemption of his people. And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us, in the house of David his servant, just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy Prophets, who are from ages past: salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all those who hate us, to accomplish mercy with our fathers, and to call to mind his holy testament, the oath, which he swore to Abraham, our father, that he would grant to us, so that, having been freed from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear, in holiness and in justice before him, throughout all our days. And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the face of the Lord: to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people for the remission of their sins, through the heart of the mercy of our God, by which, descending from on high, he has visited us, to illuminate those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to direct our feet in the way of peace.”
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
Go before the face of the Lord this day, and prepare his way in our work.
Intercessions
For the plans we carry — hold them loosely in your will.
R. Lord, hear our prayer.
For coworkers and those we serve today.
R. Lord, hear our prayer.
For integrity when no one is watching.
R. Lord, hear our prayer.
For interruptions that may be your messengers.
R. Lord, hear our prayer.
For a day’s work offered, not merely endured.
R. Lord, hear our prayer.
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
Father, receive our small yes. We offer the hours we have not yet lived. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.