Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. I:
Ordinary: 649
Psalter: Friday, Week II, 890
Common of Pastors: 1431 (verse)
Proper of Seasons: 242 (first reading)
Proper of Saints: 1246 (second reading, responsory, concluding prayer)
Christian Prayer:
Does not contain Office of Readings
Office of Readings for Friday in Advent, the Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor
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.
HYMN
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day,
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my plays,
To call my true love to the dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then was I born of a Virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance:
Then was I knit to man’s nature,
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
In a manger laid and wrapp’d I was,
So very poor this was my chance,
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass,
To call my true love to the dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then afterwards baptised I was,
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father’s voice heard from above,
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Into the desert I was led,
Where I fasted without substance:
The Devil bade me make stones my bread,
To have me break my true love’s dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
The Jews on me they made great suit,
And with me made great variance,
Because they loved darkness better than light,
To call my true love to the dance.
Sing oh, sing oh my love.
For thirty pence Judas me sold,
His covetousness for to advance;
Mark whom I kiss, the same do hold,
The same is he shall lead the dance.
Sing oh my love, my love.
Before Pilate the Jews me brought,
When Barabbas had deliverance;
They scourged me and set me at nought,
Judged me to die to lead the dance.
Sing oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
When on the cross hanged I was;
When a spear to my heart did glance,
There issued forth both water and blood,
To call my true love to the dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then down to Hell I took my way,
For my true love’s deliverance,
And rose again on the third day,
Up to my true love and the dance,
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then up to Heav’n I did ascend,
Where now I dwell in sure substance,
On the right hand of God
That man may come into the general dance.
Sing oh my love, oh my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
This Have I Done For My True Love by Choir Of St. John’s College; Authorship: from Folk poetry or song tradition (Volkslieder) , a Cornish carol from Sandys, Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, published 1833 ; Musical settings: Gustav Holst, “This have I done for my true love”, op. 34 no. 1, H. 128.
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 Lord, in your anger, do not punish me.
Psalm 38
A sinner in extreme danger prays earnestly to God
All his friends were standing at a distance. (Luke 23:49)
I
O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger;
do not punish me, Lord, in your rage.
Your arrows have sunk deep in me;
your hand has come down upon me.
Through your anger all my body is sick:
through my sin, there is no health in my limbs.
My guilt towers higher than my head;
it is a weight too heavy to bear.
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. Lord, in your anger, do not punish me.
Ant. 2 Lord, you know all my longings.
II
My wounds are foul and festering,
the result of my own folly.
I am bowed and brought to my knees.
I go mourning all the day long.
All my frame burns with fever;
all my body is sick.
Spent and utterly crushed,
I cry aloud in anguish of heart.
O Lord, you know all my longing:
my groans are not hidden from you.
My heart throbs, my strength is spent;
the very light has gone from my eyes.
My friends avoid me like a leper;
those closest to me stand afar off.
Those who plot against my life lay snares;
those who seek my ruin speak of harm,
planning treachery all the day long.
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. Lord, you know all my longings.
Ant. 3 I confess my guilt to you, Lord; do not abandon me, for you are my Savior.
III
But I am like the deaf who cannot hear,
like the dumb unable to speak.
I am like a man who hears nothing
in whose mouth is no defense.
I count on you, O Lord:
it is you, Lord God, who will answer.
I pray: Do not let them mock me,
those who triumph if my foot should slip.”
For I am on the point of falling
and my pain is always before me.
I confess that I am guilty
and my sin fills me with dismay.
My wanton enemies are numberless
and my lying foes are many.
They repay me evil for good
and attack me for seeking what is right.
O Lord, do not forsake me!
My God, do not stay afar off!
Make haste and come to my help,
O Lord, my God, my savior!
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
Do not abandon us, Lord our God; you did not forget the broken body of your Christ, nor the mockery his love received. We, your children, are weighed down with sin; give us the fullness of your mercy.
Ant. I confess my guilt to you, Lord; do not abandon me, for you are my Savior.
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.
You will hear the word from my mouth.
– You will tell others what I have said.
READINGS
First reading
From the book of the prophet IsaiahÂ
27:1-13
The Lord cares for his vineyard once again
On that day,
The Lord will punish with his sword
that is cruel, great, and strong,
Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the coiled serpent;
and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
On that day -
The pleasant vineyard, sing about it!
I, the Lord, am its keeper,
I water it every moment;
Lest anyone harm it,
night and day I guard it.
I am not angry,
but if I were to find briers and thorns,
In battle I should march against them;
I should burn them all.
Expunging and expelling, I should strive against them,
carrying them off with my cruel wind in time of storm.
In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall sprout and blossom,
covering all the world with fruit.
Is he to be smitten as his smiter was smitten?
or slain as his slayer was slain?
Or shall he cling to me for refuge?
He must make peace with me;
peace shall he make with me!
This, then, shall be the expiation of Jacob’s guilt,
this the whole fruit of the removal of his sin:
He shall pulverize all the stones of the altars
like pieces of chalk;
no sacred poles or incense altars shall stand.
For the fortified city shall be desolate,
an abandoned pasture, a forsaken wilderness,
where calves shall browse and lie.
Its boughs shall be destroyed,
its branches shall wither and be broken off,
and women shall come to build a fire with them.
This is not an understanding people;
therefore their maker shall not spare them,
nor shall he who formed them have mercy on them.
On that day,
The Lord shall beat out the grain
between the Euphrates and the Wadi of Egypt,
and you shall be gleaned one by one, O sons of Israel.
On that day,
A great trumpet shall blow,
and the lost in the land of Assyria
and the outcasts in the land of Egypt
Shall come and worship the Lord
on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.
RESPONSORY See Matthew 24:31; Isaiah 27:13
The Lord will send forth his angels with a mighty trumpet blast;
– they will gather his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
They shall come and worship the Lord on his holy mountain in Jerusalem.
– They will gather his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Second reading
From a spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross, priest
The knowledge of the mystery hidden in Jesus Christ
Though holy doctors have uncovered many mysteries and wonders, and devout souls have understood them in this earthly condition of ours, yet the greater part still remains to be unfolded by them, and even to be understood by them.
We must then dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides.
For this reason the apostle Paul said of Christ: In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The soul cannot enter into these treasures, nor attain them, unless it first crosses into and enters the thicket of suffering, enduring interior and exterior labors, and unless it first receives from God very many blessings in the intellect and in the senses, and has undergone long spiritual training.
All these are lesser things, disposing the soul for the lofty sanctuary of the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ: this is the highest wisdom attainable in this life.
Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.
Saint Paul therefore urges the Ephesians not to grow weary in the midst of tribulations, but to be rooted and grounded in love, so that they may know with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height and the depth—to know what is beyond knowledge, the love of Christ, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God. The gate that gives entry into these riches of his wisdom is the cross; because it is a narrow gate, while many seek the joys that can be gained through it, it is given to few to desire to pass through it.
RESPONSORY 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
No eye can see, no ear can hear, no heart can imagine
– the marvels that God has prepared for those who love him.
Yet God has revealed them to us through his Spirit.
– The marvels that God has prepared for those who love him.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
O God,
who gave the Priest Saint John
an outstanding dedication
to perfect self-denial and love of the Cross,
grant that, by imitating him closely at all times,
we may come to contemplate eternally your glory.
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.
ACCLAMATION (only added when praying in community)
Let us praise the Lord.
– And give him thanks.
The English translation of The Liturgy of the Hours (Four Volumes) ©1974,
International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. Used with permission by
Surgeworks, Inc for the Divine Office Catholic Ministry. DivineOffice.org website, podcast, apps and all related media is © 2006-2011
Surgeworks, Inc. All rights reserved.
