Ninth Day of Christmas 2022

O God, open my lips/And my mouth will declare your praise. 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:  Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.

Psalm 5

Hear my words, my groans,

my cries for help,

O  God my king.

I pray to you, Lord,

my prayer rises with the sun.

At dawn I plead my case and wait.

You never welcome evil, God,

never let it stay.

You hate arrogance

and abhor scoundrels,

you detest violence

and destroy the traitor.

But by your great mercy

I enter your house

and bend low in awe

within your holy temple.

In the face of my enemies

clear the way

bring me your justice.

Their charges are groundless,

they breathe destruction;

their tongues are smooth,

their throat an open grave.

God, pronounce them guilty,

catch them in their own plots,

expel them for their sins;

they have betrayed you.

But let those who trust you

be glad and celebrate for ever.

Protect those who love your name,

then they will delight in you.

For you bless the just, O God,

your grace surrounds them like a shield.

(silent reflection)

Psalm 72

God, give your king judgment,

the son of the king

your sense of what is right.

help him judge your people

and do right for the powerless.

May mountains bear peace,

hills bring forth justice.

May the king defend the poor,

set their children free,

and kill their oppressors.

May he live as long as the sun,

as long as the moon, for ever.

May he be like rain on a field,

like showers that soak the earth.

May justice sprout in his time

peace till the moon is no more.

May he rule from sea to sea,

from the River to the ends of the earth.

Enemies will cower before him,

they will lick the dust.

Kings from Tarshish and the islands

will bring their riches to him.

King of Sheba, kings of Saba

will carry gifts to him.

All kings will bow before him,

all the nations serve him.

He will rescue the poor at their call,

those no one speaks for.

Those no one cares for

he hears and will save,

save their lives from violence,

lives precious in his eyes.

Every day they pray for him,

bless him all his life.

Long life to him!

Gold to him from Saba!

May wheat be thick in the fields,

fruit trees sway on the slope.

May cities teem with people,

thick as the forests of Lebanon.

May his name live on for ever,

live as long as the sun.

May all find blessing in him,

and he be blest by all.

Blest be Israel's God,

Lord of wonderful deeds!

Bless God's name for ever!

Let God's glory fill the world!

Amen and amen!

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:  Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.

Reading: 1 John 2:29-3:6

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

BENEDICTUS ANTIPHON

You will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud of great power and glory.

BENEDICTUS

Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,

who shepherds the people and sets them free.

God raises from David's house

a child with power to save.

Through the holy prophets

God promised in ages past

to save us from enemy hands,

from the grip of all who hate us.

The Lord favored our ancestors

recalling the sacred covenant,

the pledge to our ancestor Abraham,

to free us from our enemies,

so we might worship without fear

and be holy and just all our days.

And you, child, will be called

Prophet of the Most High,

for you will come to prepare

a pathway for the Lord

by teaching the people salvation

through forgiveness of their sin.

Out of God's deepest mercy

a dawn will come from on hight,

light for those shadowed by death,

a guide for our feet on the way to 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.

Our Father....

Giver of all gifts, you love and choose us, your least ones.  Increase our humility so that we might rejoice in the generosity of your love and be mindful that the good in us comes from you, Creator, Redeemer and Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

May God bless us and keep us. May God smile upon us and be gracious to us. May God look upon us kindly, and give us peace. Amen.

Let us bless God/and give thanks.