Vespers & Matins for the Solemnity of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, final draft

For upcoming meetings and events please visit our blog at

http://www.imbibingthespirit.blogspot.com.

From there you can navigate to our facebook page and join our group,

as well as to the yahoo groups page if you wish to join our list-serv. All

are fantastic sources of information for Young Adult Catholics in the

Columbia-Metro area.

Hope you can join us for our Summer Liturgy Series our next outing

will be to the Maronite Church in Greer, SC on July 18th!

Please note that in July Vespers will be July 7 & 21 at St Thomas

More.

Vespers & Matins in Vigil for the

Solemnity of the Nativity ofSolemnity of the Nativity ofSolemnity of the Nativity ofSolemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the BaptistSaint John the BaptistSaint John the BaptistSaint John the Baptist Patron Saint of the Diocese of Charleston

Columbia Young Adult Catholics

May 26, 2010,

7 o’clock in the evening

St Peter’s Catholic Church

Key • Red shading, indicates instruction/

action

• Italics, said by Priest/Presider only

• Left indentation is said by the left

quire

• Right indentation is said by the right

quire

• Central & Bold indentation is said by

the entire assembly

INVATORY

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 forever

From The General Instructions on the Liturgy of the Hours, an Exhortation

20. The liturgy of the hours, like other liturgical services, is not a private matter but belongs

to the whole Body of the Church, whose life it both expresses and affects. [91] This liturgy

stands out most strikingly as an ecclesial celebration when, through the bishop surrounded

by his priests and ministers, [92] the local Church celebrates it. For "in the local Church the

one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church is truly present and at work." [93] Such a celebra-

tion is therefore most earnestly recommended. When, in the absence of the bishop, a chapter

of canons or other priests celebrate the liturgy of the hours, they should always respect the

true time of day and, as far as possible, the people should take part. The same is to be said

of collegiate chapters.

21. Wherever possible, other groups of the faithful should celebrate the liturgy of the hours

communally in church. This especially applies to parishes - the cells of the diocese, estab-

lished under their pastors, taking the place of the bishop; they "represent in some degree the

visible Church established throughout the world." [94]

22. Hence, when the people are invited to the liturgy of the hours and come together in

unity of heart and voice, they show forth the Church in its celebration of the mystery of

Christ. [95] …

27. Lay groups gathering for prayer, apostolic work, or any other reason are encouraged to

fulfill the Church's duty, [103] by celebrating part of the liturgy of the hours. The laity must

learn above all how in the liturgy they are adoring God the Father in spirit and in truth;

[104] they should bear in mind that through public worship and prayer they reach all hu-

manity and can contribute significantly to the salvation of the whole world. [105]

DISMISSAL

God our Father,

You raised up John the Baptist

To prepare a perfect people for Christ the Lord.

Give your Church joy in spirit

And guide those who believe in you

Into the way of salvation and peace.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and

reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

If a priest is present:

The Lord be with you.

- And also with you

May Almighty God bless you, (�) the Father, and the Son, and the Holy

Spirit.

-Amen

If a priest is not present, then the presider leads:

May the Lord bless us, (�) protect us from all evil and bring us to ever-

lasting life.

-Amen

HYMN

PSALMODY

Antiphon 1

Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, gave birth to a great man, John the

Baptist, who prepared the way for the Lord.

Psalm 113

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord!

May the name of the Lord be blessed

Both now and for evermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting

Praised be the name of the Lord!

High above all nations is the Lord,

Above the heavens his glory.

Who is like the Lord, our God,

Who has risen on high to his throne

Yet stoops from the heights to look down,

To look down upon heaven and earth?

From the dust he lifts up the lowly,

From his misery he raises the poor

To set him in the company of princes,

Yes, with the princes of his people.

To the childless wife he gives a home

And gladdens her heart with children.

Glory to the Father, the Son

and the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be forever

All repeat Antiphon 1

HYMN Te Deum

Antiphon 2

John, the forerunner of the Lord, was born of an old and childless cou-

ple.

Psalm 146

My soul, give praise to the Lord;

I will praise the Lord all my days,

Make music to my God while I live.

Put no trust in princes,

In mortal men in whom there is no help.

Take their breath, they return to clay

And their plans that day come to nothing.

He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who alone made heaven and earth,

The seas and all they contain.

It is he who keeps faith for ever,

Who is just to those who are oppressed.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry,

The Lord, who protects the stranger

And upholds the widow and orphan

It is the Lord who loves the just

But thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign for ever,

Zions’ God from age to age.


and the Holy Spirit


and will be forever


Antiphon 3

There is no man born of women greater than John the Baptist.

Canticle Ephesians 1:3-10

Praised be the God and Father

Of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who bestowed on us in Christ

Every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

God chose us in him

Before the world began,

To be holy

And blameless in his sight.

He predestined us

to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ,

Such was his will and pleasure,

That all might praise the glorious favor

He has bestowed on us in his beloved.

In him and through his blood, we have been redeemed,

And our sins forgiven,

So immeasurably generous

Is God’s favor to us.

God has given us the wisdom

To understand fully the mystery,

The plan he was pleased

To decree in Christ.

A plan to be carried out

In Christ, in the fullness of time,

To bring all things into one in him,

In the heavens and on the earth.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.


He is like a tree planted beside the waters

That stretches out its roots to the stream:

It fears not the heat when it comes,

Its leaves stay green;

In the year of drought it shows no distress,

But still bears fruit.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.

All repeat Canticle Antiphon

THIRD READING

From the Gospel according to St. Luke 1:5-17

In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of

the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron,

and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, ob-

serving all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But

they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in

years. Once when he was serving as priest in his division's turn before God,

according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to en-

ter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assem-

bly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the

angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of in-

cense. Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him. But

the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has

been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him

John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,

for he will be great in the sight of (the) Lord. He will drink neither wine nor

strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's

womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of

fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the right-

eous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord."

HOMILY / REFLECTION

nothing but the age of prophecy lying hidden, obscured, as it were, and

concealed before the preaching of Christ. At John’s arrival Zechariah’s

voice is released, and it becomes clear at the coming of the one who

was foretold. The release of Zechariah’s voice at the birth of John is a

parallel to the rending of the veil at Christ’s crucifixion. If John were

announcing his own coming, Zechariah’s lips would not have been

opened. The tongue is loosened because a voice is born. For when John

was preaching the Lord’s coming he was asked: Who are you? And he

replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The voice is

John, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word. John was a voice that

lasted only for a time; Christ, the Word in the beginning, is eternal.

RESPONSORY Luke 1:76-77

You my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.

To give his people knowledge of salvation

By the forgiveness of their sins.

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.

Canticle Antiphon

Kings and princes will rise up and acknowledge you; they will adore

the Lord God who chose you.

Canticle: Jeremiah17:7-8

Blessed are those who hope in the Lord

Blessed are they who hear the word of God and Keep it (Luke 11:28)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

Whose hope is the Lord.

READING Acts 13:23-25

According to his promise, God has brought forth from David’s descen-

dants Jesus, a savior for Israel. John heralded the coming of Jesus by

proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. As

John’s career was coming to an end, he would say, “What you suppose

me to be I am not. Rather, look for the one who comes after me. I am

not worthy to unfasten the sandals on his feet.”

RESPONSORY

Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.

-Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.

He who is to come after me existed before me.

-Make straight his paths.


-Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths

MAGNIFICAT Antiphon

Zechariah entered the temple of the Lord, and the angel Gabriel ap-

peared to him, standing on the right of the altar of incense.

Canticle of Mary

The soul rejoices in the Lord

My soul proclaims (��) the greatness of the Lord,

My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

The Almighty has done great things for me,

And holy is His Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

In every generation

He has shown the strength of his arm,

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

And he has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

For has remembered his promise of mercy,

The promise he made to our fathers,

To Abraham and his children for ever.


As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.

All repeat Antiphon

INTERCESSIONS

Let us pray joyfully to God our Father who called John the Baptist to

proclaim the coming of the kingdom of Christ:

O Lord, guide our feet into the way of peace.

You called John the Baptist from his mother’s womb

to prepare the way of your Son

Help us to follow in that path which

the Baptist opened before the Lord Jesus


May your Church, in imitation of the Baptist,

Fearlessly point out the Lamb of God,

SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop

(Sermo 293, 1-3: PL38, 1327-1328)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness

The Church observes the birth of John as a hallowed event. We

have no such commemoration for any other fathers; but it is significant

that we celebrate the birthdays of John and Jesus. This day cannot be

passed by. And even if my explanation does not match the dignity of the

feast, you may still meditate on it with great depth and profit.

John was born of a woman too old for childbirth; Christ was born

of a youthful virgin. The news of John’s birth was met with incredulity,

and his father was struck dumb. Christ’s birth was believed, and he was

conceived through faith.

Such is the topic, as I have presented it, for our inquiry and dis-

cussion. But as I said before, if I lack either the time or the ability to

study the implications of so profound a mystery, he who speaks within

you even when I am not here will teach you better; it is he whom you

contemplate with devotion, whom you have welcomed into your hearts,

whose temples you have become.

John, then, appears as the boundary between the two testaments,

the old and the new. That he is a sort of boundary the Lord himself

bears witness, when he speaks of the law and the prophets up until John

the Baptist. Thus he represents times past and is the herald of the new

era to come. As a representative of the past, he is born of aged parents;

as a herald of a new era, he is declared to be a prophet while still in his

mother’s womb. For when yet unborn, he leapt in his mother’s womb at

the arrival of blessed Mary. In that womb he had already been desig-

nated a prophet, even before he was born; it was revealed that he was to

be Christ’s precursor, before they ever saw one another. These are di-

vine happenings, going beyond the limits of our human frailty. Eventu-

ally he is born, he receives his name, his father’s tongue is loosened.

See how these events reflect reality.

Zechariah is silent and loses his voice until John, the precursor of

the Lord, is born and restores his voice. The silence of Zechariah is

READINGS & RESPONSORIES

FIRST READING

From the book of the prophet Jeremiah 1:4-10, 17-19

The call of the prophet

The word of the Lord came to me thus: Before I formed you in the

womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you a prophet to

the nations I appointed you.

“Ah, Lord God!” I said, “I know not how to speak; I am too young.”

But the Lord answered me,

Say not, “I am to young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; what-

ever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, be-

cause I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

Then the Lord extended his hand and touched my mouth saying,

See, I place my words in your mouth! This day I set you over nations

and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down, to destroy and to de-

molish, to build and to plant. But do you gird your loins; stand up and

tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as

though I would leave you crushed before them. For it is I this day who

have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against

the whole land: Against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests

and people. They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I

am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

RESPONSORY Jeremiah 1:5, 9, 10

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I consecrated you,

And I appointed you a prophet to the nations

I have placed my words in your mouth;

I have set you over nations and over kingdoms.

And I appointed you a prophet to the nations

So that people in every age

may acknowledge that the Lord comes to them


John the Baptist did not exalt himself

But acknowledged his role

as forerunner of the Christ

Teach us to acknowledge that you are the giver

Of all our good gifts and that we

Must use them in your service.


You called John the Baptist to give testimony

To you by his life and even by his death

Help us to imitate his unceasing witness to your truth


Remember those who have died,

Give them a place of light, happiness and peace


At this time the Priest/presider may ask the assembly to proclaim addi-

tional intercessions

PATER NOSTER The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom

come. They 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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from

evil.

Prayer

All-powerful God,

Help your people to walk the path to salvation.

By following the teaching of John the Baptist,

May we come to your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who lives and reigns with you and the Hholy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

Amen

We will observe a few moments of before beginning the office of readings, for-

mally known as Matins. This time may be used for silent prayer, reflection or as a

period to examine your conscience.

Antiphon 3

John testified: He who is to comoe after me existed before me.

II

See how your enemies perish;

All doers of evil are scattered.

To me you give the wild-ox’s strength;

You anoint me with the purest oil.

My eyes looked in triumph on my foes;

My ears heard gladly of their fall.

The just will flourish like the palm-tree

And grow like a Lebanon cedar.

Planted in the house of the Lord

They will flourish in the courts of our God,

Still bearing fruit when they are old,

Still full of sap, still green,

To proclaim that the Lord is just.

In him, my rock, there is no wrong.


and the Holy Spirit


and will be forever


VERSES

He came to bear witness to the light.

That all might believe through him.

Antiphon 2

The Lord made my tongue a sharp sword; he hid me in the shadow of

his hand.

Psalm 92

I

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

To make music to your name, O Most High,

To proclaim your love in the morning

And your truth in the watches of the night,

On the ten-stringed lyre and the lute,

With the murmuring sound of the harp.

Your deeds, O Lord, have made me glad;

For the work of your hands I shout with joy.

O Lord, how great are your works!

How deep are your designs!

The foolish man cannot know this

And the fool cannot understand.

Though the wicked spring up like grass

And all who do evil thrive:

They are doomed to be eternally destroyed.

But you, Lord, are eternally on high.


and the Holy Spirit


and will be forever


INVATORY Lord, open my lips.

- And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Antiphon

Come, let us worship the Lord, the Lamb of God, proclaimed by John.

Psalm 95

A call to praise God

Encourage each other daily while it is still today (Hebrews 3:13)

(The antiphon is recited and then repeated)

Come, let us sing to the Lord

And shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.

Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving

And sing joyful songs to the Lord

(antiphon is repeated)

Antiphon 1

The Lord called me before I was born; from my mother’s womb he

named me.

Psalm 21:2-8, 14

O Lord, your strength gives joy to the king;

How your saving help makes him glad!

You have granted him his heart’s desire;

You have not refused the prayer of his lips.

You came to meet him with the blessings of success,

You have set on his head a crown of pure gold.

He asked you for life and this you have given,

Days that will last from age to age.

Your saving help has given him glory.

You have laid upon him majesty and splendor,

You have granted your blessings to him for ever.

You have made him rejoice with the joy of your presence.

The king has put his trust in the Lord:

Through the mercy of the Most High he shall stand firm.

O Lord, arise in your strength;

We shall sing and praise your power.


and the Holy Spirit


and will be forever


PSALMODY

HYMN

The Lord is God, the mighty God,

The great king over all the gods.

He holds in his hands the depths of the earth

And the highest mountains as well.

He made the sea; it belongs to him,

The dry land, too, for it was formed by his hands.


Come, then, let us bow down and worship,

Bending the knee before the Lord, our maker.

For he is our God and we are his people,

The flock he shepherds.


Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:

Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did

In the wilderness,

When at Meriba and Massah

They challenged me and provoked me,

Although they had seen all my works.


Forty years I endured that generation.

I said, “They are a people who hearts go astray

And they do not know my ways.”

So I swore in my anger,

“They shall not enter into my rest.”



As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.


Documents

Vespers & Matins for the Solemnity of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, final draft