Morning Prayer

Today is the Feast of St. Jospeh -- Click for Readings
Lent
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, because we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws which he set before us. Daniel 9:9, 10

Saint and Major Saints' Days
Their sound has gone out into all lands, and their message to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:4

Confession of Sin
Most merciful God,
I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen

The Invitatory and Psalter

Lord, open our lips. And our mouth shall proclaim your praise
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. Amen

Venite
The Antiphon:

ⓘ   A short, reflective sentence recited alongside a psalm to deepen our understanding of the readings.

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him.

The Lessons

Psalm 69

⁽¹⁾ Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. ⁽²⁾ I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me. ⁽³⁾ I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. ⁽⁴⁾ Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.

⁽⁵⁾ O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You. ⁽⁶⁾ Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. ⁽⁷⁾ Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. ⁽⁸⁾ I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother's children;

⁽⁹⁾ Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. ⁽¹⁰⁾ When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach. ⁽¹¹⁾ I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. ⁽¹²⁾ Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards.

⁽¹³⁾ But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation. ⁽¹⁴⁾ Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me. ⁽¹⁶⁾ Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.

⁽¹⁷⁾ And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies. ⁽¹⁹⁾ You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. ⁽²⁰⁾ Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.

⁽²¹⁾ They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. ⁽²²⁾ Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap. ⁽²³⁾ Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually. ⁽²⁴⁾ Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.

⁽²⁵⁾ Let their dwelling place be desolate; Let no one live in their tents. ⁽²⁶⁾ For they persecute the ones You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded. ⁽²⁷⁾ Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness. ⁽²⁸⁾ Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous.

⁽²⁹⁾ But I am poor and sorrowful; Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high. ⁽³⁰⁾ I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving. ⁽³¹⁾ This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull, Which has horns and hooves. ⁽³²⁾ The humble shall see this and be glad; And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.

⁽³³⁾ For the LORD hears the poor, And does not despise His prisoners. ⁽³⁴⁾ Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them. ⁽³⁵⁾ For God will save Zion And build the cities of Judah, That they may dwell there and possess it. ⁽³⁶⁾ Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, And those who love His name shall dwell in it.

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. Amen.

Exodus Chapter 1

⁽⁶⁾ And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. ⁽⁷⁾ But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. ⁽⁸⁾ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁽⁹⁾ And he said to his people, 'Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;

⁽¹⁰⁾ come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.' ⁽¹¹⁾ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. ⁽¹²⁾ But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ⁽¹³⁾ So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.

⁽¹⁴⁾ And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage -- in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ⁽¹⁶⁾ and he said, 'When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.' ⁽¹⁷⁾ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.

⁽¹⁸⁾ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, 'Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?' ⁽¹⁹⁾ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, 'Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.' ⁽²⁰⁾ Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. ⁽²¹⁾ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.

⁽²²⁾ So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

1 Corinthians Chapter 12

⁽¹²⁾ For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ⁽¹³⁾ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ⁽¹⁴⁾ For in fact the body is not one member but many. ⁽¹⁵⁾ If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body?

⁽¹⁶⁾ And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? ⁽¹⁷⁾ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ⁽¹⁸⁾ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ⁽¹⁹⁾ And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

⁽²⁰⁾ But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ⁽²¹⁾ And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' ⁽²²⁾ No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. ⁽²³⁾ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,

⁽²⁴⁾ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ⁽²⁵⁾ that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ⁽²⁶⁾ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. ⁽²⁷⁾ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

⁽²⁸⁾ And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. ⁽²⁹⁾ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? ⁽³⁰⁾ Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ⁽³¹⁾ But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Mark Chapter 8

⁽²⁷⁾ Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, 'Who do men say that I am?' ⁽²⁸⁾ So they answered, 'John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' ⁽²⁹⁾ He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered and said to Him, 'You are the Christ.' ⁽³⁰⁾ Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.

⁽³¹⁾ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ⁽³²⁾ He spoke this word openly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ⁽³³⁾ But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.' ⁽³⁴⁾ When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, 'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

⁽³⁵⁾ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. ⁽³⁶⁾ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? ⁽³⁷⁾ Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ⁽³⁸⁾ For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.'

⁽¹⁾ And He said to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.'

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.


The Song of Moses    Exodus 15:1 to 6, 11 to 13, 17 to 18

I will sing to the Lord, for he is lofty and uplifted;
the horse and its rider has he hurled into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my refuge;
the Lord has become my Savior.
This is my God and I will praise him,
the God of my people and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a mighty warrior;
Yahweh is his Name.
The chariots of Pharoah and his army has he hurled into the sea;
the finest of those who bear armor have been drowned in the Red Sea.
The fathomless deep has overwhelmed them;
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in might;
your right hand, O Lord, has overthrown the enemy.
Who can be compared with you, O Lord, among the gods?
who is like you, glorious in holiness,
awesome in renown, and worker of wonders?
You stretched forth your right hand;
the earth swallowed them up.
With your constant love you led the people you redeemed;
with your might you brought them in safety to
your holy dwelling.
You will bring them in and plant them
on the mount of your possession,
The resting-place you have made for yourself, O Lord,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hand has established.
The Lord shall reign forever and forever.
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. Amen.


The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
  He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
  He descended to the dead.
  On the third day he rose again.
  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
  He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
  the holy catholic Church,
  the communion of saints,
  the forgiveness of sins,
  the resurrection of the body,
  and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Prayers

The Lord's Prayer   Traditional
Suffrages A

Seasonal Collect:  Fourth Sunday in Lent
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Reflection

This is a time to pause, consider and listen. Pray for yourself and others. When you lack the words


Closing Prayers   Thanksgiving

Conclude with the following
Let Us Bless the Lord, Thanks be to God

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14