Morning Prayer - May 20, 2026

Today's Readings

Psalm 101:1-8

Psalm 109:1-4

Psalm 109:20-30

Isaiah 4:2-6

Ephesians 4:1-16

Matthew 8:28-34

Easter
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

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 Alleluia

From Easter to Pentecost, Christ the Passover can be used in place of the Venite or Jubilate.

Christ the Passover 1 Corinthians 5:7 to 8; Romans 6:9 to 11; 1 Corinthians 15:20 to 22
Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;
therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;
death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin,
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death,
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die,
so in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

Venite

ⓘ 'Venite' is Latin for 'O Come,' the opening word of Psalm 95: Venite exultemus Domino ('O Come, let us sing to the LORD').

Psalm 95:1 to 7
Come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
   and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the caverns of the earth,
   and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and his hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee,
   and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
    Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

The Antiphon:

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

Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

The Lessons

Psalm 101

⁽¹⁾ I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, O LORD, I will sing praises.⁽²⁾ I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.⁽³⁾ I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.⁽⁴⁾ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.

⁽⁵⁾ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.⁽⁶⁾ My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.⁽⁷⁾ He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.⁽⁸⁾ Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.

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.

Psalm 109

⁽¹⁾ Do not keep silent, O God of my praise!⁽²⁾ For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.⁽³⁾ They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause.⁽⁴⁾ In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.

⁽²⁰⁾ Let this be the LORD's reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person.⁽²¹⁾ But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name's sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.⁽²²⁾ For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.⁽²³⁾ I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.

⁽²⁴⁾ My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.⁽²⁵⁾ I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads.⁽²⁶⁾ Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy,⁽²⁷⁾ That they may know that this is Your hand -- That You, LORD, have done it!

⁽²⁸⁾ Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice.⁽²⁹⁾ Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.⁽³⁰⁾ I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.

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.

Isaiah Chapter 4

⁽²⁾ In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped.⁽³⁾ And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy -- everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.⁽⁴⁾ When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,⁽⁵⁾ then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.

⁽⁶⁾ And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Ephesians Chapter 4

⁽¹⁾ I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,⁽²⁾ with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,⁽³⁾ endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.⁽⁴⁾ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

⁽⁵⁾ one Lord, one faith, one baptism;⁽⁶⁾ one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.⁽⁷⁾ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.⁽⁸⁾ Therefore He says: 'When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.'

⁽⁹⁾ (Now this, 'He ascended' -- what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?⁽¹⁰⁾ He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)⁽¹¹⁾ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,⁽¹²⁾ for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

⁽¹³⁾ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;⁽¹⁴⁾ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,⁽¹⁵⁾ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Christ --⁽¹⁶⁾ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Matthew Chapter 8

⁽²⁸⁾ When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.⁽²⁹⁾ And suddenly they cried out, saying, 'What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?'⁽³⁰⁾ Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.⁽³¹⁾ So the demons begged Him, saying, 'If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.'

⁽³²⁾ And He said to them, 'Go.' So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.⁽³³⁾ Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.⁽³⁴⁾ And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Glory to God
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. 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

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.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.

Suffrages

ⓘ A simple prayer to God for help, mercy, or intercession, rooted in the Latin word for support.

Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.

Seasonal Collect: Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Reflection

This is a time to pause, consider and listen. Pray for yourself and others.

Closing Prayers

Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory, and, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

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

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21