Feria Sexta Quattuor Temporum QuadragesimæEmber Friday of Lent

℣ O Lord, ✠ open my lips.

℟ And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

℣ O God, ✠ come to my assistance.

℟ Lord, make haste to help me.

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.

Praise to you, O Lord, King of eternal glory.

Ant. Let it not be in vain for you to rise before the light in the morning: * for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

Ant. Let it not be in vain for you to rise before the light in the morning: * for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

Come, let us exult in the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to God, our Savior. Let us anticipate his presence with confession, and let us sing joyfully to him with psalms.

Ant. Let it not be in vain for you to rise before the light in the morning: * for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

For the Lord is a great God and a great King over all gods. For the Lord will not drive away his people. For in his hand are all the limits of the earth, and he beholds the heights of the mountains.

Ant. for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

For the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands established the dry land. (kneel) Come, let us adore and fall prostrate before God, and let us weep before the Lord who made us. For he is the Lord our God, and we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Ant. Let it not be in vain for you to rise before the light in the morning: * for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers tempted me; they tested and saw my works.

Ant. for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

For forty years, I was near to that generation, and I said: These have always strayed in heart. But they have not known my ways. To them I swore in my wrath: They shall not enter into my rest.

Ant. Let it not be in vain for you to rise before the light in the morning: * for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

℣ 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.

Ant. for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

Ant. Let it not be in vain for you to rise before the light in the morning: * for the Lord has promised a crown to those who keep vigil.

The fast, as taught by holy lore,

We keep in solemn course once more:

The fast to all men known, and bound

In forty days of yearly round.

The law and seers that were of old

In diverse ways this Lent foretold,

Which Christ, all seasons’ King and Guide,

In after ages sanctified.

More sparing therefore let us make

The words we speak, the food we take,

Our sleep and mirth, —and closer barred

Be every sense in holy guard.

Avoid the evil thoughts that roll

Like waters o’er the heedless soul;

Nor let the foe occasion find

Our souls in slavery to bind.

In prayer together let us fall,

And cry for mercy, one and all,

And weep before the Judge’s feet,

And his avenging wrath entreat.

Thy grace have we offended sore,

By sins, O God, which we deplore;

But pour upon us from on high,

O pardoning One, thy clemency.

Remember thou, though frail we be,

That yet thine handiwork are we;

Nor let the honour of thy name

Be by another put to shame.

Forgive the sin that we have wrought;

Increase the good that we have sought:

That we at length, our wanderings o'er,

May please thee here and evermore.

Grant O thou Blessed Trinity,

Grant, O Essential Unity,

That this our fast of forty days

May work our profit and thy praise.

Amen.

At the Nocturn

Ant. The Lord raised up * a testimony in Jacob: and appointed a law in Israel.

Psalm 77(1-8) [1]

77:1 O my people, attend to my law. * Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

77:2 I will open my mouth in parables. * I will speak about concepts that are from the beginning.

77:3 We have heard and known such great things, * as our fathers have described to us.

77:4 These things have not been hidden from their sons * in any generation:

77:4 declaring the praises of the Lord, and his virtues, * and the wonders that he has done.

77:5 And he has received testimony with Jacob, * and he has set a law within Israel.

77:5 Such great things, he has commanded our fathers, so as to make these things known to their sons, * so that another generation might know them,

77:6 and so that the sons, who will be born and who will grow up, * shall describe them to their sons.

77:7 So then, may they put their hope in God, and may they not forget the works of God, * and may they seek his commandments.

77:8 May they not become like their fathers, * a perverse and exasperating generation:

77:8 a generation that does not straighten their heart * and whose spirit is not trustworthy with God.

℣ 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.

Ant. The Lord raised up a testimony in Jacob: and appointed a law in Israel.

Ant. Before their fathers * God worked wonders.

Psalm 77(9-16) [2]

77:9 The sons of Ephraim, who bend and shoot the bow, * have been turned back in the day of battle.

77:10 They have not kept the covenant of God. * And they were not willing to walk in his law.

77:11 And they have been forgetful of his benefits, * and of his miracle, which he revealed to them.

77:12 He performed miracles in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, * in the field of Tanis.

77:13 He broke the sea and he led them through. * And he stationed the waters, as if in a vessel.

77:14 And he led them with a cloud by day, * and with illumination by fire throughout the night.

77:15 He broke through the rock in the wasteland, * and he gave them to drink, as if from the great abyss.

77:16 He brought forth water from the rock, * and he conducted the waters, as if they were rivers.

℣ 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.

Ant. Before their fathers God worked wonders.

Ant. The Lord opened * the gates of heaven, and rained down manna upon them to eat.

Psalm 77(17-31) [3]

77:17 And yet, they continued to sin against him. * In a waterless place, they provoked the Most High with resentment.

77:18 And they tempted God in their hearts, * by asking for food according to their desires.

77:19 And they spoke badly about God. * They said, “Would God be able to prepare a table in the desert?

77:20 He struck the rock, and so waters flowed * and the torrents flooded,

77:20 but would even he be able to provide bread, * or provide a table, for his people?”

77:21 Therefore, the Lord heard, and he was dismayed, * and a fire was kindled within Jacob, and an anger ascended into Israel.

77:22 For they neither put their trust in God, * nor did they hope in his salvation.

77:23 And he commanded the clouds from above, * and he opened the doors of heaven.

77:24 And he rained down manna upon them to eat, * and he gave them the bread of heaven.

77:25 Man ate the bread of Angels. * He sent them provisions in abundance.

77:26 He transferred the south wind from heaven, * and, in his virtue, he brought in the Southwest wind.

77:27 And he rained down flesh upon them, as if it were dust, * and feathered birds, as if they were the sand of the sea.

77:28 And they fell down in the midst of their camp, * encircling their tabernacles.

77:29 And they ate until they were greatly satisfied, and he brought to them according to their desires. * They were not cheated out of what they wanted.

77:30 Their food was still in their mouth, * and then the wrath of God came upon them.

77:31 And he slew the fat ones among them, * and he impeded the elect of Israel.

℣ 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.

Ant. The Lord opened the gates of heaven, and rained down manna upon them to eat.

Ant. God * is their helper: and the Most High is their redeemer.

Psalm 77(32-41) [4]

77:32 In all these things, they continued to sin, * and they were not trustworthy with his miracles.

77:33 And their days faded away into vanity, * and their years with haste.

77:34 When he slew them, then they sought him. * And they returned, and they drew near to him in the early morning.

77:35 And they were mindful that God is their helper * and that the Most High God is their redeemer.

77:36 And they chose him with their mouth, * and then they lied to him with their tongue.

77:37 For their heart was not upright with him, * nor have they been living faithfully in his covenant.

77:38 Yet he is merciful, and he will pardon their sins. * And he will not destroy them.

77:38 And he has abundantly turned aside his own wrath. * And he did not enflame his wrath entirely.

77:39 And he remembered that they are flesh: * with a spirit that goes forth and does not return.

77:40 How often did they provoke him in the desert * and stir him to wrath in a waterless place?

77:41 And they turned back and tempted God, * and they exasperated the Holy One of Israel.

℣ 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.

Ant. God is their helper: and the Most High is their redeemer.

Ant. The Lord * redeemed them from the hand of the one who afflicted them.

Psalm 77(42-58) [5]

77:42 They did not remember his hand, * in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of the one troubling them.

77:43 Thus, he positioned his signs in Egypt * and his wonders in the field of Tanis.

77:44 And he turned their rivers into blood, * along with their rain showers, so that they could not drink.

77:45 He sent among them the common fly, and it devoured them, * and the frog, and it scattered them.

77:46 And he gave up their fruits to mold * and their labors to the locust.

77:47 And he slew their vineyards with hail * and their mulberry trees with severe frost.

77:48 And he delivered their cattle to the hail * and their possessions to fire.

77:49 And he sent the wrath of his indignation among them: * indignation and wrath and tribulation, sent forth by evil angels.

77:50 He made way for the path of his anger. He did not spare their souls from death. * And he enclosed their beasts of burden in death.

77:51 And he struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt: * the first-fruits of all their labor in the tabernacles of Ham.

77:52 And he took away his own people like sheep, * and he led them through the wilderness like a flock.

77:53 And he led them out in hope, and they did not fear. * And the sea covered their enemies.

77:54 And he led them to the mountain of his sanctification: * the mountain that his right hand had acquired.

77:54 And he cast out the Gentiles before their face. * And he divided their land by lot to them, with a line of distribution.

77:55 And he caused the tribes of Israel to dwell * in their tabernacles.

77:56 Yet they tempted and aggravated God Most High, * and they did not keep his testaments.

77:57 And they turned themselves aside, and they did not serve the covenant. * In the same manner as their fathers, they were turned backwards, like a crooked bow.

77:58 They impelled him to anger on their hills, * and they provoked him to rivalry with their graven images.

℣ 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.

Ant. The Lord redeemed them from the hand of the one who afflicted them.

Ant. God * built his sanctuary on earth.

Psalm 77(59-72) [6]

77:59 God listened, and he spurned them, * and he reduced Israel greatly, almost to nothing.

77:60 And he rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh, * his tabernacle where he had dwelt among men.

77:61 And he delivered their virtue into captivity, * and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.

77:62 And he enclosed his people with the sword, * and he spurned his inheritance.

77:63 Fire consumed their young men, * and their virgins were not lamented.

77:64 Their priests fell by the sword, * and their widows did not weep.

77:65 And the Lord was awakened, as if out of sleep, * and like a powerful man impaired by wine.

77:66 And he struck his enemies on the back. * He gave them over to everlasting disgrace.

77:67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, * and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

77:68 But he chose the tribe of Judah: * mount Zion, which he loved.

77:69 And he built up his sanctuary, like a single-horned beast, in the land * that he founded for all ages.

77:70 And he chose his servant David, and he took him from the flocks of the sheep: * he received him from following the ewes with their young,

77:71 in order to pasture Jacob his servant * and Israel his inheritance.

77:72 And he fed them with the innocence of his heart. * And he led them with the understanding of his hands.

℣ 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.

Ant. God built his sanctuary on earth.

Ant. Help us, * O God, our salvation: and be gracious toward our sins.

Psalm 78 [7]

78:1 O God, the Gentiles have entered into your inheritance; they have polluted your holy temple. * They have set Jerusalem as a place to tend fruit trees.

78:2 They have placed the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, * the flesh of your saints for the beasts of the earth.

78:3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, * and there was no one who would bury them.

78:4 We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, * an object of ridicule and mockery to those who are around us.

78:5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry until the end? * Will your zeal be kindled like a fire?

78:6 Pour out your wrath among the Gentiles, who have not known you, * and upon the kingdoms that have not invoked your name.

78:7 For they have devoured Jacob, * and they have desolated his place.

78:8 Do not remember our iniquities of the past. May your mercies quickly intercept us, * for we have become exceedingly poor.

78:9 Help us, O God, our Savior. And free us, Lord, for the glory of your name. * And forgive us our sins for the sake of your name.

78:10 Let them not say among the Gentiles, “Where is their God?” * And may your name become known among the nations before our eyes.

78:10 For the retribution of your servants’ blood, which has been poured out: * may the groans of the shackled enter before you.

78:11 According to the greatness of your arm, * take possession of the sons of those who have been killed.

78:12 And repay our neighbors sevenfold within their sinews. * It is the reproach of the same ones who brought reproach against you, O Lord.

78:13 But we are your people and the sheep of your pasture: * we will give thanks to you in all ages.

78:13 From generation to generation, * we will announce 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.

Ant. Help us, O God, our salvation: and be gracious toward our sins.

Ant. I am the Lord * your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Psalm 80 [8]

80:2 Exult before God our helper. * Sing joyfully to the God of Jacob.

80:3 Take up a psalm, and bring forth the timbrel: * a pleasing Psalter with stringed instruments.

80:4 Sound the trumpet at the new moon, * on the noteworthy day of your solemnity,

80:5 for it is a precept in Israel * and a judgment for the God of Jacob.

80:6 He set it as a testimony with Joseph, when he went out of the land of Egypt. * He heard a tongue that he did not know.

80:7 He turned the burdens away from his back. * His hands had been a slave to baskets.

80:8 You called upon me in tribulation, and I freed you. * I heard you within the hidden tempest. I tested you with waters of contradiction.

80:9 My people, listen and I will call you to testify. * If, O Israel, you will pay heed to me, then there will be no new god among you, nor will you adore a foreign god.

80:11 For I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt. * Widen your mouth, and I will fill it.

80:12 But my people did not hear my voice, * and Israel was not attentive to me.

80:13 And so, I sent them away, according to the desires of their heart. * They will go forth according to their own inventions.

80:14 If my people had heard me, * if Israel had walked in my ways,

80:15 I would have humbled their enemies, as if it were nothing, * and I would have sent my hand upon those who troubled them.

80:16 The enemies of the Lord have lied to him, * and their time will come, in every age.

80:17 And he fed them from the fat of the grain, * and he saturated them with honey from the rock.

℣ 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.

Ant. I am the Lord your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Ant. Be not silent, O God, * for your enemies have lifted up their head.

Psalm 82 [9]

82:2 O God, who will ever be like you? * Do not be silent, and do not be unmoved, O God.

82:3 For behold, your enemies have sounded off, * and those who hate you have carried out a head.

82:4 They have acted with malice in counsel over your people, * and they have plotted against your holy ones.

82:5 They have said, “Come, let us scatter them from the nations * and not allow the name of Israel to be remembered any longer.”

82:6 For they plotted unanimously. * Joined together against you, they ordained a covenant: the tabernacle of Edomites and Ishmaelites,

82:8 and Moab and the Hagarites, and Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, * the foreigners among the inhabitants of Tyre.

82:9 For even Assur comes with them. * They have become the helpers of the sons of Lot.

82:10 Do to them as you did to Midian and Sisera, * just as to Jabin at the torrent of Kishon.

82:11 They perished at Endor, * and they became like the dung of the earth.

82:12 Set their leaders to be like Oreb and Zeeb, * and Zebah and Zalmunna:

82:13 all their leaders * who said, “Let us possess the Sanctuary of God for an inheritance.”

82:14 My God, set them like a wheel, * and like stubble before the face of the wind.

82:15 Set them like a fire burning up the forest, * and like a flame burning up the mountains.

82:16 So will you pursue them in your tempest, * and disturb them in your wrath.

82:17 Fill their faces with shame, * and they will seek your name, O Lord.

82:18 Let them be ashamed and troubled, from age to age, * and let them be confounded and perish.

82:19 And let them know that the Lord is your name. * You alone are the Most High in all 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 ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

Ant. Be not silent, O God, for your enemies have lifted up their head.

℣ He will overshadow you with his shoulders.

℟ And under his wings you shall hope.

The Our Father is said silently as far as And lead us not into temptation:

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 also forgive those who trespass against us:

℣ And lead us not into temptation:

℟ But deliver us from evil.

Absolution. May his loving kindness and mercy assist us, he who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

℟ Amen.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benediction. May the evangelical reading be our salvation and protection.

℟ Amen.

Lesson 1

A Reading from the holy Gospel according to John

John 5:1-15

At that time: there was a feast day of the Jews, and so Jesus ascended to Jerusalem. And so forth.

A Homily of Saint Augustine the Bishop

Tractate 17 on John, after the beginning

Let us consider what he wished to signify in that one man whom, even then preserving the mystery of unity, he deigned to heal — one man out of so many who were suffering. He found in the man's years a certain number that signified infirmity: he had been thirty-eight years in his sickness. How this number pertains more to infirmity than to health requires a somewhat careful explanation. I want your attention: the Lord will be present, that I may speak fittingly and that you may hear sufficiently. The number forty is commended to us as sacred in a certain perfection; I think your charity knows this well, as the divine Scriptures attest most frequently: you know well that fasting is consecrated by this number. For Moses fasted forty days, and Elijah the same; and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ himself fulfilled this number of fasting. Through Moses the Law is signified, through Elijah the Prophets are signified, through the Lord the Gospel is signified. For this reason those three appeared on that mountain where he showed himself to his disciples in the splendor of his face and garments: for he appeared in the midst between Moses and Elijah, as if the Gospel were to receive testimony from the Law and the Prophets.

℣ But you, O Lord, have mercy on us.

℟ Thanks be to God.

℟ Let us amend for the better what we have sinned through ignorance; lest, suddenly overtaken by the day of death, we seek a space for repentance and are unable to find it:

* Attend, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

℣ Help us, O God of our salvation, and for the honor of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

℟ Attend, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benediction. May the divine assistance remain always with us.

℟ Amen.

Lesson 2

Whether, therefore, in the Law, or in the Prophets, or in the Gospel, the number forty is commended to us in fasting. Now fasting, in its great and universal sense, is to abstain from iniquities and from the illicit pleasures of the world—which is the perfect fast: That denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and justly and piously in this present age. What reward does the Apostle add to this fast? He continues and says: Awaiting that blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our blessed God and Savior Jesus Christ. In this present age, then, we celebrate as it were a Lenten fast of abstinence when we live rightly, when we abstain from iniquities and from illicit pleasures: but because this abstinence will not be without its reward, we await that blessed hope and the revelation of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. In that hope, when hope shall have given way to reality, we shall receive as our reward the denarius. For this reward is given to the workers in the vineyard, according to the Gospel, which I believe you remember: for not everything need be recalled as to those who are rude and unlearned. The denarius, which takes its name from the number ten, is paid, and joined to forty makes fifty: hence we celebrate with toil the Lent before Easter; but with joy, as having received our reward, the fifty days after Easter.

℣ But you, O Lord, have mercy on us.

℟ Thanks be to God.

℟ Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him.

* For the Lord our God is good and merciful, and ready to forgive evil.

℣ The Lord does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live.

℟ For the Lord our God is good and merciful, and ready to forgive evil.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benediction. May the King of Angels lead us to the company of the citizens on high.

℟ Amen.

Lesson 3

Remember that I have proposed the number of thirty-eight years in the case of that sick man. I wish to explain why that number thirty-eight is a number of sickness rather than of health. Therefore, as I was saying, charity fulfills the Law; to the fullness of the Law in all its works belongs the number forty. Now in charity two commandments are commended to us: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind; and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the whole Law and the Prophets depend. Rightly did that widow send all her possessions, two mites, as gifts to God; rightly did the innkeeper receive two coins for the healing of that sick man wounded by robbers; rightly did Jesus remain two days among the Samaritans, to strengthen them in charity. When therefore the number two signifies something good, it most especially commends the two-part charity. If then the number forty holds the perfection of the Law, and the Law is fulfilled only in the twofold commandment of charity, why do you wonder that he was sick who lacked two of the forty?

℣ But you, O Lord, have mercy on us.

℟ Thanks be to God.

℟ The season of fasting has opened for us the gates of Paradise; let us take it up with prayer and supplication,

* That we may glory with the Lord on the day of the Resurrection.

℣ In all things let us show ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience.

℟ That we may glory with the Lord on the day of the Resurrection.

℣ Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Spirit.

℟ That we may glory with the Lord on the day of the Resurrection.

The rest is omitted unless Lauds is said separately.

℣ O Lord, hear my prayer.

℟ And let my cry come before you.

Let us pray.

Be gracious, O Lord, to your people, and, showing mercy, refresh with kindly help those whom you cause to be devoted to you.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son: who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

℟ Amen.

℣ O Lord, hear my prayer.

℟ And let my cry come before you.

℣ Let us bless the Lord.

℟ Thanks be to God.

℣ May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

℟ Amen.