When we’ve strayed from the path - a conversation with God through Psalms - Lauds

 

Psalm 79 (80)
Lord, tend your vine

Lord, rouse up your might and come to our help.

Shepherd of Israel, listen –

  you who take Joseph as your flock.

Shine out before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh –

  you who are enthroned upon the cherubim.

Awaken your power and come to us,

  come to us and save us.

Bring us back, O God:

  let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

Lord God of hosts –

  how long will your anger endure

  against the prayers of your people?

You have given us tears for our bread,

  abundance of tears for us to drink.

You have made us a mockery among our neighbours,

  and our enemies laugh at us.

Bring us back, O God of hosts:

  let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

You brought a vine out of Egypt;

  planted it, and drove out the nations.

You cleared the ground all about it,

  made firm its roots; and it filled the land.

Its shade covered mountains,

  its boughs shaded the cedars of God;

its leaves spread as far as the sea,

  its shoots as far as the River.

So why did you destroy its wall,

  so that anyone could pluck its fruit,

  whoever was passing by?

The wild boar of the forest broke it,

  every wild beast could graze off it.

Turn back, O God of hosts,

  look down from heaven and tend this vine.

Protect the vine, for your right hand planted it;

  and the son of man, whom you made strong.

The vine is burnt and dug up;

  and they too will perish when they see you rebuke them.

Stretch out your hand over your chosen one

  over the son of man, whom you made strong –

and we will not forsake you, and you will give us life;

  and we will call on your name.

Bring us back, Lord God of hosts:

  let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

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.

Lord, rouse up your might and come to our help.

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CanticleIsaiah 12

The rejoicing of a redeemed people

The Lord has done marvellous things: let them be made known to the whole world.

I will praise you, Lord, for when you were angry with me

  you calmed your rage and turned again to console me.

Behold, God is my salvation:

  I will be confident, I will not fear;

for the Lord is my strength and my joy,

  he has become my saviour.

And you will rejoice as you draw water

  from the wells of salvation.

And then you will say:

  “Praise the Lord and call upon his name.

Tell the peoples what he has done,

  remember always the greatness of his name.

Sing to the Lord, for he has done great things:

  let this be known throughout the world.

Cry out with joy and gladness, you who dwell in Zion.

  Great in your midst is 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.

The Lord has done marvellous things: let them be made known to the whole world.

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Psalm 80 (81)
Solemn renewal of the covenant

Ring out your joy to God our strength.†

Shout with joy to God our helper,

  rejoice in the God of Jacob.

Take up the song, sound the timbrel,

  play on the lyre and the harp.

At the start of the month, sound the trumpet,

  at the full moon, at our festival.

For this is the law for Israel,

  the decree of the God of Jacob.

He gave it to Joseph, for a witness,

  when he went out of the land of Egypt;

  with words that had never been heard:

“I freed his back from burdens;

  his hands were freed from heavy loads.

In your tribulation you called on me and I freed you,

  I heard you from the heart of the storm,

  I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Listen, my people, and I will put my case –

  Israel, if you would only hear me!

You shall not have any strange god,

  you shall not worship the gods of foreigners.

For I am the Lord, your God,

  who led you out of the land of Egypt.

  Open wide your mouth and I shall fill it.

But my people did not hear my voice:

  Israel did not turn to me.

So I let them go on in the hardness of their hearts,

  and follow their own counsels.

If my people had heard me,

  if only they had walked in my ways –

I would swiftly have crushed their enemies,

  stretched my hand over those who persecuted them.

The enemies of the Lord would be overcome with weakness,

  Israel’s would be the good fortune, for ever:

  I would feed them full of richest wheat

and give them honey from the rock,

  to their heart’s content.

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.

Ring out your joy to God our strength.

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Short ReadingIsaiah 45:8 ©

Send victory like a dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain it down. Let the earth open for salvation to spring up. Let deliverance, too, bud forth which I, the Lord, shall create.

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Short Responsory

The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.

– The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.

His glory will appear in your midst.

– The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

– The glory of the Lord will shine on you, Jerusalem. Like the sun he will rise over you.