Good Friday Morning Prayer
Leader: O God, come to our aid
All: O Lord make haste to help us.
Leader: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit …
All: Christ the Son of God redeemed us with his blood.
Come let us adore him.
Come ring out your joy to the Lord;
hail the God who saves us.
Let us come before him giving thanks,
with songs let us hail the Lord.
A mighty God is the Lord,
A great king above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
The heights of the mountains are his.
To him belongs the sea, for he made it,
And the dry land shaped by his hand.
Come in; let us bow and bend low;
Let us kneel before the God who made us
For he is our God and we
The people who belong to his pasture,
The flock that is led by his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your ancestors put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work.
For forty years I was wearied of these people
And I said: “Their hearts are astray,
These people do not know my ways.”
Then I took an oath in my anger:
“Never shall they enter my rest.”
All: Christ the Son of God redeemed us with his blood.
Come let us adore him.
HYMN
Refrain: Behold, behold, the wood of the cross,
On which is hung our salvation.
O come, let us adore.
Unless a grain of wheat shall fall
upon the ground and die
It shall remain but a single grain,
and not give life.
Refrain ….
And when my hour of glory comes
as all was meant to be
You shall see me lifted up upon a tree.
Refrain …
For there can be no greater love
shown upon this land
Than in the One who came to die
that we might live.
Refrain ….
PSALMODY
Ant.1: God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.
Psalm 50(51)
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.
That you may be justified when you give sentence
and be without reproach when you judge,
O see, in guilt I was born,
a sinner was I conceived.
Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may thrill.
From my sins turn away your face
and blot out all my guilt.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervor sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.
O rescue me, God, my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit,
a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
In your goodness, show favor to Zion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
holocausts offered on your altar.
Ant. God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.
Ant.2: Jesus Christ showed his love for us and freed us from our sins with his life’s blood.
Canticle: Hab.3:2-4,13a,16-19
Lord, I have heard of your fame,
I stand in awe of your deeds.
Do them again in our days,
in our time make them known!
In spite of your anger, have compassion.
God comes forth from Teman,
the Holy One comes from Mount Paran.
His splendour covers the sky
and his glory fills the earth.
His brilliance is like the light,
Rays flash from his hands;
There his power is hidden.
You march out to save your people,
to save the one you have anointed.
You made a path for your horses in the sea,
in the raging of the mighty waters.
This I heard and I tremble with terror,
my lips quiver at the sound.
Weakness invades my bones,
my steps fail beneath me,
yet I calmly wait for the doom
that will fall upon the people who assail us.
For even though the fig does not blossom,
nor fruit grow on the vine,
even though the olive crop fail,
and fields produce no harvest,
even though flocks vanish from the folds
and stalls stand empty of cattle,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
And exult in God my Saviour.
The Lord my God is my strength,
He makes me leap like the deer,
he guides me to the high places.
Ant.: Jesus Christ showed his love for us and freed us from our sins with his life’s blood.
Ant.3: We venerate your cross, Lord; we praise and glorify your holy resurrection: because of the tree joy has come into the whole world.
Psalm 147
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates
he has blessed the children within you.
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.
He showers down snow white as wool,
he scatters hoar-frost like ashes.
He hurls down hailstones like crumbs.
The waters are frozen at his touch;
he sends forth his word and it melts them:
at the breath of his mouth the waters flow.
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.
Ant.: We venerate your cross, Lord; we praise and glorify your holy resurrection: because of the tree joy has come into the whole world.
SCRIPTURE READING Is 52:13-15
See, my servant will prosper, he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights. As the crowds were appalled on seeing him- so disfigured did he look that he seemed no longer human – so will the crowds be astonished at him and kings stand speechless before him; for they shall see something never told and witness something never heard before.
Ant. : Christ humbled himself for us, and, in obedience, accepted death, even death on a cross.
BENEDICTUS
Ant. Over his head was placed the charge against him: ‘This is Jesus, the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.’
Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel;
he has visited his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour
in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy ones,
those who were his prophets from of old.
A Saviour who would free us from our foes,
from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our ancestors is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.
He swore to Abraham our father to grant us
that free from fear and saved from the hands of our foes
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
As for you, little child,
you shall be called a prophet of God the Most High.
You shall go ahead of the Lord
to prepare his ways before him
to make known to his people their salvation
through forgiveness of all their sins,
the loving-kindness of the heart of our God
who visits us like the dawn from on high.
He will give light to those in darkness,
those who dwell in the shadow of death,
and guide us in the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father ….
Ant. Over his head was placed the charge against him: ‘This is Jesus, the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.’
INTERCESSIONS
For our sake, our Redeemer suffered death and was buried, and rose again. With heartfelt love let us adore him, and pray:
R/ Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ our teacher, for our sake you were obedient even to accepting death. – teach us to obey the Father’s will in all things. R/
Christ our life, by your death on the cross you destroyed the power of evil and death, – may we die with you to rise with you in glory. R/
Christ our King, you became an outcast among us, a worm and no man, – teach us the humility by which you saved the world. R/
Christ our salvation, you gave yourself up to death out of love for us – help us to show your love to one another.R/
Christ our Savior, on the cross you embraced all time with your outstretched arms, - unite God’s scattered children in your kingdom of salvation. R/
Our Father…
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Father, look with love upon your people,
the love which the Lord Jesus Christ showed us
when he delivered himself to evil men and suffered the agony of the cross,
for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
BLESSING May the Lord bless us, keep us from all evil and bring us to life everlasting.
All: Amen.
