Wednesday, April 2
The Morning Office To Be Observed on the Hour or Half Hour Between 6 and 9 a.m.

Wednesday of Holy Week


The Call to Prayer
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,* from everlasting and to everlasting;* and let all the people say, “Amen!”
Psalm 106:48

The Request for Presence
O God of hosts,* show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
Psalm 80:7


The Greeting

Let them know that this is your hand, that you, O LORD, have done it.
Psalm 109:26

The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Send forth your strength, O God;* establish, O God, what you have wrought for us.
Psalm 68:28

A Reading

It was two days before the Passover and the feasts of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and have him put to death. For they said, ‘It must not be during the festivities, or there will be a disturbance among the people.’ He was at Bethany in the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a virulent skin-disease; he was at table when a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the ointment on his head. Some who were there said to one another indignantly, ‘Why this waste of ointment? Ointment like this could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor’; and they were angry with her. But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting her? What she has done for me is a good work. You have the poor with you always, and you can be kind to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. In truth I tell you, wherever throughout all the world the gospel is proclaimed, what she has done will be told as well, in remembrance of her.’ Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, approached the chief priests with an offer to hand Jesus over to them. They were delighted to hear it, and promised to give him money; and he began to look for a way of betraying him when the opportunity should occur.
Mark 14:1–11

The Refrain

Send forth your strength, O God;* establish, O God, what you have wrought for us.

The Morning Psalm

Your Testimonies Are Very Sure

The waters have lifted up, O LORD, the waters have lifted up their voice;* the waters have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the sound of many waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea,* mightier is the LORD who dwells on high. Your testimonies are very sure,* and holiness adorns your house, O LORD, for ever and for evermore.
Psalm 93:4–6

The Refrain

Send forth your strength, O God;* establish, O God, what you have wrought for us.

The Gloria*

Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall ever be, world without end. Alleluia. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name. May your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Prayer Appointed for the Week

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that I, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. †

The Concluding Prayer of the Church

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