Thursday, December 4
The Midday Office To Be Observed on the Hour or Half Hour Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m

First Week of Advent


The Call to Prayer
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below; praise him, you heavenly hosts; praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Traditional

The Request for Presence
Hear my prayer, O LORD,* and give ear to my cry; . . . For I am but a sojourner with you,* a wayfarer, as all my forebears were.
Psalm 39:13-14


The Greeting

With my whole heart I seek you;* let me not stray from your commandments.
Psalm 119:10

The Refrain for the Midday Lessons

The LORD loves those who hate evil; he preserves the lives of his saints* and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10

A Reading

First of all, do not forget that in the final days there will come sarcastic scoffers whose life is ruled by their passions. ‘What has happened to the promise of his coming?’ they will say, ‘Since our Fathers died everything has gone on just as it has since the beginning of creation!’ They deliberately ignore the fact that long ago there were the heavens and the earth, formed out of water and through water by the Word of God, and that it was through these same factors that the world of those days was destroyed by floodwaters. . . . But there is one thing, my dear friends, that you must never forget: . . . The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up.
2 Peter 3:3ff

The Refrain

The LORD loves those who hate evil; he preserves the lives of his saints* and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10

The Midday Psalm

The Fool Has Said in His Heart, “There Is No God.”

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”* All are corrupt and commit abominable acts; there is none who does any good. The LORD looks down from heaven upon us all,* to see if there is any who is wise, if there is one who seeks after God. Every one has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad;* there is none who does good; no, not one. Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers* who eat up my people like bread and do not call upon the LORD? See how they tremble with fear,* because God is in the company of the righteous. Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted,* but the LORD is their refuge. Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come out of Zion!* when the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.
Psalm 14

The Refrain

The LORD loves those who hate evil; he preserves the lives of his saints* and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10

The Cry of the Church

O God, come to my assistance! O Lord, make haste to help me!

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, give all of us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.†

The Concluding Prayer of the Church

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful is governed and sanctified: Receive my supplications and prayers which I offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in our vocation and ministry we all may truly serve you through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.†