LITURGY OF THE HOURS, THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

            The mood of the season changes with the First Evening Prayer of this Sunday.  The hymns and readings have a “passion” orientation, leading us inexorably to the celebration of the Lord’s Passover at the Triduum.

 

First Evening Prayer

 

The Hymn is

 

The Psalms are from Week I, with the following antiphons:

           

1.  I shall place my law in their hearts;

     I shall be their God, and they will be my people.

            2.  I count everything as loss but this:

                 the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

            3.  Although he was the Son of God,

                 Christ learned obedience through suffering.

 

The Reading is I Peter 1:18-21, which exhorts us to remember that we have been purchased with the blood of Christ, and cheers us with the message, “Through him you now have faith in God, who raised [Christ] from the dead and gave him glory for that very reason—so that you would have faith, and hope in God!”

 

The Responsory “Listen to us, O Lord, and have mercy,” is used every Sunday at

Evening Prayer.

 

The Magnificat is sung with the antiphon:

            Unless a grain of when falls into the ground and dies,

            it remains only a single grain;

            but if it dies, it produces a rich harvest.

 

The Intercessions and Prayer are proper to Lent V.

 

Morning Prayer

 

The Hymn is

 

The Psalms are from Week I, with the following antiphons

           

            1.  As the serpent was lifted up in the desert,

                 so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

            2.  The Lord of hosts protects us and sets us free;

                 he guides and saves his people.

            3.  He was pierced for our offenses and burdened with our sins.

                 By his wounds we are healed.

 

The Reading is Acts 13:26-30, which speaks of the Lord’s Passion, and concludes “When they had carried out everything that scripture foretells about him, they took him down fro the tree and buried him in a tomb.  But God raised him from the dead.”

 

The Responsory “Listen to us, O Lord, and have mercy,” is used every Sunday at

Evening Prayer during the season of Lent.

 

The Magnificat is sung with this antiphon:

            When I am lifted from the earth,

            I will draw all people to myself.

 

The Intercessions and Prayer are proper to Lent V.