Ribbon Placement: Liturgy of the Hours Vol. IV: Ordinary: 615 Proper of Seasons: 518 Psalter: Thursday, Week IV, 1174 Christian Prayer: Does not contain Office of Readings Office of Readings for Thursday in Ordinary Time God, come to my assistance. — Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia. PSALMODY Ant. 1 Their own strength could not save them; it was your strength and the light of your face. Psalm 44 The misfortunes of God’s people We triumph over all these things through him who loved us (Romans 8:37). I We heard with our own ears, O God, our fathers have told us the story of the things you did in their days, you yourself, in days long ago. To plant them you uprooted the nations: to let them spread you laid peoples low. No sword of their own won the land; no arm of their own brought them victory. It was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face: for you loved them. It is you, my king, my God, who granted victories to Jacob. Through you we beat down our foes; in your name we trampled our aggressors. For it was not in my bow that I trusted nor yet was I saved by my sword: it was you who saved us from our foes, it was you who put our foes to shame. All day long our boast was in God and we praised your name without ceasing. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Their own strength could not save them; it was your strength and the light of your face. Ant. 2 Turn back to the Lord; he will not hide his face. II Yet now you have rejected us, disgraced us: you no longer go forth with our armies. You make us retreat from the foe and our enemies plunder us at will. You make us like sheep for the slaughter and scatter us among the nations. You sell your own people for nothing and make no profit by the sale. You make us the taunt of our neighbors, the laughing stock of all who are near. Among the nations, you make us a byword, among the peoples a thing of derision. All day long my disgrace is before me: my face is covered with shame at the voice of the taunter, the scoffer, at the sight of the foe and avenger. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: — as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Ant. Turn back to the Lord; he will not hide his face. Ant. 3 Arise, Lord, do not abandon us for ever. III This befell us though we had not forgotten you; though we had not been false to your covenant, though we had not withdrawn our hearts; though our feet had not strayed from your path. Yet you have crushed us in a place of sorrows and covered us with the shadow of death. Had we forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to another god would not God have found this out, he who knows the secrets of the heart? It is for you we face death all day long and are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep? Arise, do not reject us for ever! Why do you hide your face and forget our oppression and misery?