Heavenly Father,
grant that our priests be strengthened and healed
by the power of the Eucharist they celebrate.
May the Word they proclaim give them
courage and wisdom.
We pray that all those whom they seek to serve
may see in them the love and care of Jesus,
our Eternal High Priest, who is Lord for ever and ever.
Amen.
Mary, Mother of the Church,
look tenderly upon your sons, our priests.
Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church,
pray for us all.
Let us eat with the poor
drink with the poor
share with the poor
that we might deserve
to have a part with the poor
in that place
where they shall be satisfied,
who here,
for Christ’s sake,
hunger and thirst after justice.
For the kingdom of heaven
belongs to those
who are poor in spirit,
and poor in material things
for Christ’s sake,
to whom be glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
– Prayer of St Columban
We humbly beseech your Majesty, O Lord, that as the blessed Apostle Andrew was once a teacher and ruler of your Church, so he may ever be our advocate with you. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
O Christ, our Lord, who did glorify the most blessed Andrew with the grace of apostleship, and the crown of martyrdom, by granting to him this special gift, that by preaching the mystery of the cross, he should merit death on the cross; grant us to become most true lovers of your holy cross, and, denying ourselves, to take up your cross and follow you; that by sharing your sufferings in this life we may deserve the happiness of obtaining life everlasting. Amen.
O Lord Jesus,
during this Advent
come to us in Your grace.
Come to prepare our hearts, minds and bodies
to welcome You on Christmas Day.
Come to comfort us in sadness,
to cheer us in loneliness,
to refresh us in weariness,
to buttress us in temptations,
to lead us in doubt,
and to exult with us in joy.
Amen.
1. As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold,
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onward, beaming bright,
so, most gracious God, may we
evermore be led to thee.
2. As with joyful steps they sped,
to that lowly manger-bed,
there to bend the knee before
him whom heaven and earth adore,
so may we with willing feet
ever seek thy mercy-seat.
3. As they offered gifts most rare
at that manger rude and bare,
so may we with holy joy,
pure, and free from sin’s alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to thee, our heavenly King.
4. Holy Jesus, every day
keep us in the narrow way;
and, when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed souls at last
where they need no star to guide,
where no clouds thy glory hide.
5. In the heavenly country bright
need they no created light,
thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown,
thou its Sun which goes not down;
there for ever may we sing
alleluias to our King.
– William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898)
1. Hark, the herald angels sing,
glory to the new-born King,
peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled:
joyful all ye nations rise,
join the triumph of the skies,
with the angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark, the herald angels sing,
glory to the new-born King.
2. Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a Virgin’s womb!
Veiled in flesh the Godheas see,
hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
3. Hail the heaven-born Prince!
Hail the Son of righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings;
mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
1. Sleep, holy babe,
upon thy mother’s breast;
great Lord of earth and sea and sky,
how sweet it is to see thee lie
in such a place of rest.
2. Sleep, holy babe;
thine angels watch around,
all bending low, with folded wings,
before th’incarnate King of kings,
in reverent awe profound.
3. Sleep, holy babe,
while I with Mary gaze
in joy upon that face awhile,
upon the loving infant smile,
which there divinely plays.
4. Sleep, holy babe,
ah, take thy brief repose,
too quickly will thy slumbers break,
and thou to lengthen’d pains awake,
that death alone shall close.
5. O lady blest,
sweet Virgin, hear my cry;
forgive the wrong that I have done
to thee, in causing thy dear Son
upon the cross to die.
1. Of the Father’s love begotten,
ere the worlds began to be,
he is Alpha and Omega,
he the source, the ending he,
of all things that are and have been
and that future years shall see:
Evermore and evermore.
2. By his word was all created;
he commanded, it was done:
heaven and earth and depth of ocean,
universe of three in one,
all that grows beneath the shining
of the light of moon and sun:
Evermore and evermore.
3. Blessed was the day for ever
when the virgin, full of grace,
by the Holy Ghost conceiving,
bore the Saviour of our race,
and the child, the world’s Redeemer,
first revealed his sacred face:
Evermore and evermore.
4. O, ye heights of heaven, adore him,
angels and archangels sing!
Every creature bow before him
singing praise to God our King;
let no earthly tongue be silent,
all the world with homage ring:
Evermore and evermore.
5. He, by prophets sung, is here now,
promised since the world began,
now on earth in flesh descended
to atone for sins of man.
All creation praise its Master,
see fulfilment of his plan:
Evermore and evermore.
6. Glory be to God the Father,
glory be to God the Son,
glory to the Holy Spirit,
persons three, yet Godhead one.
Glory be from all creation
while eternal ages run:
Evermore and evermore.
– Aurelius Prudentius (348-413)
Come, come, come to the manger,
children, come to the children’s King:
sing, sing, chorus of Angels,
stars of morning o’er Bethlehem sing.
1. He lies ‘mid the beasts of the stall,
who is Maker and Lord of us all;
the wintry wind blows cold and dreary,
see, he weeps, the world is weary;
Lord, have pity and mercy on me!
2. He leaves all his glory behind;
to be born and to die for mankind.
With grateful beasts his cradle chooses,
thankless man his love refuses;
Lord, have pity and mercy on me!
3. To the manger of Bethlehem come,
to the Saviour Emmanuel’s home;
the heav’nly host above are singing,
set the Christmas bells a-ringing;
Lord, have pity and mercy on me!
1. I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
how Jesus the Saviour did come to die
for poor ord’n’ry people like you and like I.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
2. When Mary birthed Jesus, ’twas in a cow’s stall
with wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.
But high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall,
and the promise of ages it did then recall.
3. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
a star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
or all of God’s angels in heav’n for to sing,
Hhe surely could have it, ’cause he was the king.
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