A short order of service for Praying daily at home in the morning and evening

+Both morning and evening begin with:

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy  Spirit. Amen.

 +Morning only:

Come, let us sing to the Lord:

Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving:

And raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For  the Lord God is a great God:

And a great King above all  gods.

In his hands are the depths of the earth;

And the heights of the hills are his also.

The sea is his for he made it;

And his hands have moulded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee;

And kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture

And  the sheep of his hand.

+Evening only:

Behold now, bless the Lord,

All you servants of the Lord;

You that stand by night in the house of the Lord.

Lift up your hands in the holy place

And bless the Lord:

The Lord who made heaven and earth

Bless you out of Zion.

 

+One of the Psalms (or your own choice) may now be said:

Any time use  Psalm 23, 24, 43, 46, 90, 121

Lent: 51 or 139     Easter Season 150   Pentecost 104

At the end of each Psalm and Morning or Evening  Canticle:

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy  Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for  ever. Amen.

+A short reading from Scripture:  Matthew 4, 1-11; Matthew 5, 1-11; Matthew 65-12; Matthew 6, 16-18; Luke 15, 11-32;  or in Eastertide: Luke 24, 1-12; Luke 24, 13-35; Luke 24, 50-53; John 20, 19-23; john 21, 15-19.

+ Morning  Canticle  (The Benedictus)

Blessed be theLord,  the God of Israel:

For he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for  us a mighty Saviour;

Born in the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets, he promised of old;

That he would save us  from his enemies,

From the hands of all that hate us.

He promised to show mercy to his forebears;

And to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham;

To set us free from the hands of our enemies,

Free to worship him without fear;

Holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

You, my child,  shall  be called the prophet of the most high;

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

To give his people knowledge of salvation;

For the forgiveness of all  their  sins.

In the tender compassion of our  God;

The dawn from on high shall break upon us,

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death;

And to guide our  feet into the way of peace.

 

+Evening Canticle   (The Magnificat)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

For he has looked with  favour  on his lowly  servant;

From this day all generations will call me blessed.

The Almighty has done great things for me.

And holy is his name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him;

In every generation,

he has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things;

And the rich he has sent empty away.

He has come to the help of his servant, Israel,

for he has remembered his promise of mercy.

The promise he made to our forebears,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

 

+Prayer time – bring to God things on your heart; needs of the world; then pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day  our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For  thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,  for ever and ever. Amen.

+Evening Collect:

Be with us Lord, for it is evening and the day  is far  spent;

be with us and your whole church,

be with us in the evening of the day,

in the evening of life, in the evening of the world;

be with us and all your  faithful people;  O Lord, in time and in eternity.  Amen.

 + Morning Collect:

Grant us, O Lord,

to pass this day in gladness and peace,

without stumbling and without sin,

that reaching evening victorious over all  temptation,

we may praise you,  the eternal God,

who governs all  things, world without end. Amen

 

+Morning and Evening

The Grace of our Lord  Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now and for ever.  Amen.

+At any time of day: the ‘Jesus Prayer’

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy  on me

“As the most effective prayer the Church Fathers use the short phrase, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’. This prayer is the key to the spiritual life. It is a prayer that cannot be taught either  by books or by  spiritual  fathers or by anyone else. Its sole teacher is divine grace.

If I tell you honey is sweet and runny, or this or that, you won’t understand unless you taste it. The same is true of prayer. If I say ‘This is what it’s like’ or ‘this is how you’ll feel’, you won’t understand, nor will you pray except in the Holy Spirit.”

 

(Wounded by Love: The life and Wisdom of St. Porphyrios  p119)

Trans. By  Fr. John Raffan.