Evening Prayer, Rite Two for Wednesday, April 02, 2025

April 02, 2025

Wednesday In The Week Of 4 Lent

Psalm 141:2

Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Confession of Sin

Dear friends in Christ, here in the presence of Almighty God, let us kneel in silence, and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, so that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Invitatory and Psalter

Officiant: O God, make speed to save us.
People: O Lord, make haste to help us.

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.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious Light,

pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,

O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,

and our eyes behold the vesper light,

we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,

O Son of God, O Giver of life,

and to be glorified through all the worlds.

The Psalm or Psalms Appointed

Psalm 119:121-144

My flesh trembles with dread of you; *

I am afraid of your judgments.

Ayin Feci judicium

I have done what is just and right; *

do not deliver me to my oppressors.

Be surety for your servant's good; *

let not the proud oppress me.

My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation *

and for your righteous promise.

Deal with your servant according to your loving-kindness *

and teach me your statutes.

I am your servant; grant me understanding, *

that I may know your decrees.

It is time for you to act, O LORD, *

for they have broken your law.

Truly, I love your commandments *

more than gold and precious stones.

I hold all your commandments to be right for me; *

all paths of falsehood I abhor.

Pe Mirabilia

Your decrees are wonderful; *

therefore I obey them with all my heart.

When your word goes forth it gives light; *

it gives understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant; *

I long for your commandments.

Turn to me in mercy, *

as you always do to those who love your Name.

Steady my footsteps in your word; *

let no iniquity have dominion over me.

Rescue me from those who oppress me, *

and I will keep your commandments.

Let your countenance shine upon your servant *

and teach me your statutes.

My eyes shed streams of tears, *

because people do not keep your law.

Sadhe Justus es, Domine

You are righteous, O LORD, *

and upright are your judgments.

You have issued your decrees *

with justice and in perfect faithfulness.

My indignation has consumed me, *

because my enemies forget your words.

Your word has been tested to the uttermost, *

and your servant holds it dear.

I am small and of little account, *

yet I do not forget your commandments.

Your justice is an everlasting justice *

and your law is the truth.

Trouble and distress have come upon me, *

yet your commandments are my delight.

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.

The Lessons

Gen 49:1-28

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel your father.

Reuben, you are my firstborn,
    my might and the first fruits of my vigor,
    excelling in rank and excelling in power.
Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel
    because you went up onto your father’s bed;
    then you defiled it—you went up onto my couch!

Simeon and Levi are brothers;
    weapons of violence are their swords.
May I never come into their council;
    may I not be joined to their company—
for in their anger they killed men,
    and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.
Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
    and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob,
    and scatter them in Israel.

Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
    your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,
    like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and the obedience of the peoples is his.
Binding his foal to the vine
    and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he washes his garments in wine
    and his robe in the blood of grapes;
his eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth whiter than milk.

Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea;
he shall be a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.

Issachar is a strong donkey,
    lying down between the sheepfolds;
he saw that a resting place was good,
    and that the land was pleasant;
so he bowed his shoulder to the burden,
    and became a slave at forced labor.

Dan shall judge his people
    as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a snake by the roadside,
    a viper along the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
    so that its rider falls backward.

I wait for your salvation, O Lord.

Gad shall be raided by raiders,
but he shall raid at their heels.

Asher’s food shall be rich,
and he shall provide royal delicacies.

Naphtali is a doe let loose
that bears lovely fawns.

Joseph is a fruitful bough,
    a fruitful bough by a spring;
    his branches run over the wall.
The archers fiercely attacked him;
    they shot at him and pressed him hard.
Yet his bow remained taut,
    and his arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
    by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
by the God of your father, who will help you,
    by the Almighty who will bless you
    with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
    blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
The blessings of your father
    are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains,
    the bounties of the everlasting hills;
may they be on the head of Joseph,
    on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
in the morning devouring the prey,
and at evening dividing the spoil.”

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.