Weekly Bulletin for Sunday, September 27, 2009

Dedication Festival

Divine Office

Order of service for Morning and Evening Prayer.

Services and Events

Opening Prayer

Almighty God,
to whose glory we celebrate the dedication
of this house of prayer:
we praise you for the many blessings
you have given to those who worship you here:
and we pray that all who seek you in this place
may find you,
and, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
may become a living temple acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading

Revelation 12.7-12
A reading from the book of Revelation.

7 War broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.
The dragon and his angels fought back,
8 but they were defeated,
and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9 The great dragon was thrown down,
that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan,
the deceiver of the whole world –
he was thrown down to the earth,
and his angels were thrown down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
‘Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah,
for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.
11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
12 Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you with great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 122
R I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to God’s house’.

1 I was glad when they said to me,
‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’
2 Now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem. R
3 Jerusalem is built as a city
that is at unity with itself.
4 To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,
the assembly of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.
5 For there are the thrones of judgement,
the thrones of the house of David. R
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
‘May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls
and quietness within your towers. R
8 For my family and companions’ sake,
I pray for your prosperity.
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek to do you good.’ R

Second Reading

1 Peter 2.1-10
A reading from the first letter of Peter.

1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice,
and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk,
so that by it you may grow into salvation –
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone,
though rejected by mortals
yet chosen and precious in God’s sight,
5 Like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood,
to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
6 For it stands in scripture:
‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’
7 To you then who believe, he is precious;
but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,’
8 and ‘A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word,
as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, God’s own people,
in order that you may proclaim
the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

Acclamation

Alleluia! The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former. Alleluia!

Gospel

John 10.22-29
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem.
It was winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple,
in the portico of Solomon.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,
‘How long will you keep us in suspense?
If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’
25 Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe.
The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me;
26 but you do not believe,
because you do not belong to my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice.
I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.
No one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else,
and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.’

Closing Prayer

Father in heaven,
whose Church on earth is a sign of your heavenly peace,
an image of the new and eternal Jerusalem:
grant to us in the days of our pilgrimage
that, fed with the living bread of heaven,
and united in the body of your Son,
we may be the temple of your presence,
the place of your glory on earth,
and a sign of your peace in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.