Divine Office Evening Prayer by Divine Office (DivineOffice.org)

God our Father, to show the way of salvation, you chose that the standard of the cross should go before us, and you fulfilled the ancient prophecies in Christ’s Passover from death to life. Do not let us rouse your burning indignation by sin, but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.

Ant. Seek the Lord and you will live.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

I have known tribulations and distress.

— But in your commands I have found consolation.

READINGS

First reading

From the book of the prophet Micah

6:1-15

The Lord accuses his people

Hear, then, what the Lord says:

Arise, present your plea before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice!

Hear, O mountains, the plea of the Lord,

pay attention, O foundations of the earth!

For the Lord has a plea against his people,

and he enters into trial with Israel.

O my people, what have I done to you,

or how have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

from the place of slavery I released you;

And I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and Miriam.

My people, remember what Moab’s King Balak planned,

and how Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him

… from Shittim to Gilgal,

that you may know the just deeds of the Lord.

With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow before God most high?

Shall I come before him with holocausts,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with myriad streams of oil?

Shall I give my first-born for my crime,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

You have been told, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord requires of you:

Only to do the right and to love goodness,

and to walk humbly with your God.

Hark! the Lord cries to the city.

[It is wisdom to fear your name!]

Hear, O tribe and city council,

You whose rich men are full of violence,

whose inhabitants speak falsehood

with deceitful tongues in their heads!

Am I to bear any longer criminal hoarding

and the meager ephah that is accursed?

Shall I acquit criminal balances,

bags of false weights?

Rather I will begin to strike you

with devastation because of your sins.

You shall sow, yet not reap,

tread out the olive, yet pour no oil,

and the grapes, yet drink no wine.

You shall eat, without being satisfied,

food that will leave you empty;

What you acquire, you cannot save; what you do save,

I will deliver up to the sword.

RESPONSORY See Micah 6:8; Psalm 37:3

The Lord has told you, O man, what is good,

— and this is what he expects of you:

to do what is right, to love goodness,

and to walk humbly with your God.

Trust in the Lord and do good

and you shall possess the land.

— And this is what he expects of you:

to do what is right, to love goodness,

and to walk humbly with your God.

Second reading

From the Letters of Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Apostolic zeal for the salvation and sanctification of souls

The burning zeal for God’s glory that motivates you fills my heart with joy. It is sad for us to see in our own time that indifferentism in its many forms is spreading like an epidemic not only among the laity but also among religious. But God is worthy of glory beyond measure, and therefore it is of absolute and supreme importance to seek that glory with all the power of our feeble resources. Since we are mere creatures we can never return to him all that is his due. The most resplendent manifestation of God’s glory is the salvation of souls, whom Christ redeemed by shedding his blood. To work for the salvation and sanctification of as many souls as possible, therefore, is the preeminent purpose of the apostolic life. Let me, then, say a few words that may show the way toward achieving God’s glory and the sanctification of many souls.

God, who is all-knowing and all-wise, knows best what we should do to increase his glory. Through his representatives on earth he continually reveals his will to us; thus it is obedience and obedience alone that is the sure sign to us of the divine will. A superior may, it is true, make a mistake; but it is impossible for us to be mistaken in obeying a superior’s command. The only exception to this rule is the case of a superior commanding something that in even the slightest way would contravene God’s law. Such a superior would not be conveying God’s will.

God alone is infinitely wise, holy, merciful, our Lord, Creator, and Father; he is beginning and end, wisdom and power and love; he is all. Everything other than God has value to the degree that it is referred to him, the maker of all and our own redeemer, the final end of all things. It is he who, declaring his adorable will to us through his representatives on earth, draws us to himself and whose plan is to draw others to himself through us and to join us all to himself in an ever deepening love.

Look, then, at the high dignity that by God’s mercy belongs to our state in life. Obedience raises us beyond the limits of our littleness and puts us in harmony with God’s will. In boundless wisdom and care, his will guides us to act rightly. Holding fast to that will, which no creature can thwart, we are filled with unsurpassable strength.

Obedience is the one and the only way of wisdom and prudence for us to offer glory to God. If there were another, Christ would certainly have shown it to us by word and example. Scripture, however, summed up his entire life at Nazareth in the words: He was subject to them; Scripture set obedience as the theme of the rest of his life, repeatedly declaring that he came into the world to do his Father’s will. Let us love our loving Father with all our hearts. Let our obedience increase that love, above all when it requires us to surrender our own will. Jesus Christ crucified is our sublime guide toward growth in God’s love.

We will learn this lesson more quickly through the Immaculate Virgin, whom God has made the dispenser of his mercy. It is beyond all doubt that Mary’s will represents to us the will of God himself. By dedicating ourselves to her we become in her hands instruments of God’s mercy even as she was such an instrument in God’s hands. We should let ourselves be guided and led by Mary and rest quiet and secure in her hands. She will watch out for us, provide for us, answer our needs of body and spirit; she will dissolve all our difficulties and worries.

RESPONSORY Ephesians 5:1-2; 6:6

Be imitators of God as his dear children. Follow the way of love, even as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as an offering to God.

— A gift of pleasing fragrance.

Do God’s will with your whole heart as servants of Christ.

— A gift of pleasing fragrance.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God,

who filled the Priest and Martyr Saint Maximilian Kolbe

with a burning love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary

and with zeal for souls and love of neighbor,

graciously grant, through his intercession,

that striving for your glory by eagerly serving others,