Morning Prayer - Lauds
Monday, February 23, 2026 — Monday of the First Week of Lent (Opt. Mem. St. Polycarp) Psalter: Monday, Week I
INVITATORY
Invitatory Antiphon: Come, let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering.
Psalm 94 (95) — Douay-Rheims
Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I said: These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
(Repeat Invitatory Antiphon)
MORNING PRAYER (LAUDS)
God, come to my assistance.
— Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon 1
I lift up my heart to you, O Lord, and you will hear my morning prayer.
Psalm 5:2–10, 12–13 (Douay-Rheims)
Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry.
Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God.
For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice.
In the morning I will stand before thee, and will see: because thou art not a God that willest iniquity.
Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust abide before thy eyes.
Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie. The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor.
But as for me in the multitude of thy mercy, I will come into thy house; I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear.
Conduct me, O Lord, in thy justice: because of my enemies, direct my way in thy sight.
For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain.
But let all them be glad that hope in thee: they shall rejoice for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them. And all they that love thy name shall glory in thee:
For thou wilt bless the just. O Lord, thou hast crowned us, as with a shield of thy good will.
Glory be to the Father…
(Repeat Antiphon 1.) (divineoffice.org)
Antiphon 2
We praise your glorious name, O Lord, our God.
Canticle — 1 Chronicles 29:10–13 (Douay-Rheims)
Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of Israel, our father from eternity to eternity.
Thine, O Lord, is magnificence, and power, and glory, and victory: and to thee is praise: for all that is in heaven, and in earth, is thine: thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art above all princes.
Thine are riches, and thine is glory, thou hast dominion over all, in thy hand is power and might: in thy hand greatness, and the empire of all things.
Now therefore our God we give thanks to thee, and we praise thy glorious name.
Glory be to the Father…
(Repeat Antiphon 2.)
Antiphon 3
Adore the Lord in his holy court.
Psalm 28 (29) (Douay-Rheims)
Bring to the Lord, O ye children of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of rams.
Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to his name: adore ye the Lord in his holy court.
The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in magnificence.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars: yea, the Lord shall break the cedars of Libanus.
And shall reduce them to pieces, as a calf of Libanus, and as the beloved son of unicorns.
The voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire:
The voice of the Lord shaketh the desert: and the Lord shall shake the desert of Cades.
The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover the thick woods: and in his temple all shall speak his glory.
The Lord maketh the flood to dwell: and the Lord shall sit king for ever.
The Lord will give strength to his people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.
Glory be to the Father…
(Repeat Antiphon 3.)
SHORT READING
Exodus 19:4–6a (Douay-Rheims)
You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself.
If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine.
And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation.
(Sacred Silence.)
RESPONSORY
God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.
— God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.
From those who would trap me with lying words,
— and from the hunter’s snare.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
— God himself will set me free, from the hunter’s snare.
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH (BENEDICTUS)
Benedictus Antiphon: You have been blessed by my Father; come and receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Luke 1:68–79 (Douay-Rheims)
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father…
(Repeat Benedictus Antiphon.)
INTERCESSIONS
Praise to Jesus, our Savior; by his death he has opened for us the way of salvation.
Let us ask him: Lord, guide your people to walk in your ways.
God of mercy, you gave us new life through baptism,
— make us grow day by day in your likeness.
Lord, guide your people to walk in your ways.
May our generosity today bring joy to those in need,
— in helping them may we find you.
Lord, guide your people to walk in your ways.
Help us to do what is good, right and true in your sight,
— and to seek you always with undivided hearts.
Lord, guide your people to walk in your ways.
Forgive our sins against the unity of your family,
— make us one in heart and spirit.
Lord, guide your people to walk in your ways.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on 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.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Convert us,
O God our Savior,
and instruct our minds by heavenly teaching,
that we may benefit from the works of Lent.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
DISMISSAL
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life.
— Amen.
PARADOX OF THE DAY
The shorter the leash of Lent, the wider the kingdom it leads us into.
CHESTERTON QUOTE
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
CHESTERTONIAN REFLECTION
Israel is carried “upon the wings of eagles,” and then—almost comically—told to walk. That is always God’s method: first the miracle that no man can mistake, and then the covenant that every man can break. This morning’s word from Sinai is not the sentimental compliment we might have preferred (“You are wonderful as you are”), but the bracing title we often forget: a priestly kingdom, a holy nation.
A priest is not primarily a man with incense; he is a man with access—one who stands at the door between the common world and the uncommon God. Lent, then, is not a season for spiritual athletes showing off their bruises. It is the Church relearning how to stand at the door without blocking it, how to kneel without making a spectacle, how to be severe with herself and gentle with everyone else.
And notice the strange “direction” of the morning antiphon: “You have been blessed by my Father; come and receive the kingdom…” The kingdom is not presented as a wage for the flawless, but as an inheritance prepared before we had the good sense to desire it. We do not earn it; we are trained for it. Lent’s fasting and repentance are not the price of Heaven, but the clearing of a cluttered room so that the King may enter and we may recognize Him.
So let today be simple: hear His voice, harden not your heart. Give something away. Apologize quickly. Pray once with attention. These small obediences are not small at all; they are the first stones of a temple still unfinished—yet already bright with the promise of Easter.
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