Family Prayers for First Sunday of Lent

I mulled over these prayers for along time, but in my last post about Lenten Family Prayers with my awesome centerpiece I promised the first set of prayers for extinguishing the first candle. It is based on part of the Tenebrae service which begins with Holy Thursday Matins from the old Office. I used the translations of the Psalms from the Angelus Press 1962 Missal and the collect from the first Sunday of Lent from the Extraordinary form.

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First Sunday of Lent “Tenebrae” Prayers

Begin with all six candles lit.

Leader: O God, come to my assistance.

All: O Lord, make haste to help me.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

All: As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Leader: (Ant. 1) The Zeal of Thy house hath eaten Me up, and he reproaches of them that reproach Thee, fell upon Me.

Psalm 69 (68 old numbering)

1. Save me O God; for the waters are

come even unto my soul.

2. I stick fast in the mire of the deep:

 and there is no sure standing.

3. I am come into the depth of the sea:

and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.

4. I have labored with crying, my jaws are become hoarse:

mine eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God.

5. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head:

that hate me without cause.

6. Mine enemies are grown strong, who have wrongfully persecuted me:

then did I pay that which I took not away.

7. O God, Thou knowest my foolishness:

and mine offenses are are not hid from Thee.

8. Let not them be ashamed for me,

who look for Thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts.

9. Let them not be confounded on my account:

That seek Thee, O God of Israel.

10. Because for they sake I have borne reproach:

shame hath covered my face.

11. I am become a stranger to my brethren:

and an alien to the sons of my mother.

12. For the zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up:

and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee, are fallen upon me.

13. And I covered my soul in fasting:

and it was made a reproach to me.

14. And I made haircloth my garment:

and I became a by-word to them.

15. They that sat in the gate spoke against me:

and they that drank wine, made me their song.

16. But as for me, my prayer is to Thee, O Lord:

for the time of Thy good pleasure, O God.

17. In the multitude of Thy mercy hear me:

in the truth of Thy salvation.

18. Draw me out of the mire that I may not stick fast:

deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

19. Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up:

and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

20. Hear me, O Lord, for They mercy is kind:

look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies.

21. And turn not away Thy face from Thy servant:

for I am in trouble, hear me speedily.

22. Attend to my soul, and deliver it:

save me because of mine enemies.

23. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion:

and my shame.

24. In Thy sight are all they that afflict me:

my heart hath expected reproach and misery.

25. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.

26. And they gave me gall for my food:

and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

27. Let their table become as a snare before them:

and a recompense, and a stumbling block.

28. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not:

and their back, bend Thou down always.

29. Pour our Thine indignation upon them

and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

30. Let their habitation be made desolate:

and let there be none to dwell in their tabernacles.

31. Because they persecuted him whom Thou hast smitten:

and added to the grief of my wounds.

32. Add Thou iniquity upon their iniquity;

and let them not come into Thy justice.

33. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living:

and with the just let them not be written.

34. But I am poor and sorrowful:

Thy salvation, O God, hath set me up.

35. I will praise the name of God with a canticle:

and I will magnify Him with praise.

36. And it shall please God better than a young calf:

that bringeth forth horns and hoofs.

37. Let the poor see and rejoice:

seek ye God, and your soul shall live.

38. For the Lord hath heard the poor:

and hath not despised His prisoners.

39. Let the heavens and the earth praise Him:

the sea, and everything that creepeth therein.

40. For God will save Sion:

and the cities of Juda shall be built up.

41. And they shall dwell there:

and acquire it by inheritance

42. And the seed of His servants shall possess it:

and they that love His name shall dwell therein.

First Lesson: Lamentations 1: 1-5

1  How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal.

2  She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.

3  Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

4  The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the appointed feasts; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her maidens have been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly.

5  Her foes have become the head, her enemies prosper, because the LORD has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted unto the Lord thy God.

Responsory: All: On the mount Olivet He prayed to His Father:

Father, if it be possible, let thus cup pass away from Me:

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Leader: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation,

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The first candle is extinguished.

All: Our Father...

Leader: O God, Who dost purify Thy Church

by the yearly observance of Lent:

grant to Thy household, that what we strive to

obtain from Thee by abstinence,

we may achieve by good works.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ,Your Son,

Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

God, forever and ever. Amen.