Freitag der 2. Fastenwoche

But I in justice shall behold Your face; I shall be content when Your glory shall appear. Hear, O Lord, a just suit; attend to my outcry. But I in justice shall behold Your face; I shall be content when Your glory shall appear.

Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that with the sacred fast to purify us, we may with sincere hearts reach the coming feast.

O God, Who graciously sent blessed Patrick, Your Confessor and Bishop, to preach Your glory to the nations, grant through his merits and intercession, that by Your mercy we may be able to accomplish what You command.

Lesson from the book of Genesis In those days, Joseph said to his brothers, Listen to this dream which I had. We were binding sheaves in the field; my sheaf rose up and remained standing, while your sheaves gathered round and bowed down to my sheaf. His brothers answered, Are you to be our king? Are you to rule over us? And because of his dreams and words they hated him the more. He had another dream which he also told to his brothers. I had another dream, he said. The sun, the moon and eleven stars were worshipping me. When he told that to his father and his brothers, his father reproved him. What is this dream that you have had? he said. Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers will come to bow to the ground before you? So his brothers envied him, while his father pondered the matter. When his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Sichem, Israel said to Joseph, Your brothers are pasturing the flocks at Sichem; get ready, I will send you to them. Joseph answered, I am ready. Go, then, said Israel, and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks; and bring back a report to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Sichem. A man found Joseph wandering about in the fields and asked him, What are you looking for? I am looking for my brothers, he answered. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing. The man said, They have moved on from here, because I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothain.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothain. They saw him in the distance, and before he drew near them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another, Here comes that dreamer! Let us therefore kill him and throw him into a cistern; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Let us see then what becomes of his dreams. But when Ruben heard of it, he tried to rescue him from them saying, We must not kill him. Then he continued, Do not shed blood. Throw him into the cistern there in the desert, but do not lay a hand on him. His purpose was to rescue him from them and restore him to his father.

In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. V. O Lord, deliver me from lying lip, from treacherous tongue. _ O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes. O Lord, remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may Your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. (kneel) V. Help us, O God, our Saviour, because of the glory of Your Name, O Lord; deliver us and pardon our sins for Your Name’s sake.

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitude of the Jews and the chief priests: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a wine vat in it, and built a tower; then he let it out to vine-dressers, and went abroad. But when the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the vine-dressers to receive his fruits. And the vine-dressers seized his servants, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent another party of servants more numerous than the first; and they did the same to these. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the vine-dressers, on seeing the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.’ So they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers? They said to Him, He will utterly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone; by the Lord this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people yielding its fruits. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they knew that He was speaking about them. And though they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the people, because they regarded Him as a prophet.

Deign, O Lord, to rescue me; let all be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life. Deign, O Lord, to rescue me.

O God, may this sacrifice which is offered, stay in us and accomplish lasting effects.

You, O Lord, will keep us and preserve us always from this generation.

Grant, we beseech You, O Lord, that we who have received the pledge of everlasting salvation, may properly direct our course so that we may be able to attain our goal.

Let us pray. Bow your heads to God. Grant unto Your people, we beseech You, O Lord, health of mind and body, that, by persevering in good works, we may be worthy to be protected by Your mighty power.