Feria Tertia infra Hebdomadam IV in Quadragesima

Hearken, O God, to my prayer; turn not away from my pleading; give heed to me, and answer me. I rock with grief, and am troubled at the voice of the enemy and the clamor of the wicked. Hearken, O God, to my prayer; turn not away from my pleading; give heed to me, and answer me.

May the sacred practice of fasting, we beseech You, O Lord, win for us increased holiness of life and the continuing help of Your mercy.

O God, Who, through blessed John, made Your faithful people conquer the enemies of the cross by the power of the most holy name of Jesus, grant, we beseech You, that by his intercession we may avoid the snares of our spiritual enemies, and may be found worthy to receive from You the crown of justice.

Lesson from the book of Exodus In those days, the Lord said to Moses, Go down from the mountain to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshipping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ I see how stiff-necked this people is, continued the Lord to Moses. Let Me alone, then, that My wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation. But Moses implored the Lord, his God, saying, Why, O Lord, should Your wrath blaze up against Your own people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent He brought them out, that He might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth’? Let Your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing Your people. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how You swore to them by Your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’ So the Lord relented in the punishment He had threatened to inflict on His people.

Arise, O Lord, help us! Redeem us for Your Name’s sake. V. O God, our ears have heard, our fathers have declared to us the deeds You did in their days, in days of old.

Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John At that time, when the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. And the Jews marveled, saying, How does this man come by learning, since He has not studied? Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not My own, but His Who sent Me. If anyone desires to do His will, he will know of the teaching whether it is from God, or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no injustice in him. Did not Moses give you the Law, and none of you observes the Law? Why do you seek to put Me to death? The crowd answered and said, You have a devil. Who seeks to put You to death? Jesus answered and said to them, One work I did and you all wonder. For this reason Moses gave you the circumcision -- not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers -- and on a Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath, that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you indignant with me because I made a whole man well on a Sabbath? Judge not by appearances but give just judgment. Some therefore of the people of Jerusalem were saying, Is not this the man they seek to kill? And behold, He speaks openly and they say nothing to Him. Can it be that the rulers have really come to know that this is the Christ? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from. Jesus therefore, while teaching in the temple, cried out and said, You both know Me, and know where I am from. Yet I have not come of Myself, but He is true Who has sent Me, whom you do not know. I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me. They wanted therefore to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him because His hour had not yet come. Many of the people, however, believed in Him.

I have waited, waited for the Lord, and He stooped toward me and heard my cry. And He put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.

May this offering, O Lord, we beseech You, wipe away our sins, and make holy the minds and bodies of Your servants for celebrating this Sacrifice.

Look with favor, O Lord, upon the sacrifice we offer; that by the intercession of blessed John, Your Confessor, it may destroy the snares of our enemies and make us secure in the shelter of Your protection.

May we shout for joy at Your victory and raise the standards in the Name of the Lord our God.

May the reception of this sacrament, O Lord, cleanse us from guilt and bring us to the kingdom of heaven.

Filled with heavenly food and invigorated by the spiritual chalice, we beseech You, almighty God, by the intercession of St. John, Your Confessor, to protect us against our wicked enemy and keep Your Church in lasting peace.

Let us pray. Bow your heads to God. Have mercy on Your people, O Lord, and graciously grant them relief from the unceasing tribulations which oppress them.