THE 12TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

INTROIT. Deus in adjutorium. Ps. 79. HASTE thee, O God, to deliver me: make hast to help me, O Lord: let them be ashamed and confounded, that seek after my soul. Ps. ibid. Let them be turned backward, and put to confusion: that wish me evil. V. Glory be.

COLLECT. ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. AMEN.

First Lesson:  Isaiah 35:4-7

[4] Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
[5] Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
[6] then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
[7] the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Psalm 146

[1] Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!
[2] I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have being.
[3] Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
[4] When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.
[5] Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
[6] who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever;
[7] who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
[8] the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
[9] The LORD watches over the sojourners, he upholds the widow and the fatherless;
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
[10] The LORD will reign for ever, thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!

EPISTLE. 2 Corinthians 3:4-9 4 BRETHREN: such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

GRADUAL. Ps. 34. I will alway give thanks unto the Lord: his praise shall ever be in my mouth. V. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Alleluia, alleluia. V. Ps. 88. O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Alleluia.

GOSPEL. St. Mark 7:31-37 31 AT that time: Jesus, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. 33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; 37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

OFFERTORY. Ex. 32. Moses besought the Lord his God, and said: Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people? Turn from thy fierce wrath: remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest to give a land flowing with milk and honey. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.