← Prayer Book
Office of Readings
Sunday, December 13, 2026 • 2nd Sunday of Advent
Opening
O God, come to my assistance.
Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Invitatory
Ant. Come, let us adore the Lord who is to come.
Come, let us exult in the Lord; let us shout with joy to God our salvation.
Let us come before his face with praise and exult in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.
For the Lord does not cast off his people; for in his hand are all the ends of the earth.
And the heights of the mountains belong to him.
For the sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us adore and fall down before God; let us weep before the Lord who 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 will 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 tried me and saw my works.
For forty years I was close to this generation, and I said: "They always err in heart."
And these people have not known my ways, so I swore in my wrath that they will not enter into my rest.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Ant. Come, let us adore the Lord who is to come.
Hymn
The King Shall Come
The King shall come when morning dawns
and light triumphant breaks,
when beauty gilds the eastern hills
and life to joy awakes.
and light triumphant breaks,
when beauty gilds the eastern hills
and life to joy awakes.
Psalmody
Psalm 22A Psalm of David Not Attributed
Ant. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come, Lord Jesus, come.
The Lord governs me, and nothing will be lacking for me; he has placed me in a place of pasture.
He has led me to the water of refreshment; he has converted my soul.
He has led me along the paths of justice, for the sake of his name.
For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff: these have comforted me.
You have prepared a table before me against those who trouble me.
You have anointed my head with oil, and my chalice which inebriates me, how excellent it is!
And your mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And so may I dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Ant. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come, Lord Jesus, come.
Psalm 23The Lord Is My Shepherd
Ant. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come, Lord Jesus, come.
The Lord governs me, and nothing will be lacking for me; he has placed me in a place of pasture.
He has led me to the water of refreshment; he has converted my soul.
He has led me along the paths of justice, for the sake of his name.
For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff: these have comforted me.
You have prepared a table before me against those who trouble me.
You have anointed my head with oil, and my chalice which inebriates me, how excellent it is!
And your mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And so may I dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Ant. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come, Lord Jesus, come.
Psalm 24The King of Glory Enters
Ant. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come, Lord Jesus, come.
The earth is the Lord's and its fullness: the world and all who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the rivers.
Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who will stand in his holy place?
The innocent in hands and clean in heart, who has not received his soul in vain nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor.
He will receive a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Savior.
This is the generation of those who seek him, of those who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of Glory will enter.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord who is strong and powerful, the Lord powerful in battle.
Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of Glory will enter.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts; he is the King of Glory.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Ant. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come, Lord Jesus, come.
First Reading: Scripture
Luke 1:26-28
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
Second Reading: Patristic or Hagiographic
Waiting for Christ
Christ is already in that place of peace, which is all in all. He is on the right hand of God. He is hidden in the brightness of the radiance which issues from the everlasting throne. He is in the very abyss of peace, where there is no voice of tumult or distress, but a deep stillness — stillness, that greatest and most awful of all goods which we can fancy — that most perfect of joys, the utter profound, ineffable tranquility of the divine essence. He has entered into his rest. That is our home; here we are on a pilgrimage, and Christ is calling us home. He calls us to meet him. We know that he is there, and we know that we have to follow him — that all are to go one way or another. Let us try to make a beginning now of what will one day be our perfect work. Every moment of our life we are coming closer to him. Let each Advent find us further on the road than the one before.
Responsory
V. Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay.
R. Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay.
V. Give new courage to your people,
R. who trust in your word.
Te Deum (Sundays and Solemnities)
1
Concluding Prayer
Lord, grant us through this Office of Readings a heart like Mary's, open to receive your word and ready to act upon it; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dismissal
Let us praise the Lord.
And give him thanks.