CTK – PEACE – Prayer Resources

A reading from the Holy Gospel according Luke

Glory to you O Lord

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
    and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Glory you O Lord

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

A reading from the book of Baruch 

Jerusalem, take off the clothes you have worn in your mourning and distress, and put on the eternal splendor of God’s glory. Put around you the cloak of God’s righteousness. Place on your head the crown of the glory of the Eternal God. God will show your splendor to every nation on earth. Forever he will say to you:

Your security comes from your righteousness, and your splendor from your devotion to me.

Get up, Jerusalem, stand on the mountaintop; see where God, the Holy One, is bringing your children together from the east and from the west. They are rejoicing that God has remembered them. Jerusalem, your children were led away by their enemies; they left you on foot, but God is bringing them back to you, carried in royal splendor. God has commanded that every high mountain and the everlasting hills shall be made low; he has commanded that the valleys shall be filled and the ground leveled, so that the people of Israel may come safely home in the glory of God. At the command of God, forests of fragrant trees will spring up to provide shade for the people of Israel. God will lead Israel home. They will return with great joy, guided by his mercy and righteousness, surrounded by the light of his glorious presence.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A reading from the prophet Micah

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land
    and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds
    and eight princes of men;

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A reading from the letter of Saint Paul to Colossians

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A reading from the prophet Isaiah

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon^[a] his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called^[b]
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God