December 31st

Ordinary Double
 

INTROIT

Sacerdotes tui. (Psalm 132)

Priest:   Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness,
People:   And let thy Saints  sing with joyfulness:
Priest:   For thy servant David's sake,
People:   Turn not away the presence of thine Anointed.  §

Priest: Lord, remember David:
People: And all his trouble.
Priest: Glory be ...
People: As it was ...

(Repeat to §.)

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that we on this day devoutly observing the feast of thy holy Confessor Saint Sylvester, may thereby increase in godliness to the attainment of everlasting life.  Through.

COLLECT Of the Nativity

Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: grant that we, being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit.  Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ.  Who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end.

THE EPISTLE

II Timothy 4.1-8

Dearly beloved:  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;   Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season: reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.   For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears:   And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.   But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.   I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.   Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
 

GRADUAL AND ALLELUIA

Priest:    (Ecclesiasticus 44)  Behold a great priest,
People:    Who in his days pleased the Lord.
Priest:    There was none like unto him
People:   To keep the law of the Most High.
Priest:    Alleluia.
People:   Alleluia.
Priest:    (Psalm 89) I have found David my servant:
People:   With my holy oil have I anointed him.
All:         Alleluia!
 

THE GOSPEL

St. Luke 12.35-40

At that time: Jesus said unto his disciples:  Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning:  And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.   Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching.  Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.  And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.  And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.  Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
 
 
OFFERTORY  Psalm 89

I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him: my hand shall hold him fast and my arm shall strengthen him.

SECRET

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that we, remembering with gladness the righteousness of thy Saints, may at all times and in all places feel the effectual succour of their intercession.  Through.

SECRET Of the Nativity

We beseech thee, O Lord, that by this new Birth of thy only-begotten Son thou wouldest vouchsafe to sanctify these our oblations: and to cleanse us from the defilements of all our iniquities.  Through the same.

PREFACE AND CANON OF CHRISTMAS

COMMUNION  St. Matthew 24

Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

POSTCOMMUNION

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we may so shew forth our thankfulness for the gifts which we have now received; that, at the intercession of Saint Sylvester, thy Confessor and Bishop, we may obtain yet more abundant mercies.  Through.

POSTCOMMUNION Of the Nativity

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that like as thy Son, born this day the Saviour of the world, hath been made the author of our heavenly birth; so he may bestow upon us the gift of everlasting life.  Who liveth and reigneth with thee.

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