The Introits, Collects, etc. Ash Wednesday and the Friday following

The Season of Lent

The first day of Lent, commonly called 
Ash-Wednesday

Matins

The Invitatory From Psalms xxxii. xxxviii. cxxx.

Blessed is he, whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man, unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Put me not to rebuke, O Lord in thine anger; neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure :

For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thine hand presseth me sore.

My wickednesses are gone over my head, and are like a sore burden, too heavy for me to bear.

I will consess my wickedness, and be sorry for my sin.

Haste thee to help me, O Lord, God of my salvation.

Out of the depth have I called unto thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

If thou, Lord, shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who shall stand?

But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

The Psalms Appointed

6, 32, & 38

The Readings

Isa 58 & Luke 15

The Antiphon for the Benedictus

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven: * where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt.

Holy Communion

The Introit Psalm 6. Domine, ne in furore.

O LORD, rebuke me not in thine indignation, * neither chasten me in thy displeasure.
    2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am weak; * O LORD, heal me, for my bones are vexed.
    3 My soul also is sore troubled: * but, LORD, how long wilt thou punish me?
    4 Turn thee, O LORD, and deliver my soul; * O save me, for thy mercy's sake.
    5 For in death no man remembereth thee; * and who will give thee thanks in the pit?
    6 I am weary of my groaning; * every night wash I my bed, and water my couch with my tears.
    7 My beauty is gone for very trouble, * and worn away because of all mine enemies.

8 Away from me, all ye that work iniquity; * for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
    9 The LORD hath heard my petition; * the LORD will receive my prayer.
    10 All mine enemies shall be confounded, and sore vexed; * they shall be turned back, and put to shame suddenly.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we,worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness. may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ This Collect is to be read every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day.

For the Epistle. Joel ii. 12.

TURN ye even to me, saith the Lord, with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

The Tract Ps 103:8-14  

8 The Lord is full of compassion and gracious, / long-suffering, and of great goodness.
9 He will not alway be chiding: / neither keepeth he his anger for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins, / nor rewarded us according to our wickednesses.
11 For look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth, / so great is his mercy also toward them that fear him.
12 Look how wide also the east is from the west, / so far hath he set our sins from us.
13 Yea, like as a father pitieth his own children, / even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth whereof we are made: / he remembereth that we are but dust.

The Gospel. St. Matt. vi. 16.

WHEN ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

¶ The same Collect, Epistle, and Gospel may serve for every day after, unto the next Sunday, except upon the feast of St. Matthias.

Evensong

The Psalms Appointed

102, 130, & 143

The Readings

Isa 1:2-20 & Luke 3:1-22

The Antiphon for the Magnificat

When ye fast, be ye not like to the hypocrites, * of a sad countenance.

The Friday After Ash Wednesday

The Epistle. Isaiah 58:1-12.

CRY aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rear guard. Then shah thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: and the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

The Gospel. St Matthew 5:43-6:8.

YE have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite-fully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye love unto more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thuje alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in

secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do for they think that they shall beheard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.