Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher of the Faith, 461
Psalm 18.31-end
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried in the fire; he is a shield to all who trust in him. For who is God but the Lord, and who is the rock except our God?
It is God who girds me about with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like hinds’ feet so that I tread surely on the heights. He teaches my hands to fight and my arms to bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your salvation; your right hand upholds me and your grace has made me great. You enlarge my strides beneath me, yet my feet do not slide.
I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, nor turn again until I have destroyed them. I will smite them down so they cannot rise; they shall fall beneath my feet.
You have girded me with strength for the battle; you will cast down my enemies under me; You will make my foes turn their backs upon me and I shall destroy them that hate me.
They will cry out, but there shall be none to help them; they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer. I shall beat them as small as the dust on the wind; I will cast them out as the mire in the streets.
You will deliver me from the strife of the peoples; you will make me the head of the nations. A people I have not known shall serve me; as soon as they hear me, they shall obey me; strangers will humble themselves before me. The foreign peoples will lose heart and come trembling out of their strongholds.
The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock! Praised be the God of my salvation, even the God who vindicates me and subdues the peoples under me!
You that deliver me from my enemies, you will set me up above my foes; from the violent you will deliver me; therefore will I give you thanks, O Lord, among the nations and sing praises to your name, to the one who gives great victory to his king and shows faithful love to his anointed, to David and his seed for ever.
Psalm 150
Alleluia.
O praise God in his holiness; praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the blast of the trumpet; praise him upon the harp and lyre.
Praise him with timbrel and dances; praise him upon the strings and pipe.
Praise him with ringing cymbals; praise him upon the clashing cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Alleluia.
dings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the canticle.
Daniel 4.1-18
King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages that live throughout the earth: May you have abundant prosperity! The signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me I am pleased to recount.
How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his sovereignty is from generation to generation.
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was living at ease in my home and prospering in my palace. I saw a dream that frightened me; my fantasies in bed and the visions of my head terrified me. So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, in order that they might tell me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the diviners came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not tell me its interpretation. At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and who is endowed with a spirit of the holy gods—and I told him the dream: ‘O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that you are endowed with a spirit of the holy gods and that no mystery is too difficult for you. Hear the dream that I saw; tell me its interpretation.
Upon my bed this is what I saw; there was a tree at the centre of the earth, and its height was great.
The tree grew great and strong, its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.
Its foliage was beautiful, its fruit abundant, and it provided food for all.
The animals of the field found shade under it, the birds of the air nested in its branches, and from it all living beings were fed.
‘I continued looking, in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and there was a holy watcher, coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said:
“Cut down the tree and chop off its branches, strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit.
Let the animals flee from beneath it and the birds from its branches.
But leave its stump and roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field.
Let him be bathed with the dew of heaven, and let his lot be with the animals of the field in the grass of the earth.
Let his mind be changed from that of a human, and let the mind of an animal be given to him.
And let seven times pass over him.
The sentence is rendered by decree of the watchers, the decision is given by order of the holy ones, in order that all who live may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of mortals; he gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of human beings.”
‘This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are unable to tell me the interpretation. You are able, however, for you are endowed with a spirit of the holy gods.’
Revelation 4
After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! And the one seated there looks like jasper and cornelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’
The Collect
God our Father, who made your servant Leo strong in the defence of the faith: fill your Church with the spirit of truth that, guided by humility and governed by love, she may prevail against the powers of evil; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.Amen.
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