For those of us who pray the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, there is no such thing as the Common of Married Couples. There is the Common of Holy Women, The Common of Holy Men, The Common of Martyrs, The Common of the Apostles, The Common of Priests, The Common of Mary, but no Common for Married Couples. I think it is a glaring omission on the part of the Church to NOT acknowledge the vocation of married couples in its prayer life. Seemingly the Church loves to elevate the celibate life over married life, forgetting that if everyone was celibate there would be no celibate clergy or religious because the human race would have died out.
One thing I have learned in 42 years of church ministry is not to wait for the Church to act, but take it upon myself to act. So without any approval or disapproval upon the hierarchy of the Church, I have put together my own Common of Married Couples. Because marriage is an inclusive union, the readings, canticles, and psalms are taken from The Inclusive Bible, the prayers are adaptations of the prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours translated by the International Committee of English in the Liturgy. All copyright acknowledgements are listed at the end.
I have designed these prayers to be prayed on the wedding anniversaries of deceased loved ones or prayed on the anniversary of living married couples. All that is needed is to change language from the past tense to the present tense (in italics).
Here is Morning Prayer.
MORNING PRAYER ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF A MARRIED COUPLE
INTRODUCTORY VERSE
O Adonai, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to God our Abba, to Jesus the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning is now and will be for ever. Amen.
HYMN
I have
loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine
I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine
seek the face of our God and long for God
God will bring you light and peace
I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine
I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine
seek the face of
our God and long for God
God will bring you joy and hope
I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine
I have loved you with an everlasting love
I have called you, and you are mine
© 1979 by Michael Joncas, Published by Oregon Catholic Press. All rights reserved.
PSALMODY*
Antiphon 1: Happiness comes to those who revere God.
Psalm 128
Happiness comes to those who revere Yahweh,
and walk in God’s ways!
You will eat what your hands have worked for;
you will be blessed and prosperous.
You will be a fruitful vine
in the heart of your house;
your children will grow up around your table,
spring up like olive trees.
This is how you will be blessed
if you revere Yahweh.
May Yahweh bless you from Zion,
and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
May you live to see your children’s children!
Peace be on Israel!
Glory to …
Antiphon 1: Happiness comes to those who revere God.
Silent prayer
Antiphon 2: Happy those in whom God’s love dwells.
Canticle – Song of Songs 2: 8-17
Here comes my lover,
running down the mountains like a gazelle,
leaping the hills like a stag
in search of his doe.
Look at him, standing out there
staring in through the window lattices
like the moon.
He is calling me: “come, sweetheart,
my pretty one, come out!
Winter is over, the rains are gone,
The flowers are blooming.
it’s time for singing;
let’s walk out through the valleys
and listen to the song of the dove.
The fig trees are setting fruit;
and the air is full of the smell of grape blossoms.
Arise and come, my pretty darling.
come away with me!”
Glory to …
Antiphon 2: Happy those in whom God’s love dwells.
Silent prayer
Antiphon 3: Acclaim God with joy, all the earth!
Psalm 100
Acclaim Yahweh with joy,
all the earth!
Serve Yahweh with gladness!
Enter into God’s presence with a joyful song!
Know that Yahweh is God!
Yahweh made us, and we belong to the Creator;
we are God’s people
and the sheep of God’s pasture.
Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving
and the courts with praise!
Give thanks to God!
Bless God’s Name!
For Yahweh is good;
God’s steadfast love endures forever,
and God’s faithfulness
to all generations.
Glory to …
Antiphon 3: Acclaim God with joy, all the earth!
Silent prayer
READING: RUTH 1:17
Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I’ll die there too and I will be buried there beside you. I swear—may Yahweh be my witness and judge—that not even death will keep us apart.”
RESPONSORY
O God, we rejoice in your presence.
O God, we rejoice in your presence.
We are filled with gladness,
In your presence.
Glory to God our Abba, to Jesus the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
O God, we rejoice in your presence.
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Antiphon:Whoever does the will of my Abba, says the Lord, is my brother, my sister, and my mother.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, the God of Israel,
for You have visited Your people,
You have set them free,
And You have established for us a saving power
in the House of Your servant David,
Just as You proclaimed,
by the mouth of Your holy prophets from ancient times,
that You would save us from our enemies
and from the hands of all those who hate us,
and show faithful love to our ancestors,
and so keep in mind Your holy covenant.
This was the oath You swore
to our father Abraham,
that You would grant us, free from fear,
to be delivered from the hands of our enemies,
to serve You in holiness and uprightness
in Your presence, all our days.
And you, little child,
you shall be called Prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Savior
to prepare a way for him,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the faithful love of our God
in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us,
to give light to those who live
in darkness and the shadow dark as death,
and to guide our feet
into the way of peace.
Glory to …
Antiphon:Whoever does the will of my Abba, says the Lord, is my brother, my sister, and my mother.
INTERCESSIONS
We experience the Lord’s presence in the exchange of a couple’s vows in marriage, we ask you, O Lord, to listen to us, and to bless our words of prayer which we offer for the people
of the world as we say; may we experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
For N and N, who, every day renewed their desire to grow in love for each other, may they experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
For N and N, who turned to Christ in all their joys and sorrows and helped each other throughout life to discover their personal gifts and used them to serve you, Lord, may they experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
For N and N, who received the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit to make their marriage an ever-more powerful sign of Christ’s love for the world, may they experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
For all married couples, may they renew their commitment to love and to share with the world the mystery of God’s friendship and love, may they experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
For all God’s holy people, may they grow in their desire to serve those in need and love in our world.
For our World, in its hunger for love it may turn to Christ and acknowledge him as Lord, may our World experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
For our relatives and friends, all who walk with us on life’s journey, and for those who have gone before us to the other side of Life, may they experience the fullness of your love, O Lord.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass
against us, and lead us not into
temptation but deliver us from evil,
for the Kingdom, the power,
and the glory, is Yours,
now and forever. Amen.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
God,
source of all happiness and love,
You created man and woman in your own likeness.
We humbly pray to you for N. and N.
they both praised (praise) you when they were happy
and turned (turn) to you in their sorrows.
They rejoiced (rejoice) that you help them in their work
and knew (know) that you are with them in their need.
They prayed (pray) to you in the community of the Church,
and gave (give) witness to you in the world.
as they came (come) together to your table on earth,
so may they have the joy of sharing your feast in heaven.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
DISMISSAL
May God bless us, protect us from all evil
and bring us into everlasting life.
Amen.
*Psalms and Canticles from The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Bible (2007) by Priests for Equality, Published by Sheed & Ward.
Other prayers and adaptations from the English Translation of the Liturgy of the Hours and the Roman Missal (former) © 1970, 1973,1974,1975 by the International Committee On English In The Liturgy Inc. All rights reserved.
