Sunday

SUNDAY
Prime

God, come to my assistance.
Lord, make haste to help me.
Your help, propitious Mother, lend us,
And from the dreadful foe defend us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Hail, Virginal wisdom; hail, mansion of God, Where sevenfold pillars befit his abode.
All stately without and all perfect within, He chose Him a dwelling undarkened by sin;
For even before your miraculous birth you were free from the stain that has sullied the earth.
Mother of all saints Living and dead, New star that shone Over Israel's head,
Sovereign of angels, Terror of hell, Be you our refuge, Who love you so well.
In His Holy Spirit He created Her,
And exalted Her above all His works.

Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.
And according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
Wash me yet more from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my iniquity,
and my sin is always before me.
To you only have I sinned,
and have done evil before you:
that you may be justified in your words,
and may overcome when you are judged.
For behold I was conceived in iniquities;
and in sins did my mother conceive me.
For behold you have loved truth:
the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom you have made manifest to me.
You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed:
you shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
To my hearing you shall give joy and gladness:
and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.
Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create a clean heart in me, O God:
and renew a right spirit within my bowels.
Cast me not away from your face;
and take not your holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of your salvation,
and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.
I will teach the unjust your ways:
and the wicked shall be converted to you.
Deliver me from blood, O God,
God of my salvation:
and my tongue shall extol your justice.
O Lord, you will open my lips:
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
For if you had desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it:
with burnt offerings you will not be delighted.
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit:
a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise.
Deal favourably, O Lord, in your good will with Zion;
that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.
Then shall you accept the sacrifice of justice,
oblations and whole burnt offerings:
then shall they lay calves upon your altar.
The Trisagion
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us. 
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Angel's prayer at Fatima
It is truly right to bless you, O God-bearing One, as the ever-blessed and immaculate Mother of our God. More honourable than the cherubim and by far more glorious than the seraphim; ever a virgin, you gave birth to God the Word, O true Mother of God, we magnify you. O my God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.
St. Sophronius
Truly, you are blessed among women. For you have changed Eve's curse into a blessing; and Adam, who hitherto lay under a curse, has been blessed because of you.
Truly, you are blessed among women. Through you the Father's blessing has shone forth on mankind, setting them free of their ancient curse.
Truly, you are blessed among women, because through you your forebears have found salvation. For you were to give birth to the Saviour who was to win them salvation.
Truly, you are blessed among women, for without seed you have borne, as your fruit, him who bestows blessings on the whole world and redeems it from that curse that made it sprout thorns.
Truly, you are blessed among women, because, though a woman by nature, you will become, in reality, God's mother. If he whom you are to bear is truly God made flesh, then rightly do we call you God's mother. For you have truly given birth to God.
The Virgin has given birth to the Saviour: a flower has sprung from Jesse's stock and a star has risen from Jacob. O God, we praise you.
Psalm 118
Give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.
Let Israel now say, that he is good: that his mercy endures for ever.
Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures for ever.
Let them that fear the Lord now say, that his mercy endures for ever.
In my trouble I called upon the Lord: and the Lord heard me, and enlarged me.
The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man can do unto me.
The Lord is my helper: and I will look over my enemies.
It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man.
It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in princes.
All nations compassed me about; and in the name of the Lord I have been revenged on them.
Surrounding me they compassed me about: and in the name of the Lord I have been revenged on them.
They surrounded me like bees, and they burned like fire among thorns: and in the name of the Lord I was revenged on them.
Being pushed I was overturned that I might fall: but the Lord supported me.
The Lord is my strength and my praise: and he is become my salvation.
The voice of rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles of the just.
The right hand of the Lord has wrought strength:
the right hand of the Lord has exalted me:
the right hand of the Lord has wrought strength.
I shall not die, but live: and shall declare the works of the Lord.
The Lord chastising has chastised me:
but he has not delivered me over to death.
Open to me the gates of justice: I will go into them, and give praise to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it.
I will give glory to you because you have heard me: and become my salvation.
The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing: and it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.
O Lord, save me: O Lord, give good success.
Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord.
We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God, and he has shone upon us.
Appoint a solemn day, with shady boughs, even to the horn of the altar.
You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, and I will exalt you.
I will praise you, because you have heard me, and become my salvation.
O praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.
Mary has given birth to our Saviour John the Baptist saw him and cried out:
This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Daniel 3
Blessed are you, O Lord the God of our fathers:
and worthy to be praised, and glorified, and exalted above all for ever:
and blessed is the holy name of your glory:
and worthy to be praised, and exalted above all in all ages.
Blessed are you in the holy temple of your glory:
and exceedingly to be praised, and exceeding glorious for ever.
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
and exceedingly to be praised, and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed are you, that behold the depths, and sit upon the cherubims;
and worthy to be praised and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven:
and worthy of praise, and glorious for ever.
All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord:
praise him above all for ever.

The robe you wear is white as spotless snow; your face is radiant like the sun.
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord in his holy places:
praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts:
praise him according to the multitude of his greatness.
Praise him with sound of trumpet:
praise him with psaltery and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and choir:
praise him with strings and organs.
Praise him on high sounding cymbals:
praise him on cymbals of joy:
let every spirit praise the Lord.
Alleluia.

Sirach 24

As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour:
and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
I am the mother of fair love,
and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth,
in me is all hope of life and of virtue.
Come over to me, all you that desire me,
and be filled with my fruits.
For my spirit is sweet above honey,
and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.
My memory is unto everlasting generations.
They that eat me, shall yet hunger:
and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.
He that hearkens to me, shall not be confounded:
and they that work by me, shall not sin.

St. Athanasius
What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.

The words of Saint John: THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in Saint Paul: CHRIST WAS MADE A CURSE FOR OUR SAKE. Man's body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.
Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is for ever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.

St Aelred

She is our mother--the mother of our life, the mother of our incarnation, the mother of our light. As the Apostle says of our Lord, HE BECAME FOR US BY GOD'S POWER OUR WISDOM AND JUSTICE, AND HOLINESS AND REDEMPTION.
She then, as mother of Christ, is the mother of our wisdom and justice, of our holiness and redemption. She is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Our birth from her is better, for from her is born our holiness, our wisdom, our justice, our sanctification, our redemption. PRAISE THE LORD IN HIS HOLY ONES, say the Scriptures. If our Lord is to be praised in those holy ones through whom he brings to being deeds of power and miracles, how much more is he to be praised in her in whom he fashioned himself, who is wonderfully beyond all wonders.
St. Alphonsus de Ligouri
O Virgin Mary, no other daughter of Jerusalem is your equal, for you are the mother of the King of kings, you are the Queen of heaven and of angels.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Ah, my Blessed Mother, it is not one sword only with which I have pierced your heart, but I have done so with as many as are the sins which I have committed.

The Song of Zechariah

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
because he has visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And has raised up an horn of salvation to us,
in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies,
and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers,
and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest:
for you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people,
unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God,
in which the Orient from on high has visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death:
to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Marvellous is the mystery proclaimed today: man's nature is made new as God becomes man; he remains what he was and becomes what he was not. Yet each nature stays distinct and for ever undivided.
Father, source of light in every age, the virgin conceived and bore your Son who is called Wonderful God, Prince of Peace. May her prayer, the gift of a mother's love, be your people's joy through all ages. May her response, born of a humble heart, draw your Spirit to rest on your people. Grant this through Christ our Lord.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
 

SUNDAY
Vespers

God, come to my assistance
Lord, make haste to help me
Your help, propitious Mother, lend us
And from the dreadful foe defend us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Come, praise the Lord, all you that are the Lord's servants. You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts where our God dwells. (Psalm 134)
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, cleanse me of my sins and have mercy on me.
I have sinned without number, forgive me, O Lord.
Mary the Dawn, Christ the Perfect Day; Mary the Gate, Christ the Heavenly Way!
Mary the Root, Christ the Mystic Vine; Mary the Grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!
Mary the Wheat, Christ the Living-Bread; Mary the Stem, Christ the Rose blood-red!
Mary the Font, Christ the Cleansing Flood; Mary the Cup, Christ the Saving Blood!
Mary the Temple, Christ the Temple's Lord; Mary the Shrine, Christ the God adored!
Mary the Beacon, Christ the Haven's Rest; Mary the Mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!
Mary the Mother, Christ the Mother's Son; By all things blest while endless ages run.

St. Germanus of Constantinople

Your name is Our Lady. You alone are Mother of God and raised high over all the earth. O Spouse of God, we celebrate you with faith, we honour you with longing, we venerate you with awe; at every moment we exalt you and reverently proclaim you blessed.
Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Christ.
Psalm 110
The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit at my right hand: Until I make your enemies your footstool.
The Lord will send forth the sceptre of your power out of Zion:
rule in the midst of your enemies.
With you is the principality in the day of your strength: in the brightness of the saints:
from the womb before the day star I begot you.
The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent:
You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord at your right hand has broken kings in the day of his wrath.
He shall judge among nations, he shall fill ruins:
he shall crush the heads in the land of the many.
He shall drink of the torrent in the way:
therefore shall he lift up the head.

By your miraculous birth from the virgin you have fulfilled the Scriptures: like a gentle rain falling upon the earth you have come down to save your people. O God, we praise you.
Psalm 112
Blessed is the man that fears the Lord:
he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth:
the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.
Glory and wealth shall be in his house:
and his justice remains for ever and ever.
To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness:
he is merciful, and compassionate and just.
Acceptable is the man that shows mercy and lends:
he shall order his words with judgement:
because he shall not be moved for ever.
The just shall be in everlasting remembrance:
he shall not fear the evil hearing.
His heart is ready to hope in the Lord:
his heart is strengthened, he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies.
He has distributed, he has given to the poor:
his justice remains for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.
The wicked shall see, and shall be angry,
he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away:
the desire of the wicked shall perish.

In the beginning, before time began, the Word was God; today he is born, the Saviour of the world.
1 Peter 2
For our sakes God made him who did not know sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God. For unto this are you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, did not revile: when he suffered, he threatened not: but delivered himself to him that judged him unjustly. Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were healed.
Revelation 19
Alleluia. Salvation, glory, and power is to our God. For true and just are his judgements, who has judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands. And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke ascends for ever and ever. And the four and twenty ancients, and the four living creatures fell down and adored God that sit upon the throne, saying: Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all you his servants; and you that fear him, little and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord our God the Almighty has reigned. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has prepared herself.
Revelation 12
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. And was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his heads seven diadems: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days.
St. Sophronius
HAIL, FULL OF GRACE, THE LORD IS WITH THEE. What joy could surpass this, O Virgin Mother? What grace can excel that which God has granted to you alone? What could be imagined more dazzling or more delightful? Before the miracle we witness in you, all else pales; all else is inferior when compared with grace you have been given. All else, even what is most desirable, must take second place and enjoy a lesser importance.
THE LORD IS WITH THEE. Who would dare challenge you? You are God's mother; who would not immediately defer to you and be glad to accord you a greater primacy and honour? For this reason, when I look upon the privilege you have above all creatures, I extol you with the highest praise: HAIL, FULL OF GRACE, THE LORD IS WITH THEE. On your account joy has not only graced men, but is also granted to the powers of heaven.
Through you we drink from the wellsprings of salvation, O Blessed Virgin Mary.
From the sacred wounds of Christ, O Blessed Virgin Mary
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever.
Through you we drink from the wellsprings of salvation, O Blessed Virgin Mary.
Angel's prayer at Fatima
Most Holy Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences whereby He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.
St. Alphonsus
Behold, O Mother of God, at your feet a miserable sinner, a slave of hell, who has recourse to you and trusts in you. I do not deserve that you should even look at me; but I know that you, having seen your Son die for the salvation of sinners, has the greatest desire to help them. I hear all call you the refuge of sinners, the hope of those who are in despair, and the help of the abandoned. You are, then, my refuge, my hope, and my help. You have to save me by your intercession. Help me, for the love of Jesus Christ; extend your hand to a miserable creature who has fallen, and recommends himself to you. I know that your pleasure is to help a sinner to your utmost; help me, therefore, now that you can do so. By my sins I have lost divine grace, and with it my soul; I now place myself in your hands. Tell me what I must do to recover the favour of my Lord, and I will immediately do it. He sends me to you that you may help me; and he wills that I should have recourse to your mercy, that not only the merits of your Son, but also that your intercession may help me to save my soul. To you, then, I have recourse; do, who pray for so many others, pray also to Jesus for me. Ask him to pardon me, and he will forgive me; tell him that you desire my salvation, and he will save me; show how you can enrich those who trust in you. Amen. Thus I hope, thus may it be.
The Magnificat
My soul now magnifies the Lord.
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour
Because he has regarded the humility of his handmaid;
for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because he that is mighty, has done great things to me;
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.
He has shown might in his arm:
he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He has put down the mighty from their seat,
and has exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He has received Israel his servant,
being mindful of his mercy:
As he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Blessed is the womb which bore you, O Christ, and the breast that nursed you, Lord and Saviour of the world.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Hail, wonderful dial Ezechias of old
Beheld when the prophet His destiny told;
The Word, That incarnate in you did become,
Receded, descending to man's lowly home.
Nine choirs He passed of superior powers,
To take up the tenth in this nature of ours.
The beams of this sun Are the light of your face,
And you the aurora Preceding his race.
The serpent that lurks In night's desperate gloom
You crushed, and caused, All beauties to bloom.

I have caused a never-fading light to rise in heaven;
And like a luminous veil have spread it over the earth.