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, now and for ever and ever. 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 honor 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 scepter 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 judgment:
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 Savior 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. [1 Peter 2]

Revelation 19
Alleluia. Salvation, glory, and power is to our God. For true and just are his judgments, 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 honor? 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 favor 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 Savior.
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 Savior of the world.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. 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.