TUESDAY 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.

Byzantine Prokimen Vespers
O Lord, Your goodness follows me all the days of my life. The Lord is my Shepherd, and I shall not lack anything. He gives me a resting-place where there is pasture.

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.

Psalm 137

Antiphon: The angel of the Lord brought God's message to Mary.
And she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept:
when we remembered Zion:

On the willows in the midst thereof
we hung up our instruments.

For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs.
And they that carried us away, said:
Sing to us a hymn of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand be forgotten.

Let my tongue cleave to my jaws,
if I do not remember you:
If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.


Psalm 138

Antiphon: Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. Behold you shall conceive
and bear a son, and he will be called the Son of the Most High.

I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart:
for you have heard the words of my mouth.
I will sing praise to you in the sight of the angels:

I will worship towards your holy temple,
and I will give glory to your name.

For your mercy, and for your truth:
for you have magnified your holy name above all.

In what day soever I shall call upon you, hear me:
you shall multiply strength in my soul.

May all the kings of the earth give glory to you:
for they have heard all the words of your mouth.

And let them sing in the ways of the Lord:
for great is the glory of the Lord.

For the Lord is high, and looks on the low:
and the high he knows afar off.

If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, you will quicken me:
and you have stretched forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies:
and your right hand has saved me.

The Lord will repay for me:
your mercy, O Lord, endures for ever:
O despise not the works of your hands.

Antiphon: I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you have said.

Revelation 4: 5
You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honor, and power: because you have created all things; and for your will they were, and have been created...You are worthy, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; because you were slain, and have redeemed us to God, in your blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, And have made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth...The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and benediction.

1 John 1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life: For the life was manifested; and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and has appeared to us.

St. Augustine
Stretching out his hand over his disciples, the Lord Christ declared: Here are my mother and my brothers, anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and my sister and my mother. I would urge you to ponder these words. Did the Virgin Mary, who believed by faith and conceived by faith, who was the chosen one from whom our Savior was born among men, who was created by Christ before Christ was created in her--did she not do the will of the Father?

Indeed the blessed Mary certainly did the Father's will, and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christ's disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb him whom she would obey as her master.

The Lord has chosen her, his loved one from the beginning
He has taken her to live with him his loved one from the beginning.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever.
The Lord has chosen her, his loved one from the beginning.

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
O Mary, how shall I die? Even now, that I think of my sins, and of that decisive moment on which my salvation or eternal damnation depends, of that moment in which I must expire and be judged, I tremble and am confounded. O my most sweet Mother, my hopes are in the blood of Jesus Christ and in your intercession. O comfortress of the afflicted, do not, then, abandon me, cease not to console me in that moment of so great affliction. If I am now so tormented by remorse for sins committed, the uncertainty of pardon, the danger of relapse, and the rigor of divine justice, what will become of me then? Unless you help me, I shall be lost. Ah, my Lady, before death obtain me great sorrow for my sins, thorough amendment, and fidelity to God during the remainder of my life. And when my last moment arrives, O Mary, my hope, help me in the great distress in which I shall then be; encourage me, that I may not despair at the sight of my sins, which the devil will place before me. Obtain that I may then invoke you more frequently; so that I may expire with your most sweet name and that of your beloved Son on my lips. Nay more, my Lady, but forgive my boldness, before I expire do come yourself and comfort me with your presence. You have granted this favor to so many of your devout servants, I also desire and hope it. I am a sinner, it is true; I do not deserve so great a favor; but I am your servant, I love you and have full confidence in you. O Mary, I shall expect you; do not disappoint me of this consolation. At least, if I am not worthy of so great a favor, do help me from heaven, that I may leave this life loving God and you, to love you eternally in Paradise.

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.

The angel Gabriel said to Mary in greeting: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women.

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

St. Louis Marie de Montfort
Most loving Jesus, permit me to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for your kindness in giving me to your holy Mother through the devotion of holy bondage, and so making her my advocate to plead with your Majesty on my behalf, and make up for all that I lack through my inadequacy.

Alas, O Lord, I am so wretched that without my dear Mother I would certainly be lost. Yes, I always need Mary when I am approaching you. I need her to calm your just indignation at the many offenses I have committed every day. I need her to save me from the just sentence of eternal punishment I have deservedly incurred. I need her to turn to you, speak to you, pray to you, approach you and please you. I need her to help me save my soul and the souls of others. In a word, I need her so that I may always do your holy will and seek your greater glory in everything I do. Would that I could publish throughout the whole world the mercy which you have shown me! Would that the whole world could know that without Mary I would now be doomed! If only I could offer adequate thanks for such a great benefit as Mary! She is within me. What a precious possession and what a consolation for me. Should I not in return be all hers? If I were not, how ungrateful would I be. My dear Savior, send me death rather than I should be guilty of such a lapse, for I would rather die than not belong to Mary.

Like St. John the Evangelist at the foot of the Cross, I have taken her times without number as my total good and as often have I given myself to her. But if I have not done so as perfectly as you, dear Jesus, would wish, I now do so according to your desire. If you still see in my soul or body anything that does not belong to this noble Queen, please pluck it out and cast it far from me, because anything of mine which does not belong to Mary is unworthy of you.

Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Implant in my soul the tree of true life, which is Mary. Foster it and cultivate it to that it grows and blossoms and brings forth the fruit of life in abundance. Holy Spirit, give me a great love and longing for Mary, your exalted spouse. Give me a great trust in her maternal heart and a continuous access to her compassion, so that with her you may truly form Jesus, great and powerful, in me until I attain the fullness of his perfect age.

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.