Vespers (Evening Prayer)
Based on the liturgy for the Common of Women Religious.
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help 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. Alleluia.
For all the saints who from their labours rest,
Who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesu, be for ever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might;
Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou in the darkness drear their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win, with them, the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion! fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Psalm 122 (123)
The Lord guards his people
Our eyes are turned to the Lord; we look for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes,
to you who dwell in the heavens.
Like the eyes of a servant watching his master,
like the eyes of a maid on her mistress’s hands,
so we keep our eyes on the Lord our God,
as we wait for his kindness.
Take pity on us, Lord, take pity:
we have had our fill of contempt.
Our souls have had their fill
of the laughter of the rich,
of the contempt of the proud.
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.
Our eyes are turned to the Lord; we look for his mercy.
Psalm 123 (124)
Our help is in the name of the Lord
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
If the Lord had not been with us
(so let Israel sing),
If the Lord had not been with us
when men rose up against us,
they might have skinned us alive,
such was their anger.
The waters could have drowned us,
the torrent poured over us,
the foaming waters poured over us.
Blessed be the Lord, who saved us
from being torn to pieces by their teeth.
We have escaped, like a bird
from the snare of the fowler.
The snare was broken,
and we escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
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.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
God the Saviour
God chose us in his Son and made us his adopted sons.
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us, in Christ,
with every spiritual blessing in heaven.
In love, he chose us before the creation of the world,
to be holy and spotless in his sight.
He predestined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ,
simply because it pleased him to do so.
This he did for the praise of the glory of his grace,
of his free gift to us in his Beloved,
in whose blood we have gained redemption,
and the forgiveness of our sins.
This he did according to the riches of his grace,
which he gave us in abundance,
with all wisdom and discernment,
revealing to us the mysteries of his will,
because it pleased him to do so.
In this action he has planned, in the fulfilment of time,
to bring all things together in Christ,
from the heavens and from the earth.
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.
God chose us in his Son and made us his adopted sons.
| Scripture Reading | Romans 8:28-30 |
|---|
We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory.
God has chosen her. He chose her before she was born.
– God has chosen her. He chose her before she was born.
He brought her to live in his own holy dwelling-place.
– God has chosen her. He chose her before she was born.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
– God has chosen her. He chose her before she was born.
My soul rejoices in the Lord
You have left all things and have followed me; you will be repaid a hundred times over, and gain eternal life.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God, my salvation.
For he has shown me such favour –
me, his lowly handmaiden.
Now all generations will call me blessed,
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
His name is holy,
his mercy lasts for generation after generation
for those who revere him.
He has put forth his strength:
he has scattered the proud and conceited,
torn princes from their thrones;
but lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
he has remembered his mercy as he promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
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.
You have left all things and have followed me; you will be repaid a hundred times over, and gain eternal life.
| Prayers and intercessions | |
|---|
Through the holy women let us pray to the Lord for all the needs of his Church.
– Lord, remember your Church.
Through the women martyrs who overcame death with undying courage,
strengthen your Church in time of trial.
– Lord, remember your Church.
Through the married women who graced the lives of the human family,
renew the Church in her apostolic mission.
– Lord, remember your Church.
Through all the widows who sanctified loneliness with prayer and hospitality,
make your Church a telling sign of your love for all the world.
– Lord, remember your Church.
Through all the mothers who introduced their children to the kingdom of God and true human life in society,
may your Church bring all men to eternal life and salvation.
– Lord, remember your Church.
Through all the holy women who live in the light of your glory,
grant to the faithful departed the everlasting vision of happiness.
– Lord, remember your Church.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy 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.
Almighty and eternal God,
who mercifully withdrew Blessed Jolanta from honour and riches,
and graciously inspired her to choose instead the humble cross of your Son
and the mortification of the flesh,
grant, through her intercession and mercies,
that we may despise temporal things
and with upright hearts seek those that are eternal.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
The psalms and canticles here are our own translation from the Latin. The Grail translation of the psalms, which is used liturgically in most of the English-speaking world, cannot be displayed on the Web for copyright reasons. The Universalis apps and programs do contain the Grail translation of the psalms.
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