The Little office of the Blessed Virgin Mary/Dead Vespers
VESPERS
PSALM CXIV
Ant. I will please the Lord,
I have loved, * because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.
Because He hath inclined His ear to me: * and in my days I will call upon Him.
The sorrows of death have compassed me: * and the perils of hell have found me.
I met with trouble and sorrow: * and I called upon the name of the Lord.
O Lord, deliver my soul. * The Lord is merciful and just, and our God showeth mercy.
The Lord is the keeper of the little ones: * I was humbled, and He delivered me.
Turn, O my soul, into thy rest: * for the Lord hath been bountiful to thee.
For He hath delivered my soul from death: * my eyes from tears; my feet from falling.
I will please the Lord: * in the land of the living.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,* and let perpetual light shine on them.
Ant. I will please the Lord in the land of the living.
PSALM CXIX
Ant. Woe is me, O Lord.
In my trouble I cried to the Lord; * and He heard me.
O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips,* and a deceitful tongue.
What shall be given to Thee, or what shall be added to Thee, * to a deceitful tongue?
The sharp arrows of the mighty,* with coals that lay waste.
Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar: * my soul hath been long a sojourner.
With them that hated peace I was peaceable: * when I spoke to them, they fought against me without cause.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,* and let perpetual light shine on them Ant. Woe is me, O Lord, that my sojourning is prolonged.
PSALM CXX
Ant. The Lord keepeth thee.
I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, * from whence help shall come to me.
My help is from the Lord, * Who made heaven and earth.
May He not suffer thy foot to slip: * neither let Him that keepeth thee slumber.
Behold, He that keepeth Israel * shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: * the Lord is thy protection upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not burn thee by day: * nor the moon by night.
The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: * may the Lord keep thy soul.
May the Lord guard thy coming in and thy going out; * from henceforth now and for ever.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,* and let perpetual light shine on them.
Ant. The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul.
PSALM CXXIX
Ant. If Thou, O Lord.
Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord: * Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive * to the voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, wilt observe iniquities, * Lord, who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: * and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word: * my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until night, * let Israel hope in the Lord For with the Lord there is mercy: * and with Him plentiful redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel * from all his iniquities.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,* and let perpetual light shine on them.
Ant. If Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand it?
PSALM CXXXVII
Ant. Despise not, O Lord.
I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: * for Thou hast heard the words of my mouth.
I will sing praise to Thee in the sight of the angels: * I will worship towards Thy holy temple, and I will give glory to Thy name.
For Thy mercy, and for Thy truth: * for Thou hast magnified Thy holy name above all.
In what day soever I shall call upon Thee, hear me: * Thou wilt multiply strength in my soul.
May all the kings of the earth give glory to Thee: * for they have heard all the words of Thy 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 looketh on the low: * and the high He knoweth afar off.
If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, Thou wilt quicken me: * and Thou hast stretched forth Thy hand against the wrath of my enemies: and Thy right hand hath saved me.
The Lord will repay for me: * Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: O despise not the works of Thy hands.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,* and let perpetual light shine on them.
Ant. Despise not, O Lord, the works of Thy hands.
V. I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me,
R. Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord.
CANTICLE, B. V. M., Luke i. 46
Ant. All that.
My soul * doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced * in God my Saviour.
Because He hath looked down on the lowliness of His handmaid, * for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
Because He that is mighty hath done great things for me; * and holy is His name.
And His mercy is from generation unto generation * to them that fear him.
He hath shown might in His arm; * He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their throne * and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things: * and the rich He hath sent away empty.
He hath received His servant Israel, * being mindful of His mercy.
As He spoke to our fathers, * to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, * and let perpetual light shine on them.
Ant. All that the Father giveth Me, shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me, I will not cast out.
Our Father, etc., in silence.
V. And lead us not into temptation.
R. But deliver us from evil.
PSALM CXLV
Praise the Lord, O my soul; in my life I will praise the Lord; * I will sing to my God as long as I shall be.
Put not your trust in princes; * in the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth; * in that day all their thoughts shall perish.
Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God; * Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that are in them.
Who keepeth truth for ever, Who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong; * Who giveth food to the hungry.
The Lord looseth them that are fettered; * the Lord enlighteneth the blind.
The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down; * the Lord loveth the just.
The Lord keepeth the strangers; He will support the fatherless and the widow; * and the ways of sinners He will destroy.
The Lord shall reign for ever; thy God, O Sion, * unto generation and generation.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord: * And let perpetual light shine on them.
V. From the gates of hell.
R. Deliver their souls, O Lord.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray
O God, Who among the apostolic priests didst honor Thy servants with the Episcopal (or sacerdotal) dignity, grant, we beseech Thee, that they may also be associated with them in everlasting fellowship.
O God, the giver of pardon, and lover of human salvation, we beseech Thy clemency to grant that the brethren, relations, and benefactors of our congregation, who are departed this world, may, by the intercession of the blessed Mary, ever virgin, and of all Thy saints, attain to the fellowship of eternal beatitude.
O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, give to the souls of Thy servants departed, men and women, the remission of all their sins, that by pious supplications they may attain the pardon which they have always desired. Who livest and reignest, with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.
V. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine on them.
V. May they rest in peace.
R. Amen.