THURSDAY 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, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Byzantine Kontakion
You received Your inspired and steadfast preachers, Your chief disciples, into the enjoyment of Your good things and into repose. You, who alone know the heart, accepted their labors and death more gladly than any holocaust.

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 favorably, 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, now and for ever and ever. 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 honorable 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. Jeanne-Joseph du Vieux-Chatel
Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, I come before you, unworthy as I am, to renew our total dedication to you. Be now and for ever our Mother, our advocate and our protector; rule over us as our sovereign Lady, keep us from falling, but if we do fall help us to rise again without delay. Show yourself as Mother of God, to whom all sinners have been entrusted: be our patroness and theirs with your loving Son.

Psalm 143

Antiphon: Tell us, shepherds, what have you seen? Who has appeared on earth? We have seen a newborn infant and a choir of angels praising the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in your truth:
hear me in your justice.
And enter not into judgment with your servant:
for in your sight no man living shall be justified.

For the enemy has persecuted my soul:
he has brought down my life to the earth.
He has made me to dwell in darkness
as those that have been dead of old:

and my spirit is in anguish within me:
my heart within me is troubled.

I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all your works:
I meditated upon the works of your hands.
I stretched forth my hands to you:
my soul is as earth without water unto you.

Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit has fainted away.
Turn not away your face from me,
lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

Cause me to hear your mercy in the morning; for in you have I hoped.
Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk:
for I have lifted up my soul to you.

Deliver me from my enemies,
O Lord, to you have I fled:
teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Your good spirit shall lead me into the right land:

for your name's sake, O Lord, you will quicken me in your justice.
You will bring my soul out of trouble:
and in your mercy you will destroy my enemies.
And you will cut off all them that afflict my soul:
for I am your servant.

Isaiah 66
Antiphon: You are the glory of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel; you are the fairest honor of our race.

Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her:
rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her.

That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolations:
that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory.

For thus says the Lord:
Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace,
and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the Gentiles,
which you shall suck;
you shall be carried at the breasts,
and upon the knees they shall caress you.

As one whom the mother caresses, so will I comfort you, .and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

You shall see and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones shall flourish like an herb,
and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,
and he shall be angry with his enemies.

Psalm 147
A little child is born for us today; little and yet called the mighty God.

Praise the Lord, because it is good to sing praise:
to our God be joyful and comely praise.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem:
he will gather together the dispersed of Israel.

Who heals the broken of heart, and binds up their bruises.
Who tells the number of the stars: and calls them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and great is his power:
and of his wisdom there is no number.

The Lord lifted up the meek,
and brings the wicked down even to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with praise:
sing to our God upon the harp.

Who covers the heaven with clouds,
who prepares rain for the earth.
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains,
and herbs for the service of men.
Who gives to beasts their food:
and to the young ravens that call upon him.

He shall not delight in the strength of the horse:
nor take pleasure in the legs of a man.
The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him:
and in them that hope in his mercy.

Song of Songs 6
One is my dove,
my perfect one is but one,
she is the only one of her mother,
the chosen of her that bore her.
The daughters saw her,
and declared her most blessed:
the queens and concubines, and they praised her.
Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
terrible as an army set in array?

I went down into the garden of nuts
to see the fruits of the valleys,
and to look if the vineyard had flourished,
and the pomegranates budded.
I knew not: my soul troubled
me for the chariots of Aminadab.
Return, return, O Shulammite:
return, return that we may behold you.

St. Thomas of Villanova
What a marvelous woman, to be the mother of her own Creator! What an amazing distinction for a woman, to have a Son in common with God. The Father loves his Son; the Mother rejoices in her Son. The Father tells his Son: From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you; the Mother says to her same Son: From the womb, I, a virgin, brought you into the world.She is amazed at her own glory, nor can she herself understand her elevation, for by the very fact of being made mother of the Creator she became with the best right mistress and queen of all creation. Truly, Mary He that is mighty has done great things for you; truly because he made you his own mother, all generations of the ages will call you blessed.

Tridentine Introit
For our sake, the King of heaven chose to be born of his virgin mother, to reclaim lost men for the heavenly kingdom

All the angels cry aloud with joy, for God has come himself to save mankind.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
All the angels cry aloud with joy, for God has come himself to save mankind.

The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world; and that which contains all things has knowledge of the voice.

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.

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.

Blessed are you, Mary, because you believed that the Lord's words to you would be fulfilled.

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

Almighty God and Father of light, a child is born for us and a son is given to us. Your eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the night, and now your church is filled with wonder at the nearness of her God. Open our hearts to receive his life and increase our vision with the raising of dawn, that our lives may be filled with his glory and his peace, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.