FRIDAY 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
By Your own choice, O Christ our God, You were lifted on the cross. Grant Your mercies to Your new community that bears Your name. By Your power gladden the faithful people and grant them victory against enemies. May they have the help of Your instrument of peace, the invincible sign of victory.

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 Bartolome de Los Rios
Virgin of virgins, I choose you today as my sovereign, my queen, my empress, and I declare myself, as I am in fact, your servant and your slave. I invoke your royal name of Mary, that is, sovereign Lady, and beg of you with all my heart to admit me into the privileged circle of your family as one of your servants, to do your will as a humble slave and a loving child. As a sign of your acceptance engrave on my heart with the fire of your love, not the brand of an unwilling slave, but those two gracious words of the angel: Ave Maria. As long as I draw breath may your burning love ensure that I bear these words in my heart and in my memory, and that until my dying breath my will may be always on fire with my great desire to serve you, my sovereign and my queen, glorious in your majesty. Though I am in every way unworthy of so honorable a title, I resolve sincerely to be your slave, to serve you wholeheartedly, to protect your name, and that of your Son, against every insult, as far as it may rest with me, and never to allow anyone in my charge to offend your Son in any way. By your tender love for your Son, by the glories you have received from the Most Holy Trinity, do not reject me from your service but as my sovereign and my queen preside over all my actions, command whatever you will, direct all my work, remedy all its defects. During my whole life rule over me as your servant and slave. At the hour of my death, as I hope for at the end of my loving servitude among the privileged members of your family, receive my soul and escort it into the presence of God.

My soul clings to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Holy Mother, on the cross Christ entrusted us to you as your children. Today we join with you in praising him.

Tobit 13
Be converted therefore, you sinners, and do justice before God, believing that he will show his mercy to you. And I and my soul will rejoice in him. Bless the Lord, all his elect, keep days of joy, and give glory to him. Jerusalem, city of God, the Lord has chastised you for the works of your hands. Give glory to the Lord for your good things, and bless the God eternal, that he may rebuild his tabernacle in you, and may call back all the captives to you, and you may rejoice for ever and ever. You shall shine with a glorious light: and all the ends of the earth shall worship you. Nations from afar shall come to you: and shall bring gifts, and shall adore the Lord in you, and shall esteem your land as holy. For they shall call upon the great name in you. They shall be cursed that shall despise you: and they shall be condemned that shall blaspheme you: and blessed shall they be that shall build you up. But you shall rejoice in your children, because they shall all be blessed, and shall be gathered together to the Lord. Blessed are all they that love you, and that rejoice in your peace. My soul, bless the Lord, because the Lord our God has delivered Jerusalem his city from all her troubles.

Psalm 147

Antiphon: The Virgin Mary, crowned with a diadem of twelve stars, is exalted above the choirs of angels.

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem:
praise your God, O Zion.
Because he has strengthened the bolts of your gates,
he has blessed your children within you.
Who has placed peace in your borders:
and fills you with the fat of corn.
Who sends forth his speech to the earth:
his word runs swiftly.
Who gives snow like wool:
scattered mists like ashes.
He sends his crystal like morsels:
who shall stand before the face of his cold?
He shall send out his word, and shall melt them:
his wind shall blow, and the waters shall run.
Who declares his word to Jacob:
his justices and his judgments to Israel.
He has not done in like manner to every nation:
and his judgments he has not made manifest to them.
Alleluia.

Colossians 1
I Paul am made a minister. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given me towards you, that I may fulfill the word of God.

Proverbs 8: 9

Now therefore, you children, hear me:
Blessed are they that keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that hears me,
and that watches daily at my gates,
and waits at the posts of my door.
He that shall find me, shall find life,
and shall have salvation from the Lord:
But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul.
All that hate me love death.

Wisdom has built herself a house,
she has hewn her out seven pillars.
She has slain her victims, mingled her wine,
and set forth her table.
She has sent her maids to invite to the tower, and to the walls of the city:
Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me.

And to the unwise she said:
Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you.
Forsake childishness, and live, and walk by the ways of prudence.
He that teaches a scorner, does an injury to himself:
and he that rebukes a wicked man, gets himself a blot.
Rebuke not a scorner lest he hate you.
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
Give an occasion to a wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him.
Teach a just man, and he shall make haste to receive it.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:
and the knowledge of the holy is prudence.
for by me shall your days be multiplied,
and years of life shall be added to you.
If you be wise, you shall be so to yourself:
and if a scorner, you alone shall bear the evil.

St. Lawrence Justinian
While Mary contemplated all she had come to know through reading, listening and observing, she grew in faith, increased in merits, and was more illuminated by wisdom and more consumed by the fire of charity. The heavenly mysteries were opened to her, and she was filled with joy; she became fruitful by the Spirit, was being directed toward God, and watched over protectively while on earth. So remarkable are the divine graces that they elevate one from the lowest depths to the highest summit, and transform one to a greater holiness. How entirely blessed was the mind of the Virgin which, through the indwelling and guidance of the Spirit, was always and in every way open to the power of the Word of God. She was not led by her own senses, nor by her own will; thus she accomplished outwardly through her body what wisdom from within gave to her faith.

It was fitting for divine Wisdom, which created itself a home in the Church, to use the intervention of the most blessed Mary in guarding the law, purifying the mind, giving an example of humility and providing a spiritual sacrifice. Imitate her, O faithful soul. Enter into the deep recesses of your heart so that you may be purified spiritually and cleansed from your sins. God places more value on good will in all we do than on the works themselves.

Therefore, whether we give ourselves to God in the work of contemplation or whether we serve the needs of our neighbor by good works, we accomplish these things because the love of Christ urges us on. The acceptable offering of the spiritual purification is accomplished not in a man-made temple but in the recesses of the heart where the Lord Jesus freely enters.

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.

Tridentine Introit
But it behooves us to glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection: by whom we are saved, and delivered. May God have mercy on us and bless us: may He cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may He have mercy on us.

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.

Rejoice, O sorrowful Mother; after your great sufferings, you shine forth as Queen, enthroned beside your son.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Father, as your Son was raised on the cross, his mother Mary stood by him, sharing his sufferings. May your Church be united with Christ in his suffering and death and so come to share in his rising to new life, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.