SATURDAY 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 Kontakions for the Deceased and for Martyrs
To the souls of Your servants, O Christ, grant rest among the saints, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no mourning, but only life without end.

O Lord, Maker of nature, the world offers You the godly martyrs as the first-fruits of nature. By their supplications, through the Mother of God, preserve Your Church and Your people in profound peace, O most Merciful One.

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. Pere Raphael
Hail, holy Queen of the Heavens. Hail, holy Queen of the Angels. Hail, Root of Jesse. Hail, Gate of Heaven. By you the Light has entered the world. Rejoice, glorious Virgin, Beautiful among all women. Hail, radiant Splendor, Intercede with Christ for us.
Holy Mary, my Queen and sovereign Lady, I give you myself, trusting in your fidelity and your protection. I surrender myself entirely to your motherly tenderness, my body, my soul, all that I am, all that I possess, for the whole of this day, for every moment of my life, and especially at the hour of my death. I entrust to you once more all my hopes, all my consolations, all my anxieties, all my troubles, my life, my dying breath, so that by your prayers and merits, I may have, in all I do, one only goal, your good pleasure and the holy will of your Son.

Psalm 92

Antiphon: Blessed are you, O Mary, for the world's salvation came forth through you; now in
glory, you rejoice for ever with the Lord.

It is good to give praise to the Lord:
and sing to your name, O most High.
To show forth your mercy in the morning,
and your truth in the night:
Upon an instrument of ten strings,
upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
For you have given me, O Lord, a delight in your doings:
and in the works of your hands I shall rejoice.

O Lord, how great are your works!
your thoughts are exceeding deep.
The senseless man shall not know:
nor will the fool understand these things.
When the wicked shall spring up as grass:
and all the workers of iniquity shall appear:
That they may perish for ever and ever:
but you, O Lord, are most high for evermore.
For behold your enemies, O Lord,
for behold your enemies shall perish:
and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn:
and my old age in plentiful mercy.
My eye also has looked down upon my enemies:
and my ear shall hear of the downfall
of the malignant that rise up against me.

The just shall flourish like the palm tree:
he shall grow up like the cedar of Lebanon.
They that are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
They shall still increase in a fruitful old age:
and shall be well treated, that they may show,
That the Lord our God is righteous,
and there is no iniquity in him.

Antiphon: The Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angels; let all believers rejoice and bless the Lord.

Ezekiel 36
For I will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you together out of all
the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Psalm 8
Antiphon: The Lord has made you so glorious that your praise will never cease to resound among men.

O Lord our Lord, how admirable is your name in the whole earth!
For your magnificence is elevated above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of infants and of
sucklings you have perfected praise,
because of your enemies, that you may destroy the
enemy and the avenger.

For I will behold your heavens, the works of your fingers:
the moon and the stars which you have founded.
What is man that you are mindful of him?
or the son of man that you visit him?
You have made him a little less than the angels,
you have crowned him with glory and honor:
and have set him over the works of your hands.
You have subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen:

moreover the beasts also of the fields.
the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea,
that pass through the paths of the sea.

O Lord our Lord, how admirable is your name in all the earth!

Isaiah 61
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he has covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.

Revelation 12
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Judith 13
And they all adored the Lord, and said to her: The Lord has blessed you by his power, because by you he has brought our enemies to nought. And Uzziah the prince of the people of Israel, said to her: Blessed are you, O Daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who has directed you to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because he has so magnified your name this day, that your praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that you have not spared your life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of your people, but have prevented our ruin in the presence of our God. And all the people said: So be it, so be it.

Radbert
Today the glorious, ever-virgin Mary ascends to heaven. I urge you to rejoice, for, if I may so put it, she has been raised up in an ineffable way to be with Christ who reigns for ever. The Queen of the world is today taken from the earth and from this present evil time. I say again: rejoice, because she who is sure of her imperishable glory has reached the palace of heaven. Exalt, I say, and rejoice, and let the whole world rejoice, because this day Salvation has drawn nearer for as all... "Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women." It was fitting that the Virgin should be given such gifts and be full of grace, since she has bestowed glory on heaven and has brought God and peace to the earth, faith to pagans, an end to vice, order to life, and discipline to morals. And it was right that an angel be sent to the Virgin, because virginity always means kingship with the angels... "Rejoice," the angel says, "for you are full of grace." Yes, full! for while a share of grace was given to others, the undiminished fullness of grace was poured into Mary.

The Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven. For all eternity she shares the victory of Christ. The Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever.
The Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven.

Tridentine Introit
Drop down dew, you heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior. Lord, You have blessed Your land: You have turned away the captivity of Jacob.

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.

This daughter of Jerusalem is lovely and beautiful as she ascends to heaven like the rising sun at daybreak.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

All-powerful and ever-living God, you raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who 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.