R. And glory, all ye right of heart. LET US PRAY. Protect, O Lord, thy people; and because we have confidence in the intercession of blessed Peter and Paul and thy other Apostles, ever defend and preserve us. May all thy Saints ever help us, we beseech thee, O Lord! and grant, that, whilst we honour their merits, we may experience their intercession. Grant thy holy peace unto these our days, and drive all iniquity from thy Church. Direct and prosper unto salvation every step, and action, and desire, of us and of all thy servants. Repay our benefactors with everlasting blessings; and grant eternal rest to all the faithful departed. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. R. Et gloriamini omnes recti corde. OREMUS. Protege, Domine, populum tuum, et Apostolorum tuorum Petri et Pauli et aliorum Apostolorum patrocinio confidentem, perpetua defensione conserva. Omnes Sancti tui, quæsumus, Domine, nos ubique adjuvent: ut dum eorum merita recolimus, patrocinia sentiamus: et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, et ab Ecclesia tua cunctam repelle nequitiam : iter, actus, et voluntates nostras, et omnium famulorum tuorum, in salutis tuæ prosperitate dispone: benefactoribus nostris sempiterna bona retribue: et omnibus fidelibus defunctis requiem æternam concede. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. And here you may add a special mention of the Saints to whom you bear a particular devotion, either as your Patrons or otherwise; as also of those whose feast is kept in the Church that day, or at least who have been commemorated in the Divine Office. This done, remember the necessities of the Church Suffering, and beg of God that he will give to the souls in Purgatory a place of refreshment, light, and peace. For this intention recite the usual prayers. PSALM 129. From the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice. De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Domine, exaudi vocem meam. meæ. Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine Domine, quis sustinebit? Quia apud te propitiatio est et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine. Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus speravit anima mea in Domino. A custodia matutinausque ad noctem speret Israel in Domino. Quia apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud eum redemptio. Et ipse redimet Israel; ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If thou wilt observe iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall endure 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. Because with the Lord there is mercy, and with him plentiful redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Eternal rest give to them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. V. From the gate of hell. V. May they rest in peace. . O Lord, hear my prayer. R. And let my cry come unto thee. OREMUS. Fidelium Deus omnium Conditor et Redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum, remissionem cunctorem tribue peccatorum ut indulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui vivis et regnas in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. LET US PRAY. O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, give to the souls of thy servants departed the remission of their sins: that through the help of pious supplications, they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen. Here make a special memento of such of the Faithful departed as have a particular claim upon your charity; after which, ask of God to give you his assistance, whereby you may pass the night free from danger. Say then, still keeping to the words of the Church: And that you may end the day in the same sentiments wherewith you began it, devoutly pay your homage to the divine Mystery of the Incarnation, by reciting the following prayer: CHAPTER V. ON HEARING MASS, DURING THE SEASON OF : CHRISTMAS. SUCH is the number and importance of the Feasts kept during this Holy Season, that even those of the Faithful, who have not the habit of hearing Mass daily at other times, look upon it as a sort of duty to do so now and rightly; for, the Lamb, who is offered up in this Divine Sacrifice, is He, whom they have been asking of the Eternal Father with so much earnestness during Advent, in those words of the Prophet Isaias: Send forth, O Lord, the Lamb, the Ruler of the Earth.1 This tender Lamb is come; the Child is born unto us,2 and even now is on the Altar of his Sacrifice. St. Paul tells us, that this Jesus, on his first entrance into the world, said to his Father: Sacrifice and oblation thou willedst not; but a Body thou hast fitted unto me.—Then said I; Behold I come :—to do thy will, O God. It is true, that the Sacrifice of the Cross, of which that of the Mass is the continuation, was the Sacrifice of Christ at the end of his Three-and-Thirty Years; still, during these days of Christmas, when we have so much to learn from the mystery of the Sacred Infancy, we shall be in strict. accordance with the spirit of the Church, if, whilst assisting at Mass, we keep before our minds, not only the bleeding Victim of Calvary, but likewise the sweet Lamb of Bethlehem. Moreover, does not our Jesus offer himself, for us, to his Father, from his Crib as well as from his Cross? Thus, we read in 1 Is. xvi. 1. 2 Ibid. ix. 6. 3 Heb. x. 5. |