The Office

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Alleluia.

Psalm 1

Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.

He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Not so are the wicked, not so!

For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind.
When the wicked are judged they shall not stand,
nor find room among those who are just;
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom

Grail Psalter

Reading of the Day

Her Virgin eyes saw God Incarnate born,
When she to Bethl’em came that happy morn;
How high her raptures then began to tell
None but her own omniscient Son can tell.

The Holy Ghost his temple in her built;
Cleansed from congenital, kept from mortal guilt;
And from the moment that her blood was fired,
Into her heart celestial love inspired.

Heaven with transcendent joys her entrance graced,
Next to his throne her Son his Mother placed;
And here below, now she’s of heav’n possess’d,
All generations are to call her blest!

Thomas Ken: Hymn to the Blessed Virgin

Silent reflection

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Collect of the Day in the Novena

Glory to you, my God,
who in the time of our separation, raised up Thomas Ken
who witnessed to the holiness of Christian living
even before the King and his court,
and in his poetry gave praise
for the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary:
let his example, we pray, inspire us
in our living and in our devotion,
and bring us all to the transcendent joys of heaven.
Though Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for the Novena

O God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people
by the sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit;
Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things,
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of that same Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Conclusion

May the souls of the faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen