S. Thomæ de Aquino Confessoris et Ecclesiæ Doctoris

Nocturn 1

Ant. The Lord our God has been mindful * for ever of his covenant.

Psalm 104(1-15)

104:1 Give praise to the Lord and call upon his name: * declare his works among the nations.
104:2 Sing to him, and sing praise to him: * tell all his wondrous works.
104:3 Be praised in his holy name: * let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
104:4 Seek the Lord, and be confirmed: * seek his face always.
104:5 Remember his miracles, which he has done: * his portents, and the judgments of his mouth:
104:6 You offspring of Abraham his servant: * you sons of Jacob, his elect.
104:7 He is the Lord our God: * his judgments are throughout the entire earth.
104:8 He has remembered his covenant for all ages: * the word that he entrusted to a thousand generations,
104:9 which he assigned to Abraham: * and his oath to Isaac:
104:10 And he stationed the same for Jacob with a precept: * and for Israel with an eternal testament:
104:11 saying: To you I will give the land of Canaan, * the allotment of your inheritance.
104:12 Though they may have been but a small number, * very few, and foreigners there:
104:13 and though they passed from nation to nation, * and from one kingdom to another people.
104:14 He allowed no man to harm them: * and he reproved kings on their behalf.
104:15 Do not be willing to touch my anointed ones: * and do not be willing to malign my prophets.

℣ 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.

Ant. The Lord our God has been mindful for ever of his covenant.

Ant. The Lord increased * his people: and strengthened them against their enemies.

Psalm 104(16-27)

104:16 And he called a famine upon the land: * and he crushed every foundation of the bread.
104:17 He sent a man before them: * Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
104:18 They humbled his feet in shackles; the iron pierced his soul, * until his word arrived.
104:19 The eloquence of the Lord inflamed him: * the king sent, and released him; the ruler of the peoples, and he dismissed him.
104:21 He established him as master of his house: * and ruler of all his possessions:
104:22 so that he might instruct his princes as himself: * and teach his elders prudence.
104:23 And Israel entered into Egypt: * and Jacob became a sojourner in the land of Ham.
104:24 And he helped his people greatly: * and he strengthened them over their enemies.
104:25 He turned their heart to hate his people: * and to deal deceitfully with his servants.
104:26 He sent Moses, his servant: * and Aaron, the one whom he chose.
104:27 He placed with them signs of his word: * and portents in the land of Ham.

℣ 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.

Ant. The Lord increased his people: and strengthened them against their enemies.

Ant. God led out * his people in exultation, and his chosen ones in gladness.

Psalm 104(28-45)

104:28 He sent darkness and made it conceal: * and he did not afflict them with his speech.
104:29 He turned their waters into blood: * and he slaughtered their fish.
104:30 Their land brought forth frogs: * even in the inner chambers of their kings.
104:31 He spoke, and there came forth common flies: * and gnats, in every region.
104:32 He gave them a shower of hail: * and a burning fire, in the same land.
104:33 And he struck their vineyards and their fig trees: * and he crushed the trees of their region.
104:34 He spoke, and the locust came forth, and the caterpillar, * of which there was no number:
104:35 And it devoured all the grass in their land: * and it consumed all the fruit of their land.
104:36 And he struck all the first-born in their land: * the first-fruits of all their labor.
104:37 And he led them out with silver and gold: * and there was not an infirm one among their tribes.
104:38 Egypt was joyful at their departure: * for the fear of them lay heavy upon them.
104:39 He spread a cloud for their protection: * and a fire, to give them light through the night.
104:40 They petitioned, and the quail came: * and he satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
104:41 He ruptured the rock and the waters flowed: * rivers gushed in the dry land;
104:42 For he had called to mind his holy word: * which he kept near to his servant Abraham.
104:43 And he led forth his people in exultation, * and his elect in rejoicing.
104:44 And he gave them the regions of the Gentiles: * and they possessed the labors of the peoples:
104:45 So that they might observe his justifications, * and inquire about his law.

℣ 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.

Ant. God led out his people in exultation, and his chosen ones in gladness.

℣ The Lord was mindful of his holy word.

℟ Which he spoke to Abraham, his servant.

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 also forgive those who trespass against us:

℣ And lead us not into temptation:

℟ But deliver us from evil.

Absolutio. Hear us, Lord Jesus Christ, and have mercy on your servants: You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May the eternal Father bless us with his everlasting blessing.

Reading 1

A Reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Luc 15:11-32

At that time: Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes this parable: ‘A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father: “Father, give me the portion of the estate that falls to me.”’ And so forth.

A Homily of Saint Ambrose the Bishop

Lib. 8 Comment. in cap. 15 Lucæ, post initium

You see that the divine inheritance is given to those who ask. Nor should you judge the father at fault for giving it to the younger son. No age is too feeble for the Kingdom of God, nor is faith burdened by years. He judged himself fit who made the request. And would that he had not departed from the father — he would have known no hindrance of age. But after he left his father’s house and went off to a far country, he began to be in want. With good reason, then, did he squander his inheritance, he who had departed from the Church.

℟ Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son:

Make me as one of your hired servants.

℣ How many hired servants in my father's house have bread in abundance, while I am here perishing with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him.

℟ Make me as one of your hired servants.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May the Only Begotten Son of God be pleased to bless and assist us.

Reading 2

Now let us consider who they were who, once their error was detected, were cast out of paradise and confined to a village. And you see how those whom death had expelled, life has called back. And therefore, according to Matthew, we read of both an ass and a colt: so that, because in two human beings both sexes had been expelled, in two animals both sexes might be called back. Therefore in the mother ass he figured as it were the Eve of error; but in the colt he expressed the generality of the Gentile people: and therefore the colt of the ass is ridden. And fittingly: one on which no one had yet sat; because no one, before Christ, had called the nations to the Church. Finally, according to Mark you have it thus: On which no man yet had sat.

℟ I saw the Lord face to face:

And my soul was saved.

℣ And he said to me: You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.

℟ And my soul was saved.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May the mercy of Christ lead us to the joys of paradise.

Reading 3

But we, for whom Christ the Lord is a spirit before our face, live in the shadow of Christ. And therefore the Church says: I longed for and sat in his shadow. That man, therefore, by living luxuriously, consumed all the adornments of his nature. Wherefore you, who have received the image of God, who have his likeness, do not consume it in irrational defilement. You are the work of God: do not say to wood, You are my father; lest you receive the likeness of wood, because it is written: Let those who make them become like them.

℟ When Jacob heard that Esau was coming against him, he divided his sons and wives, saying: If Esau strikes one company, the other shall be saved.

Deliver me, O Lord, who said to me: * I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for their multitude.

℣ O Lord, who said to me, Return to the land of your birth: O Lord, who have fed me from my youth.

℟ Deliver me, O Lord, who said to me.

℣ 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.

℟ I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for their multitude.

Nocturn 2

Ant. The Lord saved them * for his name's sake.

Psalm 105(1-15)

105:1 Confess to the Lord, for he is good: * for his mercy is with every generation.
105:2 Who will declare the powers of the Lord, * who will make a hearing for all his praises?
105:3 Blessed are those who keep judgment, * and who do justice at all times.
105:4 Remember us, O Lord, with good will for your people: * visit us with your salvation:
105:5 so that we may see the goodness of your elect, so that we may rejoice in the joy of your nation: * so that you may be praised along with your inheritance.
105:6 We have sinned, as have our fathers: * we have acted unjustly; we have wrought iniquity.
105:7 Our fathers did not understand your miracles in Egypt: * they did not remember the multitude of your mercies.
105:7 And they provoked you, while going up to the sea, * the Red Sea.
105:8 And he saved them for the sake of his name: * so that he might make known his power.
105:9 And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up, * and he led them into the abyss, as if into a desert.
105:10 And he saved them from the hand of those who hated them: * and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
105:11 And the water covered those who troubled them: * not one of them remained.
105:12 And they believed his words: * and they sang his praises.
105:13 As soon as they had finished, they forgot his works: * and they would not endure his counsel.
105:14 And they coveted their desire in the desert: * and they tempted God in a waterless place.
105:15 And he granted to them their request: * and he sent abundance into their souls.

℣ 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.

Ant. The Lord saved them for his name's sake.

Ant. They forgot God * who saved them.

Psalm 105(16-31)

105:16 And they provoked Moses in the camp: * and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.
105:17 The earth opened and swallowed Dathan: * and it covered the congregation of Abiram.
105:18 And a fire broke out in their congregation: * a flame burned up the sinners.
105:19 And they fashioned a calf at Horeb, * and they adored a graven image.
105:20 And they exchanged their glory * for the likeness of a calf that eats hay.
105:21 They forgot God, who saved them, * who did great things in Egypt, wonders in the land of Ham, and terrible things at the Red Sea.
105:23 And he said that he would destroy them: * yet Moses, his elect, stood firm before him in the breach,
105:24 in order to avert his wrath, lest he destroy them: * and they held the desirable land to be nothing.
105:25 They did not trust in his word, and they murmured in their tabernacles: * they did not heed the voice of the Lord.
105:26 And he lifted up his hand over them: * in order to prostrate them in the desert:
105:27 and in order to cast their offspring among the nations: * and to scatter them among the regions.
105:28 And they were initiated into Baal of Peor: * and they ate the sacrifices of the dead.
105:29 And they provoked him with their inventions: * and ruination was multiplied in them.
105:30 Then Phinehas stood up and placated him: * and so the violent disturbance ceased.
105:31 And it was reputed to him unto justice: * from generation to generation, even forever.

℣ 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.

Ant. They forgot God who saved them.

Ant. When they were in tribulation * the Lord saw them: and heard their prayer.

Psalm 105(32-48)

105:32 And they provoked him at the Waters of Contradiction: * and Moses was afflicted because of them,
105:33 for they exasperated his spirit: * and so he divided them with his lips.
105:35 And they were mixed among the Gentiles, and they learned their works; and they served their graven images: * and it became a scandal to them.
105:37 And they sacrificed their sons, * and their daughters, to demons.
105:38 And they shed innocent blood: * the blood of their sons and of their daughters, which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan.
105:39 And the land was infected with bloodshed, and was contaminated with their works: * and they fornicated according to their own inventions.
105:40 And the Lord became furiously angry with his people: * and he abhorred his inheritance.
105:41 And he handed them over into the hands of the nations: * and those who hated them held dominion over them.
105:42 And their enemies afflicted them, and they were humbled under their hands: * many times he delivered them.
105:43 But they provoked him with their counsel: * and they were brought low by their iniquities.
105:44 And he saw, when they were in tribulation: * and he heard their prayer.
105:45 And he was mindful of his covenant: * and he repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
105:46 And he provided for them with mercies * in the sight of all those who had seized them.
105:47 Save us, O Lord our God: * and gather us from the nations:
105:47 That we may give thanks to your holy name: * and glory in your praise.
105:48 Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, from age to age: * and let all the people say: Amen. Amen.

℣ 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.

Ant. When they were in tribulation the Lord saw them: and heard their prayer.

℣ The mouth of the just man shall meditate wisdom.

℟ And his tongue shall speak judgment.

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 also forgive those who trespass against us:

℣ And lead us not into temptation:

℟ But deliver us from evil.

Absolutio. May his loving kindness and mercy assist us, he who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May God the almighty Father be gracious and merciful to us.

Reading 4

Thomas, the most blessed man, the splendor of the Christian world and the light of the Church, born of noble parents, Landulf count of Aquino and Theodora of Naples, showed even as an infant his future devotion to the Mother of God. For a little parchment which he found, on which the Angelic Salutation was written, he firmly held clenched in his hand despite the nurse's vain effort to take it, sought back with weeping and gesture when violently snatched away by his mother, and swallowed it as soon as it was returned. At the age of five he was entrusted to the Benedictine monks of Montecassino to be kept. Sent then to Naples for the sake of studies, he as a young man embraced the Order of Friars Preachers. But when his mother and brothers took this badly, he was sent to Paris. His brothers seized him on the journey by force and brought him to the fortress of the castle of San Giovanni; where, harassed in various ways to make him change his holy resolve, he put to flight with a firebrand even a woman who had been introduced to undermine his constancy. Soon the blessed young man, kneeling in prayer before the sign of the Cross and there overtaken by sleep, seemed in his rest to feel his loins girded by Angels; and from that time he was ever after free from every movement of lust. His sisters, who had come to the castle to dissuade him from his holy purpose, he persuaded to put aside worldly cares and devote themselves to the practice of heavenly life.

℟ As Jacob went out from his own land, he saw the glory of God, and said: How terrible is this place!

This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

℣ Truly God is in this place, and I did not know it.

℟ This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.

Reading 5

Sent down from the castle through a window, he was brought back to Naples; thence led to Rome, and afterward to Paris, by Friar John the Teutonic, Master General of the Order of Preachers, he devoted himself to philosophy and theology under the teacher Albert the Great. At the age of twenty-five he was called a master, and publicly expounded philosophers and theologians with the highest praise. He never gave himself to reading or writing except after prayer. In the difficulties of passages of Sacred Scripture, he would add fasting to prayer. Indeed, he was accustomed to say to his companion, Friar Reginald, that whatever he knew he had acquired not so much by his own study and labor as by divine gift. When at Naples he was praying more fervently before an image of the Crucified, he heard this voice: You have written well of me, Thomas; what reward will you receive? To which he replied: None other, Lord, but yourself. He constantly read through the Conferences of the Fathers; and there was no kind of writing with which he was not most diligently acquainted. His writings excel so greatly in number, variety, and facility in explaining difficult matters that his most abundant and incorrupt doctrine, wonderfully consonant with revealed truths, is most apt for overcoming the errors of every age.

℟ If the Lord my God is with me on this journey, by which I travel, and watches over me, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and brings me back in safety:

The Lord will be my refuge, and this stone will be a sign.

℣ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone which he had placed under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and pouring oil upon it from above, he said.

℟ The Lord will be my refuge, and this stone will be a sign.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May God kindle the fire of his love in our hearts.

Reading 6

Called to Rome by Supreme Pontiff Urban IV, he composed by his command the ecclesiastical Office to be celebrated on the solemnity of Corpus Christi; but he refused the honors offered to him and the archbishopric of Naples, even when it was tendered by Clement IV. He did not cease from the preaching of the divine word; and while doing so through the octave of Easter in the basilica of Saint Peter, he freed from a flow of blood a woman who had touched the hem of his garment. Sent by Blessed Gregory X to the Council of Lyon, he fell ill in the monastery of Fossanova, where, though sick, he expounded the Song of Songs. There he died at the age of fifty, in the year of salvation twelve hundred and seventy-four, on the Nones of March. He was also renowned by miracles after death; and upon their verification, he was numbered among the Saints by John XXII, in the year thirteen hundred and twenty-three, his body having afterwards been translated to Toulouse at the command of Blessed Urban V. Compared with the holy angelic spirits no less in innocence than in genius, he rightly obtained the name of Angelic Doctor, confirmed to him by the authority of Saint Pius V. And Leo XIII, most gladly receiving the petitions and desires of nearly all the sacred pastors of the Catholic world — especially to repel the blight of so many philosophical systems straying from truth, for the advancement of the sciences and the common benefit of the human race — declared and established him, by apostolic letters and on the advice of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, as the heavenly patron of all Catholic schools.

℟ The Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I have set up as a monument shall be called the house of God; and of all things that you shall give me,

I will offer you tithes and peace offerings.

℣ If I return prosperously to my father's house.

℟ I will offer you tithes and peace offerings.

℣ 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.

℟ I will offer you tithes and peace offerings.

Nocturn 3

Ant. They cried out to the Lord * and he delivered them from their distress.

Psalm 106(1-14)

106:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good: * for his mercy endures for ever.
106:2 Let those who have been redeemed by the Lord say so, those whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy: * and gathered them from the regions:
106:3 From the rising of the sun and its setting: * from the north and from the sea.
106:4 They wandered in solitude in a waterless place: * they did not find the way to a city of habitation.
106:5 Hungry and thirsty: * their soul fainted within them.
106:6 And they cried out to the Lord in their tribulation: * and he rescued them from their necessity.
106:7 And he led them in the right way: * that they might go forth to a city of habitation.
106:8 Let them confess to the Lord his mercies: * and his wonders to the sons of men.
106:9 For he has satisfied the empty soul: * and the hungry soul he has filled with good things.
106:10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death: * shackled in poverty and in iron.
106:11 For they had provoked the words of God: * and had spurned the counsel of the Most High.
106:12 And their heart was brought low with hardships: * they were weakened, and there was no one to help them.
106:13 And they cried out to the Lord in their tribulation: * and he freed them from their distress.
106:14 And he led them out of darkness and the shadow of death: * and he broke apart their chains.

℣ 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.

Ant. They cried out to the Lord and he delivered them from their distress.

Ant. They themselves saw * the works of God and his wonders.

Psalm 106(15-30)

106:15 Let them confess to the Lord his mercies: * and his wonders to the sons of men.
106:16 For he has crushed the gates of brass: * and broken the iron bars.
106:17 He has taken them up from the way of their iniquity: * for they were brought low because of their injustices.
106:18 Their soul abhorred all food: * and they drew near even to the gates of death.
106:19 And they cried out to the Lord in their tribulation: * and he delivered them from their necessity.
106:20 He sent his word, and healed them: * and rescued them from their utter destruction.
106:21 Let them confess to the Lord his mercies: * and his wonders to the sons of men.
106:22 And let them offer sacrifice with the sacrifice of praise: * and declare his works in exultation.
106:23 Those who descend to the sea in ships, * making their livelihood in the great waters:
106:24 These have seen the works of the Lord, * and his wonders in the deep.
106:25 He spoke, and a windstorm arose: * and its waves were exalted.
106:26 They ascend even to the heavens, and descend even to the abyss: * their soul wasted away in distress.
106:27 They were troubled and moved like a drunkard: * and all their wisdom was consumed.
106:28 And they cried out to the Lord in their tribulation: * and he led them out of their distress.
106:29 And he replaced the storm with a breeze: * and its waves were stilled.
106:30 And they rejoiced that it was stilled: * and he led them into the haven they desired.

℣ 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.

Ant. They themselves saw the works of God and his wonders.

Ant. The righteous shall see * and rejoice, and shall understand the mercies of the Lord.

Psalm 106(31-43)

106:31 Let them confess to the Lord his mercies: * and his wonders to the sons of men.
106:32 And let them exalt him in the assembly of the people: * and praise him in the chair of the elders.
106:33 He has placed rivers in the desert: * and sources of water in a waterless land.
106:34 A fruit-bearing land into brine: * because of the malice of those who dwell in it.
106:35 He has placed the desert in pools of water: * and a land without water in sources of water.
106:36 And he has gathered the hungry there: * and they have built a city of habitation.
106:37 And they sowed fields and planted vineyards: * and they yielded the fruit of their increase.
106:38 And he blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly: * and their cattle he did not diminish.
106:39 And they became few: * and were afflicted by the tribulation of evils and sorrow.
106:40 Contempt was poured out upon their leaders: * and he caused them to wander in trackless places and not on the way.
106:41 And he helped the poor man out of destitution: * and set families like flocks.
106:42 The upright will see and rejoice: * and every iniquity will stop its mouth.
106:43 Who is wise and will keep these things? * And who will understand the mercies of the Lord?

℣ 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.

Ant. The righteous shall see and rejoice, and shall understand the mercies of the Lord.

℣ The law of his God is in his heart.

℟ And his steps shall not be overthrown.

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 also forgive those who trespass against us:

℣ And lead us not into temptation:

℟ But deliver us from evil.

Absolutio. May the almighty and merciful Lord absolve us from the bonds of our sins.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May he bless us who lives and reigns without end.

Reading 7

A Reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 17:1-9

At that time: Jesus took Peter, and James, and John his brother, and led them up onto a high mountain apart, and he was transfigured before them. And so forth.

From a Homily of Saint Leo, Pope

Ex Homil. de Transfiguratione Domini

Jesus took Peter, and James, and his brother John, and having ascended a very high mountain with them apart, manifested to them the brightness of his glory: for although they had understood in him the majesty of God, they did not yet know the power of that very body in which the divinity was veiled. And therefore he had with special purpose promised that some of those standing there would not taste death before they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom—that is, in his royal splendor—which, as pertaining spiritually to the nature of the man he had assumed, he willed to be visible to these three men. For that ineffable and inaccessible vision of the Godhead itself, which is reserved for the pure of heart unto eternal life, could in no way be seen or beheld by those still clothed in mortal flesh.

℟ The Angel said to Jacob:

Let me go, for it is dawn. He answered him: I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he blessed him in that same place.

℣ When Jacob had risen, behold a man wrestled with him until morning: and when he saw that he could not overcome him, he said to him.

℟ Let me go, for it is dawn. He answered him: I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he blessed him in that same place.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May the divine assistance remain always with us.

Reading 8

When the Father said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him" — was it not plainly heard: "This is my Son, whose existence is from me and with me without time"? For neither is the Begetter prior to the Begotten, nor is the Begotten later than the Begetter. This is my Son, whom Deity does not separate from me, whom power does not divide, whom eternity does not distinguish. This is my Son, not adoptive but proper; not created from elsewhere, but begotten from me; not made comparable to me from another nature, but born equal to me from my own essence.

℟ I saw the Lord face to face:

And my soul was saved.

℣ And he said to me: You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.

℟ And my soul was saved.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May the King of Angels lead us to the company of the citizens on high.

Reading 9

This is my Son, through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made: who does all things that I do, and does them in like manner; and whatever I work, he works inseparably and indistinguishably with me. This is my Son, who did not seek by way of robbery or presumption the equality he holds with me: but remaining in the form of my glory, he bent the immutable Godhead down even to the form of a servant, so that, to restore the human race, he might carry out the design we share in common. Him, therefore, in whom I am well pleased in all things, by whose preaching I am made known, by whose humility I am glorified — hear him without hesitation: for he himself is truth and life, he himself is my power and wisdom.

℟ When Jacob heard that Esau was coming against him, he divided his sons and wives, saying: If Esau strikes one company, the other shall be saved.

Deliver me, O Lord, who said to me: * I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for their multitude.

℣ O Lord, who said to me, Return to the land of your birth: O Lord, who have fed me from my youth.

℟ Deliver me, O Lord, who said to me.

℣ 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.

℟ I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for their multitude.