S. Ioannis Damasceni Confessoris et Ecclesiæ Doctoris

Nocturn 1

Ant. The Lord raised up * a testimony in Jacob: and appointed a law in Israel.

Psalm 77(1-8)

77:1 O my people, attend to my law: * incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
77:2 I will open my mouth in parables: * I will speak about concepts that are from the beginning.
77:3 We have heard and known such great things: * and our fathers have described them to us.
77:4 These things have not been hidden from their sons: * in any generation.
77:4 Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his virtues: * and the wonders that he has done.
77:5 And he has received testimony with Jacob: * and he has set a law within Israel.
77:5 Such great things, he has commanded our fathers, so as to make these things known to their sons: * so that another generation might know them.
77:6 Sons who will be born and will grow up, * and will describe them to their sons.
77:7 So then, may they put their hope in God, and may they not forget the works of God: * and may they seek his commandments.
77:8 May they not become like their fathers: * a perverse and exasperating generation.
77:8 A generation that does not straighten their heart: * and whose spirit is not trustworthy with God.

℣ 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 raised up a testimony in Jacob: and appointed a law in Israel.

Ant. Before their fathers * God worked wonders.

Psalm 77(9-16)

77:9 The sons of Ephraim, who bend and shoot the bow: * have been turned back in the day of battle.
77:10 They have not kept the covenant of God: * and they were not willing to walk in his law.
77:11 And they have been forgetful of his benefits: * and of his miracle, which he revealed to them.
77:12 He performed miracles in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt: * in the field of Tanis.
77:13 He broke the sea and he led them through: * and he stationed the waters, as if in a vessel.
77:14 And he led them with a cloud by day: * and with illumination by fire throughout the night.
77:15 He broke through the rock in the wasteland: * and he gave them to drink, as if from the great abyss.
77:16 He brought forth water from the rock: * and he conducted the waters, as if they were rivers.

℣ 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. Before their fathers God worked wonders.

Ant. The Lord opened * the gates of heaven, and rained down manna upon them to eat.

Psalm 77(17-31)

77:17 And yet, they continued to sin against him: * in a waterless place, they provoked the Most High with resentment.
77:18 And they tempted God in their hearts, * by asking for food according to their desires.
77:19 And they spoke badly about God: * they said, Would God be able to prepare a table in the desert?
77:20 He struck the rock, and so waters flowed, and the torrents flooded: * but would even he be able to provide bread,
77:20 or provide a table * for his people?
77:21 Therefore, the Lord heard, and he was dismayed: * and a fire was kindled within Jacob, and an anger ascended into Israel.
77:22 For they neither put their trust in God: * nor did they hope in his salvation:
77:23 And he commanded the clouds from above: * and he opened the doors of heaven.
77:24 And he rained down manna upon them to eat: * and he gave them the bread of heaven.
77:25 Man ate the bread of Angels, * he sent them provisions in abundance.
77:26 He transferred the south wind from heaven: * and in his virtue, he brought in the Southwest wind.
77:27 And he rained down flesh upon them, as if it were dust: * and feathered birds, as if they were the sand of the sea.
77:28 And they fell down in the midst of their camp: * encircling their tabernacles.
77:29 And they ate until they were greatly satisfied, and he brought to them according to their desires: * they were not cheated out of what they wanted.
77:30 Their food was still in their mouth: * and then the wrath of God came upon them.
77:31 And he slew the fat ones among them, * and he impeded the elect of Israel.

℣ 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 opened the gates of heaven, and rained down manna upon them to eat.

℣ God struck the rock and waters flowed.

℟ And the torrents overflowed.

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

From the Book of Sirach

Sir 39:1-5

1 A wise man will seek the wisdom of all the ancients, and he will be occupied in the prophets.
2 He will preserve the words of renowned men, and he will enter with them into the subtleties of parables.
3 He will search for the hidden meanings of proverbs, and he will become familiar with the mysteries of parables.
4 He will minister in the midst of great men, and he will appear in the sight of the foremost leader.
5 He will pass through the land of foreign nations. For he will test good and evil among men.

℟ You are my God, do not depart from me:

For tribulation is near, and there is none to help.

℣ But you, O Lord, do not withdraw your help far from me: look to my defense.

℟ For tribulation is near, and there is none to help.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

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

Reading 2

Sir 39:6-10

6 At first light, he will offer his heart with watchfulness to the Lord who made him, and he will pray in the sight of the Most High.
7 He will open his mouth in prayer, and he will make supplication for his offenses.
8 For if the great Lord is willing, he will fill him with the Spirit of understanding.
9 And he will send forth the eloquence of his wisdom like rain showers, and in his prayer, he will confess to the Lord.
10 And he will direct his counsel and his discipline, and he will meditate on his mysteries.

℟ Upon you have I been cast from the womb, from my mother's womb you are my God, do not depart from me:

For tribulation is near, and there is none to help.

℣ Save me from the mouth of the lion, and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns.

℟ For tribulation is near, and there is none to help.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

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

Reading 3

Sir 39:11-14

11 He will make the discipline of his doctrine clear, and he will glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord.
12 Many persons will together praise his wisdom, and it will never be abolished, for all ages.
13 The memory of him will not fade away, and his name will be sought from generation to generation.
14 The peoples will declare his wisdom, and the Church will announce his praise.

℟ My tribulation is near, O Lord, and there is no one to help; that they dig through my hands and feet: deliver me from the mouth of the lion,

That I may declare your name to my brethren.

℣ Rescue, O God, my soul from the sword, and my only one from the hand of the dog.

℟ That I may declare your name to my brethren.

℣ 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.

℟ My tribulation is near, O Lord, and there is no one to help; that they dig through my hands and feet: deliver me from the mouth of the lion, * That I may declare your name to my brethren.

Nocturn 2

Ant. God * is their helper: and the Most High is their redeemer.

Psalm 77(32-41)

77:32 In all these things, they continued to sin: * and they were not trustworthy with his miracles.
77:33 And their days faded away into vanity: * and their years with haste.
77:34 When he slew them, then they sought him: * and they returned, and they drew near to him in the early morning.
77:35 And they were mindful that God is their helper: * and that the Most High God is their redeemer.
77:36 And they chose him with their mouth, * and then they lied to him with their tongue.
77:37 For their heart was not upright with him: * nor have they been living faithfully in his covenant.
77:38 Yet he is merciful, and he will pardon their sins: * and he will not destroy them.
77:38 And he has abundantly turned aside his own wrath: * and he did not enflame his wrath entirely:
77:39 And he remembered that they are flesh: * a spirit that goes forth and does not return.
77:40 How often did they provoke him in the desert, * and stir him to wrath in a waterless place?
77:41 And they turned back and tempted God: * and they exasperated the Holy One of Israel.

℣ 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 is their helper: and the Most High is their redeemer.

Ant. The Lord * redeemed them from the hand of the one who afflicted them.

Psalm 77(42-58)

77:42 They did not remember his hand, * in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of the one troubling them.
77:43 Thus he positioned his signs in Egypt, * and his wonders in the field of Tanis.
77:44 And he turned their rivers into blood, * along with their rain showers, so that they could not drink.
77:45 He sent among them the common fly, and it devoured them, * and the frog, and it scattered them.
77:46 And he gave up their fruits to mold, * and their labors to the locust.
77:47 And he slew their vineyards with hail, * and their mulberry trees with severe frost.
77:48 And he delivered their cattle to the hail, * and their possessions to fire.
77:49 And he sent the wrath of his indignation among them: * indignation and wrath and tribulation, sent forth by evil angels.
77:50 He made way for the path of his anger; he did not spare their souls from death: * and he enclosed their beasts of burden in death.
77:51 And he struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt: * the first-fruits of all their labor in the tabernacles of Ham.
77:52 And he took away his own people like sheep, * and he led them through the wilderness like a flock.
77:53 And he led them out in hope, and they did not fear: * and the sea covered their enemies.
77:54 And he led them to the mountain of his sanctification: * the mountain that his right hand had acquired.
77:54 And he cast out the Gentiles before their face: * and he divided their land by lot to them, with a line of distribution.
77:55 And he caused them to dwell in their tabernacles: * the tribes of Israel.
77:56 Yet they tempted and aggravated God Most High: * and they did not keep his testaments.
77:57 And they turned themselves aside, and they did not serve the covenant: * just as their fathers, they were turned backwards like a crooked bow.
77:58 They impelled him to anger on their hills: * and they provoked him to rivalry with their graven images.

℣ 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 redeemed them from the hand of the one who afflicted them.

Ant. God * built his sanctuary on earth.

Psalm 77(59-72)

77:59 God listened, and he spurned them: * and he reduced Israel greatly, almost to nothing.
77:60 And he rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh: * his tabernacle where he had dwelt among men.
77:61 And he delivered their virtue into captivity: * and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.
77:62 And he enclosed his people with the sword: * and he spurned his inheritance.
77:63 Fire consumed their young men: * and their virgins were not lamented.
77:64 Their priests fell by the sword: * and their widows did not weep.
77:65 And the Lord was awakened, as if out of sleep: * and like a powerful man impaired by wine.
77:66 And he struck his enemies on the back: * he gave them over to everlasting disgrace.
77:67 And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: * and he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
77:68 But he chose the tribe of Judah: * mount Zion, which he loved.
77:69 And he built up his sanctuary like a single-horned beast in the land, * which he founded for all ages.
77:70 And he chose his servant David, and he took him from the flocks of the sheep: * he received him from following the ewes with their young,
77:71 in order to pasture Jacob his servant, * and Israel his inheritance.
77:72 And he fed them with the innocence of his heart: * and he led them with the understanding of his hands.

℣ 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 built his sanctuary on earth.

℣ 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

John, called Damascene from his native city, was born of noble lineage and trained in both human and divine letters by the monk Cosmas at Constantinople. When the Emperor Leo the Isaurian was waging his impious war against the veneration of sacred images, John, at the urging of Pope Gregory III, defended the holiness of that veneration zealously both in speech and in writing. By this act he aroused so great a hatred against himself in Leo that the emperor, by means of forged letters, accused him as a traitor before the Caliph of Damascus, who employed John as his counselor and administrator. The prince, credulous of the fraud, ordered John's right hand to be cut off, though John swore in vain that the accusation was false. But the most holy Virgin, defender of the innocent, came to the aid of her client, whose help he had earnestly implored in prayer, and by her benefit the severed hand was restored and rejoined to the arm as though it had never been severed. Moved above all by this miracle, John resolved to carry out what he had long conceived in his heart. Having with difficulty obtained his withdrawal from the Caliph, he distributed all his possessions to the poor and freed his servants; then, as a pilgrim, he visited the holy places of Palestine, and at last withdrew with his teacher Cosmas to the laura of Saint Sabbas near Jerusalem, where he was ordained a priest.

℟ Darkness fell when the Jews crucified Jesus, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: My God, why have you forsaken me?

And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

℣ What now are your thoughts, O Virgin, as you behold these things?

℟ And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

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

Reading 5

In the novitiate of religious life he began to be held as a master of all virtues. His observance of the rules, even the least, was most exact; his contempt of the world singular; his hatred of self implacable; yet his love for God so ardent that it gradually consumed even his body. Being therefore commanded to turn his mind away from divine things for a time, he fled in vain from God, who met him everywhere. Embracing his neighbors also with wonderful charity, he contracted a contagious disease in the public hospitals where he zealously ministered. Slowly consumed by it, on the day he had foretold — the eleventh day before the Kalends of July, having begun the twenty-fourth year of his age — having first asked to be beaten with stripes and to die prostrate on the ground, he departed to heaven. There the holy Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, by a divine revelation, saw him enjoying such great glory as she would scarcely have believed could exist in heaven; and she proclaimed that he had been outstanding in holiness and an unknown Martyr by charity. He also shone forth with many and great miracles. These being duly proved, Benedict the Thirteenth enrolled the angelic youth in the register of Saints, and gave him as a model of innocence and chastity and at the same time as patron especially for studious youth.

℟ The Passion of the Lord,

grievously struck his own Mother with the sorrow of bereavement, and filled her with the deepest anguish.

℣ The iron of the soldier's lance pierced the side of the Savior, but it passed through the soul of the Virgin Mother.

℟ grievously struck his own Mother with the sorrow of bereavement, and filled her with the deepest anguish.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

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

Reading 6

It is truly remarkable how much John produced, both in prose and in verse bound by number, for the defense of the faith and the fostering of piety; worthy indeed to be celebrated with the highest praises by the Second Council of Nicaea, and to be called Chrysorrhoas on account of the golden flow of his speech. Nor did he only defend the orthodox faith against the Iconoclasts; he vigorously attacked almost all the heretics, especially the Acephali, the Monothelites, and the Theopaschites. He admirably vindicated the rights and authority of the Church. He asserted in most eloquent words the primacy of the Prince of the Apostles.

℟ Who will grant me that you were my brother, nursing at my mother's breast, and that I might cling to your side, that your blood might touch my blood and cleanse it:

That the fountain of your water might leap from the spring of an upright heart, through the veins of good works, to the end of eternal happiness?

℣ Your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will rise up at your side.

℟ That the fountain of your water might leap from the spring of an upright heart, through the veins of good works, to the end of eternal happiness?

℣ 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.

℟ That the fountain of your water might leap from the spring of an upright heart, through the veins of good works, to the end of eternal happiness?

Nocturn 3

Ant. Help us, * O God, our salvation: and be gracious toward our sins.

Psalm 78

78:1 O God, the Gentiles have entered into your inheritance; they have polluted your holy temple: * they have set Jerusalem as a place to keep an orchard.
78:2 They have placed the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky: * the flesh of your saints for the beasts of the earth.
78:3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem: * and there was no one who would bury them.
78:4 We have become a disgrace to our neighbors: * a mockery and a derision to those who are around us.
78:5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry until the end? * Will your zeal be kindled like a fire?
78:6 Pour out your wrath among the Gentiles who have not known you: * and upon the kingdoms that have not invoked your name.
78:7 For they have devoured Jacob: * and they have desolated his place.
78:8 Do not remember our iniquities of the past; may your mercies quickly intercept us: * for we have been made greatly poor.
78:9 Help us, O God, our Savior; and free us, Lord, for the glory of your name: * and be merciful to our sins, for the sake of your name.
78:10 Let them not say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? * and may it become known among the nations before our eyes.
78:10 May the vengeance of the blood of your servants that has been poured out * enter before you as the groaning of those in chains.
78:11 According to the greatness of your arm, * take possession of the sons of those who have been put to death.
78:12 And repay our neighbors sevenfold within their sinews: * the reproach with which they have reproached you, O Lord.
78:13 But we are your people and the sheep of your pasture: * we will give thanks to you in all ages.
78:13 From generation to generation * we will declare your praise.

℣ 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. Help us, O God, our salvation: and be gracious toward our sins.

Ant. I am the Lord * your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Psalm 80

80:2 Exult before God our helper: * sing joyfully to the God of Jacob.
80:3 Take up a psalm, and bring forth the timbrel: * a pleasing Psalter with stringed instruments.
80:4 Sound the trumpet at the new moon, * on the noteworthy day of your solemnity.
80:5 For it is a precept in Israel: * and a judgment for the God of Jacob.
80:6 He set it as a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: * he heard a tongue that he knew not.
80:7 He turned his back from the burdens: * his hands had served in the basket.
80:8 In tribulation you called upon me, and I delivered you: * I heard you in the secret place of the storm; I proved you at the waters of contradiction.
80:9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to you: * O Israel, if you will hear me, there shall be no new god among you, nor shall you adore a foreign god.
80:11 For I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt: * open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
80:12 But my people did not hear my voice: * and Israel did not heed me.
80:13 So I dismissed them according to the desires of their heart: * they shall walk in their own devices.
80:14 If my people had heard me: * if Israel had walked in my ways:
80:15 I would have humbled their enemies as nothing: * and I would have stretched forth my hand upon those who troubled them.
80:16 The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: * and their time shall be for ever.
80:17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat: * and filled them with honey from the rock.

℣ 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. I am the Lord your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Ant. Be not silent, O God, * for your enemies have lifted up their head.

Psalm 82

82:2 O God, who shall be like you? * Be not silent, neither be still, O God.
82:3 For behold, your enemies have made a noise: * and they who hate you have lifted up their head.
82:4 They have devised a malicious counsel against your people: * and they have plotted against your holy ones.
82:5 They have said: Come, and let us destroy them as a nation: * and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.
82:6 For they have plotted together with one accord: * they have made a covenant against you— the tents of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites:
82:8 Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek: * the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre.
82:9 And Assyria also has come with them: * they have become a help for the sons of Lot.
82:10 Do to them as you did to Midian and to Sisera: * as to Jabin at the torrent of Kishon.
82:11 They perished at Endor: * they became as dung upon the earth.
82:12 Make their princes as Oreb and Zeb, * and Zebah and Zalmunna:
82:13 All their princes: * who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God as our inheritance.
82:14 O my God, make them like a wheel, * and like stubble before the face of the wind.
82:15 As fire that burns a forest: * and as a flame burning mountains:
82:16 So shall you pursue them in your storm: * and in your anger you shall trouble them.
82:17 Fill their faces with shame: * and they shall seek your name, O Lord.
82:18 Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: * and let them be confounded and perish.
82:19 And let them know that the Lord is your name: * you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

℣ 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. Be not silent, O God, for your enemies have lifted up their head.

℣ 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 Luke

Luc 6:6-11

At that time: It happened also on another Sabbath that Jesus entered into the synagogue and taught; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. And so forth.

A Homily of Saint Peter Chrysologus

Sermo 32

In this man the image of all men is figured; in him the care of all is carried on; in him the long-awaited healing of all is restored. For the hand of man had withered more from numbness of faith than from dryness of sinew, and more from the fault of conscience than from bodily weakness. That sickness was exceedingly ancient, having befallen at the very beginning of the world; nor could it be healed by any human skill or benefit, since it had been contracted by the indignation of God. He had touched what was forbidden, had presumed what was not granted, when he stretched out his hand to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: he needed not one who would apply a poultice, but one who could relax the sentence that had been imposed, and resolve by pardoning what he had bound up by his indignation.

℟ I grieve over you, my son Jonathan, exceeding fair and beloved beyond the love of women!

For as a mother loves her only son, so did I love you.

℣ My life has failed in sorrow, and my years in groans.

℟ For as a mother loves her only son, so did I love you.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

Benedictio. May the divine assistance remain always with us.

Reading 8

In this man, only a shadow of health is wrought in us; but perfect salvation is reserved for us in Christ: for then the miserable dryness of our hand is dissolved, when it is bathed in the blood of the Lord's Passion, when it is extended upon that life-giving wood of the Cross, when it grasps fruitful virtue from suffering, when it embraces the whole tree of salvation, when the body is fastened with the nails of the Lord, so that it may never return to the tree of concupiscence and arid pleasure. And he says to the man having the withered hand: Rise up into the midst — you who profess your own weakness, who demand mercy from on high, who testify to divine power, who assert the unbelief of the Jews: rise up into the midst; so that those whom so great a power of signs does not compel, whom deeds of so great salvation do not move, may at least be restrained and softened by compassion for so great a weakness.

℟ Come, Mother, fount of love, make us feel the force of grief, that we may mourn with you:

And may we experience the fruit of the Lord's Passion.

℣ That as your Son Jesus died for us and rose again, so also we, dying with him, may rise with him.

℟ And may we experience the fruit of the Lord's Passion.

℣ 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.

℟ And may we experience the fruit of the Lord's Passion.

℣ Grant a blessing, O Lord.

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

Reading 9

He said to the man: Stretch out your hand; and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Stretch out your hand: it is loosed by the command by which it had been bound by command. Stretch out your hand: suffering acknowledged the Judge, the work acknowledged God, the pardon betrayed the Creator. Pray, brethren, that such a withering may afflict the synagogue alone, and that there be no one in the Church whose hand avarice may wither, covetousness contract, rapine weaken, or stinginess bind in sickness; but if this should happen, let him hear the Lord and quickly extend it in a work of piety, relax it, and stretch it out in mercy and almsgiving. He who does not know how to lend to the poor does not know how to be healed.

℟ Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep day and night? For a close kinsman has supplanted me,

And every friend has dealt deceitfully with me.

℣ Let their ways become darkness and slipperiness: and let the Angel of the Lord pursue them.

℟ And every friend has dealt deceitfully with 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.

℟ Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep day and night? For a close kinsman has supplanted me, and every friend has dealt deceitfully with me.