. Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children. ANT. May the name of the Lord be for ever blessed. ANT. We that live. Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo : * matrem filiorum lætantem. ANT. Sit nomen Domini benedictum in sæcula. ANT. Nos qui vivimus. The fifth Psalm, In exitu, recounts the prodigies witnessed under the ancient Covenant: they were figures, whose realities were to be accomplished in the mission of the Son of God, who came to deliver Israel from Egypt, emancipate the Gentiles from their idolatry, and pour out a blessing on every man who would consent to fear and love the Lord. PSALM 113. When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people. Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea saw and fled; Jordan was turned back. The mountains skipped like rams and the hills like the lambs of the flocks. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee: and thou, O Jordan, that thou wast turned back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams: and ye hills like lambs of the flock? At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob. Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hills into fountains of water. Not to us, O Lord, not to In exitu Israël de Ægypto: * domus Jacob de populo barbaro: Facta est Judea sanctificatio ejus:* Israël potestas ejus. Mare vidit, et fugit : Jordanis conversus est retrorsum. Montes exsultaverunt ut arietes: * et colles sicut agni ovium. Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti et tu, Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum ? Montes exsultastis sicut arietes: et colles, sicut agni ovium? A facie Domini mota est terra: a facie Dei Jacob. * * nobis: sed Nomini tu da gloriam. Super misericordia tua, et veritate tua: * nequando dicant gentes: Ubi est Deus eorum? Deus autem noster in cœlo: * omnia quæcumque voluit fecit. Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum : opera manuum hominum. Os habent, et non loquentur: oculos habent, et non videbunt. Aures habent, et non audient: nares habent, et non odorabunt. Manus habent et non palpabunt, pedes habent et non ambulabunt: * non clamabunt in gutture suo. * Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea: et omnes qui confidunt in eis. us: but to thy Name give glory. For thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake: lest the Gentiles should say: Where is their God? But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoever he would. The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold: the works of the hands of men. They have mouths, and speak not they have eyes, and see not. They have ears, and hear not they have noses, and smell not. They have hands, and feel not they have feet, and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat. Let them that make them become like unto them: and all such as trust in them. The house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector. The house of Aaron hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector. They that feared the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their pro tector. The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath blessed the house of Israel he hath blessed the house of Aaron. He hath blessed all that fear the Lord, both little and great. May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you, and upon your children. After these five Psalms, a short Lesson from the holy Scriptures is read. It is called Capitulum, because it is always very short. The ones for the several Festivals are given in the Proper of each. We here give the Capitulum common to the Sunday. CAPITULUM. (2 Cor. i.) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who comforteth us in all our tribulations. B. Thanks be to God. Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Pater misericordiarum fet Deus totius consolationis, qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra. B. Deo gratias. Then follows the Hymn. We here give the one for Sundays. It was composed by St. Gregory the Great. It sings of Creation, and celebrates the praises of that portion of it which was called forth on this first day, the Light. VOL. XI. G Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens: Primordiis lucis novæ, Mundi parans originem. HYMN.* O infinitely good Creator of the Light! by thee was produced the Light of day, providing thus the world's beginning with the beginning of the new-made Light. Thou biddest us call the time from morn till eve, Day; this Day is over; dark Night comes on,--oh! hear our tearful prayers. Let not our soul, weighed down by crime, mis-spend thy gift of life and, forgetting what is eternal, be earth-tied by her sins. Oh! may we strive to enter our heavenly home, and bear away the prize of life: may we shun what would injure us, and cleanse our soul from her defilements. Most merciful Father! and thou, his Only Begotten Son, co-equal with him, reigning for ever, with the Holy Paraclete! grant this our prayer. Amen. Rite, it is as follows: Ne mens gravata crimine, Vitæ sit exsul munere. Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illigat. Cœlorum pulsat intimum, Vitale tollat præmium : Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pèssimum. Præsta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice Cum Spiritu Paraclito Regnans per omne sæculum. Amen. The Versicle which follows the Hymn, and which we here give, is that of the Sunday: those for the Feasts are given in their proper places. . May my prayer, O Lord, ascend B. Like incense in thy sight. V. Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea. R. Sicut incensum in conspectu tuo. Then is said the Magnificat Antiphon, which is to be found in the Proper. After this, the Church sings the Canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, in which are celebrated the Divine Maternity, and all its consequent blessings. This exquisitely sweet Canticle is an essential part of the Office of Vespers. It is the evening incense, just as the Canticle Benedictus, at Lauds, is that of the morning. OUR LADY'S CANTICLE. (St. Luke, i.) My soul doth magnify the Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for, behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me Blessed. Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generation, to them that fear him. He hath showed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble. |