I like the prayers
in “The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” This book follows the same
format as the Liturgy of the Hours, with the prayers and hymns emphasizing
Mary. To help us celebrate the First
Saturday of May , let us take a look at some of the prayers and hymns for
Saturday Morning Prayer.
God, come to my
assistance.
-
Lord,
make haste to help me.
Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
-
as it was
in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
HYMN: Holy Mary
Holy Mary, my
Queen and sovereign Lady, I give you myself, trusting in your fidelity and your
protection.
I surrender myself
entirely to your motherly tenderness, my body, my soul, all that I am, all that
I possess, for the whole of this day, for every moment of my life, and
especially at the hour of my death.
I entrust to you
once more all my hopes, all my consolations, all my anxieties, all my troubles,
my life, my dying breath, so that by your prayers and merits, I may have, in
all I do, one only goal, your good pleasure and the holy will of your Son.
Antiphon 2: The
Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angels; let all believers rejoice
and bless the Lord.
Canticle: Ezekiel 36:24-28
They will be his own people, and God himself
will be with them, their own God (Revelation 21:3).
I will take you
away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring
you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle
clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your
idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a
new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony
hearts and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my
spirit within you, and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my
decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my
people, and I will be your God.
Antiphon 3: The Lord
has made you so glorious that your praise will never cease to resound among me.
First Reading:
Revelation 12:1
A great sign
appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Second Reading:
From a letter from Paschasius Radbert, abbot: Mary is taken from earth
Today the
glorious, ever-virgin Mary ascends to heaven. I urge you to rejoice, for, if I
may so put it, she has been raised up in an ineffable way to be with Christ who
reigns for ever. The Queen of the world is today taken from the earth and from
this present evil time. I say again: rejoice, because she who is sure of her
imperishable glory has reached the palace of heaven. Exult, I say, and rejoice,
and let the whole world rejoice, because this day Salvation has drawn nearer
for us all… Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you
among women.” It was fitting that the Virgin should be given such gifts and be
full of grace, since she has bestowed glory on heaven and has brought God and
peace to the earth, faith to pagans, an end to vice, order to life, and
discipline to morals. And it was right that an angel be sent to the Virgin,
because virginity always means kinship with the angels… “Rejoice,” the angel
says, ‘for you are full of grace.” Yes, full! For while a share of grace was
given to others, the undiminished fullness of grace was poured into Mary.
Concluding Prayer:
All powerful and ever-living God, you raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of
your Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final
goal and come to share her glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your
Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever.
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