Monday Hymns

To Christ the first-born

MONDAY VESPERS HYMNS

Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour
the stars that shine and the powers in motion
all vanish in the splendour of your light
and remain still before the power of your greatness.
You alone are visible,
you reveal the image of the Father almighty,
and thus you manifest the sublimity of the Father and the Son. As the Father is almighty in the heavenly sphere,
so are you, the Son, in our universe
the first-born, the guide and Lord of all power;
you, from the beginning, are the second grandeur
that comes from that of the Father;
you are the foundation of all the world.
You are our archetype,
the mind which ordains and the one who steers;
you are the way and the door that opens into light.
You are the image of justice;
you are ever our shining star.
To you we render thanks, praise and blessing.
Before you we bend the knee
and we ask, with trust, that we be made holy.
Grant that we may be ever strong in faith,
sound in mind and body
to sing for ever and without ceasing your praises,
that you, the Immortal, ,the Infinite, the Eternal
may be celebrated in every place.
You are the model and essence of the Spirit,
you are our blessed Father,
our king and our God.
With eyes fixed on you, we shall not die, O Lord;
if we confess your name we shall not be lost.

Anonymous hymn

Preface for Epiphany

On the banks of the Jordan
[Father] your voice resounded in the roll of thunder coming from heaven making manifest the Saviour,
showing yourself as Father of eternal light.
You have rent the heavens,
blessed the air,
purified the water,
made manifest your only Son
through the Holy Spirit
appearing in the form of a dove.
Today the fountains, having received your blessing,
cast off the ancient curse;
and so, the faithful, purified from their sins,
are presented to God, for eternal life,
as sons by adoption.
In fact those who through birth in the flesh
were destined for the life of time,
those whom death had seized through the complicity of sin are welcomed into eternal life
and brought back to the glory of heaven.

Ambrosian liturgy

Lauds

A plea for pardon

Jesus, come, make yourself a servant for me.
Pour the water into the basin; come, wash my feet. I know that what I ask is temerarious, but I fear your
words:
“If I do not wash your feet, you can have no part with me”.
Wash, then, my feet, that I may have a part with you. But what do I say, wash my feet?
Peter could say this
for he needed only his feet to be washed
for he was all adamant.
But I, once bathed,
have need of that baptism
of which the Lord said:
“As for me, there is another baptism with which I must be baptised” .

Origen

Canticle for the resurrection of Lazarus

Lord of the heavens, merciful father of the humble, who by a single word restored Lazarus to life,
grant to those who have gone before us
the grace to contemplate the light of your countenance.

Give us the grace to live in peace in our time, to accept the death you have prepared for us, to be guided, both in life
and in death, by your will.

Give but a sign, a word,
O Lord, and already we are saved.

You will not abandon those who love you
but keep them in life, and call them to yourself who are risen. You are the resurrection and the life.

Romanos the Melodious

Lenten hymn

Remain, O Christ, in the hearts you have redeemed.
You who are perfect love,
pour into our words
sincere repentance.

We raise our prayer to you,
O Jesus, with faith;
pardon the sin we have committed.

By the Holy sign of the Cross,
by your tortured body,
defend us constantly as your sons.

The Venerable Bede

Prime

Easter Hymn

It is the Pasch; the Pasch of the Lord. . .
O you, who are truly all in all! . . .
The joy, the honour, the food and the delight of every creature; .
through you the shadows of death have fled away,
and life is given to all,
the gates of heaven are flung open.
God becomes man
and man is raised up to the likeness of God.

O divine Pasch! . . .
O Pasch, light of new splendour . . .
The lamps of our souls will no more burn out. The flame of grace,
divine and spiritual,
burns in the body and soul,
nourished by the resurrection of Christ.

We beg you, O Christ, Lord God,
eternal king of the spiritual world, stretch out your protecting hands
over your holy Church
and over your holy people;
defend them, keep them, preserve them. . .

Raise up your standard over us
and grant that we may sing with Moses
the song of victory, .
for yours is the glory and the power for all eternity! Amen. .

Hippolytus ofRome

Canticle for the Easter vigil

Today we have contemplated upon the altar
our Lord Jesus Christ. . . Today we have heard his voice, powerful yet gentle, admonishing us:

This is the Body which burns up the thorns of sin and gives light to the souls of men. . .
This is the Body in whose presence
the daughter of the Canaanite was cured.
This is the Body, which, approached
in full confidence by the sinful woman,
set her free from the mire of sin.
This is the Body Thomas touched
and recognising, cried out:
my Lord and my God.
This is the Body, great and most high,
Which is the principle of our salvation.

One day he who is the Word
and our Life determined
that his blood should be poured out for us and offered for the forgiveness of our sins.

We have drunk of the blood
by which we have been redeemed, restored, instructed, given light.

Who is entitled to celebrate the mystery of grace? we have been found worthy to share in this gift. Let us keep it to the end that we may hear
from his holy and blessed voice:
“Come, O blessed, to my Father,
Receive the inheritance of the kingdom prepared for you”.

Then those who crucified the Lord will fear; those who have not believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be ashamed;
those who have denied and not borne witness to the most Holy Trinity, one God, will be lost.

As for us, beloved,
we celebrate the wonder of the baptism of Jesus, his holy and life-giving resurrection,
through which salvation has come to the world. We await the happy fulfilment of redemption
in the grace and love
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom is due all glory, honour and adoration.

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy

Easter hymn

We glorify you, O Christ, singing: glory to the Lord! He was born of the Holy Spirit in order to give us life. He deigned to dwell among us.
To him we render our veneration,
crying out together: glory to the Lord!

Behold: the Virgin has given birth to Emmanuel. He has come down from heaven,
has saved from Egypt a people that was lost. Let us exalt him, crying: glory to the Lord!

He has willed to overcome our enemy;
has made his dwelling in the Virgin Mary: the invisible has become visible in flesh.
Let us adore him, crying out: glory to the Lord!

Born of a woman ever virgin,
the Word of truth rose again for us. Let us celebrate the Lord, intoning: glory to the Lord!

Light from light, Christ our king
is risen for us.
He has saved us from theland of Egypt; all together let us sing: glory to the Lord!

Fragment from an ancient Eucharistic liturgy

Paschal doxology

O Pasch, great and holy mystery that purifies the universe, I would speak to you Immortal Soul.
O Word of God, light and life, wisdom and power!
I greet you with your many names.
Illustrious shoot, breath and image of the Spirit!
O Word of God, visible being in whom all is assumed
and all governed by your power!
Deign to listen to my words: .
they are not the beginning
but certainly the fulfillment of my offering.
Grant that they may be both thanksgiving and supplication.
Grant that I may bear only the trials of the spirit
that bring the reward assigned to our life.
Lighten the weight of the body;
You know, O Lord, how heavily it weighs.
Mitigate the severity of your judgment,
when we come to be winnowed by you.
But if our desires will be realised
grant that we may set out on our way and find welcome
in the heavenly mansions.
We will go on offering to you an acceptable sacrifice,
on your altar, Father, Word and Holy Spirit.
To you be the glory, the honour and the power through all ages. Amen.

Gregory Nazianzen

Easter hymn

Night clearer than the day!
O night more luminous than the sun! O night whiter than the snow! giving more light than our torches, sweeter than Paradise!
O night that knows no darkness;
driving away our sleep,
you make us keep watch with the angels.
O night, the terror of the demons,
paschal night, awaited for a year!
The Church’s wedding night
which gives life to the newly baptised
and renders harmless the torpidity of the demon. Night in which the Heir
brings the heirs into eternity.

Asterius of Amasea

Preface for Easter

It is necessary, and for our well-being, to give you thanks God, Holy and Almighty,
to celebrate your praise with devotion, Father of glory, creator and author of the universe,
through your Son, Jesus Christ.
He, being God, full of majesty, humbled himself
to the point of accepting the punishment of the cross
for the salvation of men.
In the depth of ages
Abraham prefigured this in his son;
the people of Moses with the paschal lamb they immolated.
He it is of whom
announcement was made by the voice of the prophets:
he would take upon himself the sins of all men,
cancel out the whole of our misdeeds.
This is the great Pasch
which the blood of Christ has covered with glory,
making the Christian people exult with joyous devotion!
O mystery of grace!
Inexpressible mystery of divine munificence!
O festival most venerated among all festivals,
in which he abandoned himself to men
even unto death, to save mere slaves!
O blessed death, which has broken the chains of death!
Now the prince of hell is vanquished,
and we, saved from the abyss of guilt,
exult in joy and take with Christ once more
the road to heaven.

Ambrosian liturgy