Prayerbook, Prayers for all occasions, Little Office-THURSDAY Evening

The Morning Prayer is suggested as you start your day and begins with the verse "God, come to my assistance. Lord make haste to help me." The elements or outline of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary shown below, are provided to help with the recitation of prayers for both the Morning and Evening Prayers. The Evening Prayer concludes with the recitation of "May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Morning Prayer		Evening Prayer
Introduction		Introduction
Verse		Verse
Doxology		Doxology
Hymn		Hymn
Psalmody		Psalmody
Antiphon 1		Antiphon 1
Psalm		Psalm
Antiphon 2		Antiphon 2
OT Canticle		Psalm
Antiphon 3		Antiphon 3
Psalm		NT Canticle
1st Reading		1st Reading
2nd Reading		2nd Reading
Responsory		Responsory
Antiphon 4		Antiphon 4
Zechariah's Canticle		Mary's Canticle
Intercessions		Intercessions
Concluding Prayer		Concluding Prayer
Conclusion		Conclusion

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.

You have been endowed from your birth with princely gifts; in eternal splendor, before the dawn of light on earth, I have begotten you.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock who trains my arms for battle, who prepares my hands for war.

He is my love, my fortress; he is my stronghold, my savior, my shield, my place of refuge. He brings peoples under my rule.

Lord, what is man that you care for him, mortal man, that you keep him in mind; man, who is merely a breath, whose life fades like a shadow?

Lower your heavens and come down; touch the mountains; wreathe them in smoke. Flash your lightnings; rout the foe, shoot your arrows and put them to flight.

Reach down from heaven and save me; draw me out from the mighty waters, from the hands of alien foes whose mouths are filled with lies, whose hands are raised in perjury.

To you, 0 God, will I sing a new song; I will play on the ten-stringed harp to you who give kings their victory, who set David your servant free.

You set him free from the evil sword; you rescued him from alien foes whose mouths were filled with lies, whose hands were raised in perjury.

Let our sons then flourish like saplings grown tall and strong from their youth: our daughters graceful as columns, adorned as though for a palace.

Let our barns be filled to overflowing with crops of every kind; our sheep increasing by thousands, myriads of sheep in our fields, our cattle heavy with young, no ruined wall, no exile, no sound of weeping in our streets. Happy the people with such blessings; happy the people whose God is the Lord.

In the beginning, before time began, the Word was God; today he is born, the Savior of the world.

We praise you, the Lord God Almighty, who is and who was. You have assumed your great power, you have begun your reign.

The nations have raged in anger, but then came your day of wrath, and the moment to judge the dead: the time to reward your servants the prophets and the holy ones who revere you, the great and the small alike.

Now have salvation and power come, the reign of our God and the authority of his Anointed One. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who night and day accused them before God.

They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. So rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell therein!

When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.

Believe what we say about the Virgin, and do not hesitate to confess her to be both servant and Mother of God, both virgin and mother. She is a servant as the creature of him who was born of her; she is the Mother of God inasmuch as of her God was born in human flesh. She is a virgin because she did not conceive from the seed of man; she is a mother because she gave birth and became the mother of him who before all eternity was begotten of the Father.

She is therefore the mother of the Lord of angels and our mother; from her the Son of God received the human body in which he consented to be crucified. Do you desire to know how far the Virgin surpasses the powers of heaven? Give me your attention then. They veil their faces as they hover in fear and trembling, but she offers the human race to God, and through her we receive the forgiveness of our sins. She bore him whom the angels glorified when they came with reverence to be present at his birth. Glory to God in the highest, they sang, and peace to his people on earth.

After the birth of your son, you remained a virgin. After the birth of your son, you remained a virgin.

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.

Christ the Lord is born today; today, the Savior has appeared. Earth echoes songs of angel choirs, archangels� joyful praise. Today on earth his friends exult: Glory to God in the highest.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.

He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

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.

At the birth of Jesus, angels proclaimed peace to the world. We worship him now with joy, and we pray with hearts full of faith: May your birth bring peace to all.

Lord, fill your holy people with whatever good they need, let the mystery of your birth be the source of our peace.

You came as chief shepherd and guardian of our lives, let the pope and bishops be faithful channels of your many gifts of grace.

King from all eternity, you desired to be born within time and to experience the day-to-day life of men and women, share your gift of unending life with us, weak people, doomed to death.

Awaited from the beginning of the world, you came only in the fullness of time, now reveal your presence to those who are still ex�pecting you.

You became man and gave new life to our human condition in the grip of death, now give the fullness of life to all who have died.

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 forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Lord God, we praise you for creating man, and still more for restoring him in Christ. Your Son shared our weakness: may we share his glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.