Domine, none est. The prophet’s humility. A gradual canticle of David.
Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me.
If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.
Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.
Confitebor tibi. Thanksgiving to God for his benefits.
For David himself. I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to thee in the sight of the angels:
I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all.
In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me: thou shalt multiply strength in my soul.
May all the kings of the earth give glory to thee: for they have heard all the words of thy mouth.
And let them sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.
For the Lord is high, and looketh on the low: and the high he knoweth afar off.
If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies: and thy right hand hath saved me.
The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: O despise not the works of thy hands.
Domine, probasti. God’s special providence over his servants.
Unto the end, a psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:
Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.
Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.
And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.
Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.
Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.
If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:
Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me.
And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.
But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light all the day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother’s womb.
I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.
My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.
Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.
But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand, I rose up and am still with thee.
If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:
Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain.
Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pined away because of thy enemies?
I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.
Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.
And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.
Domine, exaudi. The psalmist in tribulation calleth upon God for his delivery. The seventh penitential psalm.
A psalm of David, when his son Absalom pursued him. [2 Kings 17.] Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in thy truth: hear me in thy justice.
And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old:
And my spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled.
I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all thy works: I meditated upon the works of thy hands.
I stretched forth my hands to thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee.
Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee.
Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to thee have I fled:
Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land:
for thy name’s sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble:
And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
Benedictus Dominus. The prophet praiseth God, and prayeth to be delivered from his enemies. No worldly happiness is to be compared with that of serving God. A psalm of David against Goliath.
Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war.
My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: My protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me.
Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?
Man is like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow.
Lord, bow down thy heavens and descend: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
Send forth lightning, and thou shalt scatter them: shoot out thy arrows, and thou shalt trouble them.
Put forth thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters: from the hand of strange children:
Whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity.
To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to thee.
Who givest salvation to kings: who hast redeemed thy servant David from the malicious sword:
Deliver me, And rescue me out of the hand of strange children; whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity:
Whose sons are as new plants in their youth: Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple:
Their storehouses full, flowing out of this into that. Their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth:
Their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall, nor passage, nor crying out in their streets.
They have called the people happy, that hath these things: but happy is that people whose God is the Lord.
Exaltabo te, Deus. A psalm of praise, to the infinite majesty of God.
Praise, for David himself. I will extol thee, O God my king: and I will bless thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless thee: and I will praise thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: and of his greatness there is no end.
Generation and generation shall praise thy works: and they shall declare thy power.
They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holiness: and shall tell thy wondrous works.
And they shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and shall declare thy greatness.
They shall publish the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness: and shall rejoice in thy justice.
The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy.
The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee: and let thy saints bless thee.
They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of thy power:
To make thy might known to the sons of men: and the glory of the magnificence of thy kingdom.
Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words: and holy in all his works.
The Lord lifteth up all that fall: and setteth up all that are cast down.
The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord: and thou givest them meat in due season.
Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature.
The Lord is just in all his ways: and holy in all his works.
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth.
He will do the will of them that fear him: and he will hear their prayer, and save them.
The Lord keepeth all them that love him; but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name forever; yea, for ever and ever.
As of all the sacred mysteries bequeathed to us by our Lord and Saviour as most infallible instruments of divine grace, there is none comparable to the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist; so, for no crime is there a heavier punishment to be feared from God than for the unholy or irreligious use by the faithful of that which is full of holiness, or rather which contains the very author and source of holiness. This the Apostle wisely saw, and has openly admonished us of it. For when he had declared the enormity of their guilt who discerned not the body of the Lord, he immediately subjoined: Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep.
In order that the faithful, therefore, aware of the divine honours due to this heavenly Sacrament, may derive therefrom abundant fruit of grace and escape the most just anger of God, pastors should explain with the greatest diligence all those things which may seem calculated more fully to display its majesty.