Friday Night Prayer

         INTRODUCTION V./ O God, come to our aid. R./ O Lord, make haste to help us. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.             EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE I confess to almighty God, to blessed Mary ever virgin, to blessed Dominic our father, to all the saints, and to you my brothers, that I have sinned exceedingly; by thought, word, deed and omission, through my fault: and I beseech you to pray for me.   V./ May Almighty God have Mercy on us, forgive us all our sins, and may He free us from all evil, keep us safe and strengthen us in every good work, and bring us to eternal life. R./ Amen.            HYMN Now it is evening; time to cease from labour, Father, according to thy will and pleasure, Through the night-season, have thy faithful people Safe in thy keeping.   Far from our dwellings drive the evil spirits; Under the shadow of thy wings protect us; Be thou our guardian through the hours of darkness, Strong to defend us.   Call we, ere sleeping, on the name of Jesus; Rise we at day-break, strong to serve thee better; Order our goings, well begun and ended, All to thy glory.   Fountain of goodness, bless the sick and needy; Visit the captive, solace the afflicted; Shelter the stranger, feed your starving children; Strengthen the dying.   Father, who neither slumberest nor sleepest, Thou, to whom darkness is as clear as noonday, Have us this night-time, for the sake of Jesus, Safe in thy keeping.            PSALMODY Ant. Lord my God, I call for help by day; I cry at night before you.          Psalm 87(88) Lord my God, I call for help by day; I cry at night before you. Let my prayer come into your presence. O turn your ear to my cry.   For my soul is filled with evils; my life is on the brink of the grave. I am reckoned as one in the tomb: I have reached the end of my strength,   Like one alone among the dead; like the slain lying in their graves; like those you remember no more, cut off, as they are, from your hand.   You have laid me in the depths of the tomb, in places that are dark, in the depths. Your anger weighs down upon me: I am drowned beneath your waves.   You have taken away my friends and made me hateful in their sight. Imprisoned, I cannot escape; my eyes are sunken with grief.   I call to you, Lord, all the day long; to you I stretch our my hands. Will you work you wonders for the dead? Will the shades stand and praise you?   Will your love be told in the grave or your faithfulness among the dead? Will your wonders be known in the dark or your justice in the land of oblivion?   As for me, Lord I call to you for help: in the morning my prayer come before you. Lord, why do you reject me; Why do you hide your face?   Wretched, close to death from my youth, I have borne your trials; I am numb. Your fury has swept down upon me; your terrors have utterly destroyed me.   They surround me all the day like a flood, They assail me all together. Friend and neighbour you have taken away: my one companion is darkness. Ant. Lord my God, I call for help by day; I cry at night before you.            SCRIPTURE READING          Jer 14,9 Lord, you are in our midst, we are called by your name. Do not desert us, O Lord our God.            SHORT RESPONSORY In pace, in idipsum *Dormiam et requiescam. V./ Si dedero somnum oculis meis, et palpebris meis dormitationem, R./ Dormiam et requiescam. V./ Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. R./ In pace, in idipsum *Dormiam et requiescam.   [In peace and into the same I shall sleep and rest.? V./ If I give slumber to my eyes? and to my eyelids drowsiness, R./ I shall sleep and rest. V./ Glory to the Father, and to the Son,? and to the Holy Spirit. R./ In peace and into the same I shall sleep and rest.]            GOSPEL CANTICLE Ant.: Evigila super nos, æterne Salvator, ne nos apprehendat calidus tentator; quia tu factus es nobis sempiternus adjutor. [Watch over us, eternal Saviour, that the cunning tempter not lay hold of us: for you have been our helper forever.]            Nunc dimittis: Luke 2: 29-32 At last, all-powerful Master, you give leave to your servant to go in peace, according to your promise.   For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared for all nations,   the light to enlighten the Gentiles and give glory to Israel, your people.   Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:   as it was ?in the beginning, is now, and? ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Ant.: Evigila super nos, æterne Salvator, ne nos apprehendat calidus tentator; quia tu factus es nobis sempiternus adjutor.            CONCLUDING PRAYER Give us grace, almighty God, so to unite ourselves in faith with your only Son, who underwent death and lay buried in the tomb that we may rise again in newness of life with him, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. R./ Amen.            BLESSING V./ May the Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. R./ Amen.            ANTHEM OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ, Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte; Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.   [Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.]            ANTHEM OF OUR HOLY FATHER ST DOMINIC O lumen Ecclesiæ, Doctor veritatis, Rosa patientiæ, Ebur castitatis, Aquam sapientiæ propinasti gratis: Prædicator gratiæ nos junge beatis.   [O light of the church, teacher of truth, rose of patience, ivory of chastity, You freely poured forth the waters of wisdom, preacher of grace unite us with the blessed.]