Little Office of
Divine Wrath

None

Through the Year (Pentecost Monday, Matins—Wednesday of Holy Week, Compline)

Introduction

The Our Father and Hail Mary are prayed silently.

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.

Hail Mary, full of grace; The Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou amongst women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Psalmody

Ant. O God, be thou not silent, * for the mouth of the wicked man is opened against me.

Psalm 108:2–13

God, be not thou silent in my praise: * for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.
They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; * and have fought against me without cause.
Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: * but I gave myself to prayer.
And they repaid me evil for good: * and hatred for my love.
Set thou the sinner over him: * and may the devil stand at his right hand.
When he is judged, may he go out condemned; * and may his prayer be turned to sin.
May his days be few: * and his bishopric let another take.
May his children be fatherless, * and his wife a widow.
Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; * and let them be cast out of their dwellings.
May the usurer search all his substance: * and let strangers plunder his labours.
May there be none to help him: * nor none to pity his fatherless offspring.
May his posterity be cut off; * in one generation may his name be blotted out.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

Psalm 108:14–21

May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: * and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth: * because he remembered not to shew mercy,
But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; * and the broken in heart, to put him to death.
And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: * and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him.
And he put on cursing, like a garment: * and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.
May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; * and like a girdle with which he is girded continually.
This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; * and who speak evils against my soul.
But thou, O Lord, do with me for thy name’s sake: * because thy mercy is sweet.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

Psalm 108:22–31

Do thou deliver me, for I am poor and needy, * and my heart is troubled within me.
I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: * and I am shaken off as locusts.
My knees are weakened through fasting: * and my flesh is changed for oil.
And I am become a reproach to them: * they saw me and they shaked their heads.
Help me, O Lord my God; * save me according to thy mercy.
And let them know that this is thy hand: * and that thou, O Lord, hast done it.
They will curse and thou wilt bless: * let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice.
Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: * and let them be covered with their confusion as with a double cloak.
I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: * and in the midst of many I will praise him.
Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, * to save my soul from persecutors.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

Ant. O God, be thou not silent, for the mouth of the wicked man is opened against me.

Antiphon

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider, and hear me, O Lord my God.

The Our Father is prayed silently.

Psalm 12

The psalm is prayed in a lower voice.

How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end? * how long dost thou turn away thy face from me?
How long shall I take counsels in my soul, * sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? * Consider, and hear me, O Lord my God.
Enlighten my eyes that I never sleep in death: * lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him.
They that trouble me will rejoice when I am moved: * but I have trusted in thy mercy.
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: * yea, I will sing to the name of the Lord the most High.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

Prayer

Look down, we beseech thee, O Lord, on this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be delivered up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer the torment of the Cross.

The conclusion is prayed silently.

Who with thee liveth and reigneth, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

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Little Office of Divine Wrath