Little Office of
Divine Wrath

Terce

Easter Season (Easter Sunday, Vespers I—Pentecost Sunday, 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. Alleluia, * alleluia, alleluia.

Psalm 53

Save me, O God, by thy name, * and judge me in thy strength.
O God, hear my prayer: * give ear to the words of my mouth.
For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: * and they have not set God before their eyes.
For behold God is my helper: * and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
Turn back the evils upon my enemies; * and cut them off in thy truth.
I will freely sacrifice to thee, * and will give praise, O God, to thy name: because it is good:
For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: * and my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.

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 54:2–16

Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication: * be attentive to me and hear me.
I am grieved in my exercise; * and am troubled, at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner.
For they have cast iniquities upon me; * and in wrath they were troublesome to me.
My heart is troubled within me: * and the fear of death is fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling are come upon me: * and darkness hath covered me.
And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, * and I will fly and be at rest?
Lo, I have gone far off flying away; * and I abode in the wilderness.
I waited for him that hath saved me * from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.
Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; * for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.
Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: * and in the midst thereof are labour, and injustice.
And usury and deceit * have not departed from its streets.
For if my enemy had reviled me, * I would verily have borne with it.
And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, * I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.
But thou a man of one mind, * my guide, and my familiar.
Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: * in the house of God we walked with consent.
Let death come upon them, * and let them go down alive into hell.
For there is wickedness in their dwellings: * in the midst of them.

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 54:17–24

But I have cried to God: * and the Lord will save me.
Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: * and he shall hear my voice.
He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: * for among many they were with me.
God shall hear, * and the Eternal shall humble them.
For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God: * he hath stretched forth his hand to repay.
They have defiled his covenant, they are divided by the wrath of his countenance, * and his heart hath drawn near.
His words are smoother than oil, * and the same are darts.
Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: * he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.
But thou, O God, shalt bring them down * into the pit of destruction.
Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; * but I will trust in thee, O Lord.

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. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Antiphon

The earth * trembled and was still when God arose in judgment, alleluia.

The Our Father is prayed silently.

Psalm 75

The psalm is prayed in a lower voice.

In Judea God is known: * his name is great in Israel.
And his place is in peace: * and his abode in Sion:
There hath he broken the powers of bows, * the shield, the sword, and the battle.
Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills. * All the foolish of heart were troubled.
They have slept their sleep; * and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.
At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, * they have all slumbered that mounted on horseback.
Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? * from that time thy wrath.
Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: * the earth trembled and was still,
When God arose in judgment, * to save all the meek of the earth.
For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: * and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.
Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: * all you that are round about him bring presents.
To him that is terrible, even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: * to the terrible with the kings of the earth.

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