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Editor’s note: the 12 days of Christmas are present in the pre-55 rite due to the additional octaves and the vigil of the Epiphany.
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May His blessing be upon us who doth live and reign for ever.
℟. Amen.
Reading 1
Lesson from the letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans
Rom 6:1-5
What shall we say, then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
℣. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
℟. Thanks be to God.
℟. Rejoice with me, all ye that love the Lord.
* For while I was yet little I pleased the Most High, and from my womb have I brought forth God and man.
℣. All generations shall call me blessed, for God hath regarded the lowliness of His hand-maiden.
℟. For while I was yet little I pleased the Most High, and from my womb have I brought forth God and man.
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. He whose feast-day we are keeping, be our Advocate with God.
℟. Amen.
Reading 2
Rom 6:6-11
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ: Knowing that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no more, death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God: So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
℣. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
℟. Thanks be to God.
℟. The heart of the Virgin was fixed, when the Angel declared unto her the mystery of God, and she conceived, then did she receive in her pure womb Him That is fairer than the children of men.
* And, she that is blessed for ever, brought forth for us God and man.
℣. Soon rises, in that modest shrine, The Temple of the Lord Divine The stainless and unwedded one, Within her womb conceived the Son.
℟. And, she that is blessed for ever, brought forth for us God and man.
℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
℟. And, she that is blessed for ever, brought forth for us God and man.
℣. Grant, Lord, a blessing.
Benediction. May He that is the Angels’ King to that high realm His people bring.
℟. Amen.
Reading 3
The Lesson is taken from a treatise of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
on John. 36.
Of the Four Evangelists, or, rather, the Four Writers of the one Gospel, the holy Apostle John hath not unworthily been compared by spiritual writers to an eagle, because of the lofty and glorious flight of his teaching, soaring above the other three; a flight that raiseth not himself alone, but also the hearts of all, whosoever will hear him. The other three writers walk with the Lord upon earth, as with a man, and enlarge little upon His Godhead; but John, as though it had wearied him to walk upon earth, in the very first words of his writing, riseth not above the earth only, or above the firmament, and the heavens, but above every angel, and above every power of things unseen, and flieth directly to Him by Whom all things were made, saying In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
℣. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
℟. Thanks be to God.
Te Deum