Matins.

First is said silently: Then the rest aloud unless noted.
V.Thou O Lord wilt open my lips.
R.And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
V. Glory Be.
V.Ant. O come, let us sing unto the Lord* as we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary. R.Ant. O come, let us sing unto the Lord* as we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Come let us rejoice unto our Lord, let us make joy to God our saviour: let us approach to his presence in confession, and in Psalms let us make joy unto him.
Ant.O come, let us sing unto the Lord as we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
For God is a great Lord, and a great King above all Gods : because our Lord repelleth not his people: for that in his hand are all the bounds of the earth, and he beholdeth the heights of the mountains.
Ant. As we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands founded the dry land: come let us adore, and fall down before God: let us weep before our Lord, that made us: because he is the Lord our God: we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Ant. O come, let us sing unto the Lord* as we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Today if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation according to the day of temptation in the wilderness: where your fathers tempted me: proved, and saw my works.
Ant. As we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Forty years was I nigh unto this generation: and said, they always err in heart: and they have not known my ways, to whom I swear in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest.
Ant. O come, let us sing unto the Lord* as we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Glory be to the Father .
Ant.As we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ant. O come, let us sing unto the Lord* as we keep memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

HYMN

Whom earth, and sea, and eke the skies,
Adore, and worship, and declare,
As ruler of the triple frame,
The closure of Maria bare.

Whom both the Moon, the Sun and all,
Do serve in their due time and space,
A maiden's inward parts doth bear,
Bedewed with celestial grace.

Blest is the mother by this gift,
Whose womb as in a coffer held,
The maker that surmounteth all,
Who in his hand the world doth weld.

She blessed is by heavenly news,
And fruitful by the holy Ghost,
From out whose womb was yielded forth,
Whom nations had desired most.

Glory be unto thee O Lord,
That born was of the virgin pure,
With the Father and Holy Ghost,
All ages ever to endure, Amen.

Ant.I. Mary received blessing of the Lord: and mercy of God her saviour.
Psalm 24
The earth is our Lord's, and the fulness thereof:
the round world and all that dwell therein.
Because he hath founded it upon the seas:
and upon the floods hath prepared it.
Who shall ascend into the hill of our Lord:
or who shall stand in his holy place?
The innocent of hands, and of clean heart, that hath not taken his soul in vain:
nor sworn to his neighbour in guile. He shall receive blessing of our Lord:
and mercy of God his saviour.
This is the generation of them that seek him:
of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Lift up your gates ye princes, and be ye lifted up
O eternal gates: and the king of glory shall enter in.
Who is the king of glory? our Lord strong and mighty:
our Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your gates ye princes, and be ye lifted up O eternal gates:
and the king of glory shall enter in.
Who is this king of glory? the Lord of powers he is the king of glory.
Glory be.
Ant. Mary received blessing of the Lord: and mercy of God her saviour.

Ant.II The Lord hast sanctified his holy Tabernacle.
Our God is a refuge, and strength:
and helper in tribulations, which have found us exceedingly.
Therefore will we not fear when the earth shall be troubled:
and mountains transported into the heart of the sea.
These waters have sounded and were troubled:
the mountains were troubled in his strength.
The violence of the flood maketh the city of God joyful:
the highest hath sanctified his tabernacle.
God is in the midst thereof, it shall not be moved:
God will help it in the morning early.
Nations are troubled, and kingdoms are bowed:
he gave his voice, the earth was moved.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our defender
. Come ye, and see the works of our Lord, what wonders he hath put upon the earth:
taking away wars even unto the end of the earth.
He shall destroy the bow, and break weapons:
and shields he shall burn with fire.
Be quiet and see, for that I am God:
I shall be exalted among the gentiles,
I shall be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us: the
God of Jacob is our defender.
Glory be.
Ant.II The lord hast sanctified his holy Tabernacle.

Ant.III. Glorious things are said of thee, O Blessed Virgin Mary
Psalm 86
The foundations thereof in the holy mountains:
our Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.
Glorious things are said of thee, o city of God.
I will be mindful of Raab, and Babylon:
knowing me. Behold the strangers, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians:
these were there.
Shall not Sion say, man, and man is born in her:
and the highest himself founded her?
Our Lord will declare in scriptures of peoples:
and of those princes, which have been in her,
As it were of all rejoicing: the habitation is in thee.
Glory be.
Ant.III. Glorious things are said of thee, O Blessed Virgin Mary
V. Mary Kept safe all these words.
R. And Cherished them in her heart .
First Lesson.
Of the Book of Isaiah the Prophet.
The Lord said to Achaz: Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God either unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above. And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And he said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.

Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.
And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.
But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: land he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.

And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.

Responsory:
V. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.
R. And his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty.
V. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom
R.And his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty.

Second lesson.
From a sermon of St. Aelred the abbot.
Let us come to his bride, his mother, his perfect handmaid, for the blessed Mary is all of this. Bwhat are we to do for her? What kind of gifts shall we offer her? Would that we could at least return what we are in duty bound to do, for we owe her honor and service, we owe her love and praise. We owe her honor, for she is the mother of our Lord. He who fails to honor the mother clearly dishonors the son. Also, Scripture says: Honor you father and your mother.
What then, my brothers, shall we say? Is she not our mother? Yes, my brothers, she is indeed our mother, for through her we have been born, not for the world but for God.
Once we all lay in death, as you know and believe, in sin, in darkness, in misery. In death, because we had lost the Lord; in sin, because of our corruption; in darkness, for we were without the light of wisdom, and thus had perished utterly.

But then we were born, far better than through Eve, through Mary the blessed, because Christ was born of her. We have recovered new life in place of sin, immortality instead of mortality, light in place of darkness.
She is our mother - the mother of our life, the mother of our incarnation, the mother of our light. As the Apostle says of our Lord, he became for us by God’s power our wisdom and justice, and holiness and redemption.
She then, as mother of Christ, is the mother of our wisdom and justice, of our holiness and redemption. She is more our mother than the mother of our flesh. Our birth from her is better, for from her is born our holiness, our wisdom, our justice, our sanctification, our redemption.

Praise the Lord in his holy ones, say the Scriptures. If our Lord is to be praised in those holy ones through whom he brings to being deeds of power and miracles, how much more is he to be praised in her in whom he fashioned himself, who is wonderful beyond all wonders.

Resp. R.Blessed are thou, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise,
V.For out of thee arose the Sun of Righteousness, even Christ our God; Through whom we are saved and redeemed.
R. With joy, let us celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary
V.For out of thee arose the Sun of Righteousness, even Christ our God; Through whom we are saved and redeemed.
Then lauds is said immediately without versicles.