[Officium]
Feria Sexta in Parasceve

[Officium] (rubrica 1955 aut rubrica 196)
Feria Sexta in Passione et Morte Domini

[Oratio]
@Tempora/Quad6-4::s/unto death/unto death, even to the death of the cross/

[Prelude Vespera] (rubrica 1955 aut rubrica 1960)
!Today, Vespers are not said by those who assist at the solemn afternoon liturgical action.

[Ant Matutinum]
The kings of the earth set themselves, * and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed.;;2
They part my garments among them, * and cast lots upon my vesture.;;21
False witnesses are risen up against me, * and iniquity hath belied itself.;;26
They that sought after my life * have used violence again me.;;37
Let them be ashamed and confounded * together that seek after my soul, to destroy it.;;39
Strangers are risen up against me, * and oppressors seek after my soul.;;53
O Lord, defend me from them that rise up against me, * for they lie in wait for my life.;;58
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; * I am shut up, and cannot come forth.;;87
They gather themselves together * against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.;;93

[Nocturn 1 Versum]
V. They part my garments among them.
R. And cast lots upon my vesture.

[Nocturn 2 Versum]
V. False witnesses are risen up against me.
R. And iniquity hath belied itself.

[Nocturn 3 Versum]
V. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
R. They compassed me about also with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the book of Lamentations
!Lam 2:8-11
8 Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath been destroyed together.
9 Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
10 Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust, they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled: my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted away in the streets of the city.
r. Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.

[Responsory1]
R. All my friends have forsaken me, and mine enemies have prevailed against me; he whom I loved hath betrayed me.
* Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me; he breaketh me with breach upon breach: and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
V. I am numbered with the transgressors; and my life is not spared.
R. Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me; he breaketh me with breach upon breach; and (in my thirst) they gave me vinegar to drink.

[Lectio2]
!Lam 2:12-15
12 Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
13 Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy destruction: who shall heal thee?
14 Nun. thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments. 
5 Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all the earth?
r. Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.

[Responsory2]
R. The veil of the Temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom,
* And all the earth did quake: the thief on the cross cried, saying: Lord, remember me when Thou comest into thy kingdom!
V. The rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints, which slept, arose.
R. And all the earth did quake: the thief on the cross cried, saying: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

[Lectio3]
!Lam 3:1-9
1 Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his indignation.
2 Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light.
3 Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.
4 Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my bones.
5 Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with gall and labour.
6 Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ever.
7 Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
8 Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my prayer.
9 Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths upside down
r. Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Return unto the Lord thy God.

[Responsory3]
R. I had planted thee a noble vineyard;
* How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
V. I fenced thee, and gathered out the stones from thee, and built a tower in the midst of the land.
R. How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.
&Gloria
R. I had planted thee a noble vineyard; * How then art thou turned into a degenerate plant, which willest that Barabbas should be released unto thee, and that I should be crucified.

[Lectio4]
From the Treatise of St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo,) Upon the Psalms
!On Psalm lxiii, 2
Thou hast hidden me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity. Now let us fix our eyes upon our Head. Many martyrs have suffered such things as He suffered, but God's hiding of His suffering servants is not so well seen in the Martyrs, as it is in the Captain of the Martyrs. And it is in Him that we best see how it fared with them. He was hidden from the secret counsel of the wicked; hidden by God, being Himself God; hidden, as touching the Manhood, by God the Son, and the very Manhood, Which is taken into God the Son; because He is the Son of man, and He is the Son of God; Son of God, as being in the form of God; Son of man, as having taken upon Him the form of a servant, (Phil. ii. 6, 7,) Whose life no man taketh from Him, but Who layeth it down of Himself. He hath power to lay it down, and He hath power to take it again, (John x. 18.) What then was all that they which hated Him could do? They could kill the Body, but they were not able to kill the Soul. Consider this very earnestly. It had been a small thing for the Lord to preach to the Martyrs by His word, if He had not also nerved them by His example.

[Responsory4]
R. Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves, for to take Me?
* I sat daily with you, teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on Me; and, now when ye have scourged Me, ye lead Me away to crucify Me! 
V. And when they had laid hands on Jesus, and taken Him, He said unto them:
R. I sat daily with you, teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on Me; and now, when ye have scourged Me, ye lead Me away to crucify Me!

[Lectio5]
We know what secret counsel was that of the wicked Jews, and what insurrection was that of the workers of iniquity. Of what iniquity were they the workers? The murder of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many good works, saith He, have I showed you for which of those works go ye about to kill Me? He had borne with all their weaknesses: He had healed all their diseases: He had preached unto them the kingdom of heaven: He had discovered to them their iniquities, that they might rather hate them, than the Physician That came to cure them. And now at last, without gratitude for all the tenderness of His healing love, like men raging in an high delirium, throwing themselves madly on the Physician, Who had come to cure them, they took counsel together how they might kill Him, as if to see if He were a Man and could die, or Something more than a man, and That would not let Himself die. In the Wisdom of Solomon we recognize their words, (ii. 18, 19, 20,) Let us condemn Him with a shameful death. Let us examine Him; for, by His own saying, He shall be respected. If He be the Son of God, let Him help Him.

[Responsory5]
R. The Jews crucified Jesus: and there was darkness (over all the land, unto the ninth hour): and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, (saying): My God, (My God,) why hast Thou forsaken Me?
* And He bowed His Head, and gave up the Ghost.
V. When Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said: Father, into thy hands I commend My Spirit.
R. And He bowed His Head, and gave up the Ghost.

[Lectio6]
They whetted their tongue like a sword. The Jews cannot say: We did not murder Christ, albeit they gave Him over to Pilate His judge, that they themselves might seem free of His death. For when Pilate said unto them, Take ye Him: and kill Him, they answered, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. They could throw the blame of their sin upon a human judge: but did they deceive God, the Great Judge? In that which Pilate did, he was their accomplice, but in comparison with them, he had far the lesser sin. (John xix. 11.) Pilate strove as far as he could, to deliver Him out of their hands; for the which reason also he scourged Him, (John xix. 1,) and brought Him forth to them. He scourged not the Lord for cruelty's sake, but in the hope that; he might so slake their wild thirst for blood: that, perchance, even they might be touched with compassion, and cease to lust for His death, when they saw What He was after the flagellation. Even this effort he made! But when Pilate saw that he could not prevail, but that rather a tumult was made, (Matth. xxvii. 24,) ye know how that he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying: I am innocent of the blood of this Just Person. And yet he delivered Him to be crucified! But if he were guilty who did it against his will, were they innocent; who goaded him on to it? No. Pilate gave sentence against Him. and commanded Him to be crucified. But ye, O ye Jews, ye also are His murderers! Wherewith? With your tongue, whetted like a sword. And when? But when ye cried, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! (Mark xv.13-14)

[Responsory6]
R. I have given the dearly-beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies and Mine heritage is become unto Me as a lion in the forest; the enemy crieth out against Me, saying: Assemble yourselves together, hasten to devour Him: they have made My portion a desolate wilderness, and the whole land mourneth unto Me:
* Because there is none found that will know Me, nor do well.
V. There be risen up against me such as breathe out cruelty, and they have not spared my soul.
R. Because there is none found that will know Me, nor do well.
&Gloria
R. I have given the dearly-beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies, and Mine heritage is become unto Me as a lion in the forest: the enemy crieth out against Me, saying: Assemble yourselves together, hasten to devour Him: they have made My portion a desolate wilderness, and the whole land mourneth unto me: * Because there is none found that will know Me, nor do well.

[Lectio7]
From the letter of the blessed Apostle Paul to the Hebrews
!Heb 4:11-15
11 Let us hasten therefore to enter into that rest; lest any man fall into the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature invisible in his sight: but all things are naked and open to his eyes, to whom our speech is.
14 Having therefore a great high priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God: let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.

[Responsory7]
R. They have turned me over into the hands of the wicked: they also have numbered me with the transgressors, neither have they spared my life: the mighty are gathered together against me;
* And stand up against me like giants.
V. Strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul.
R. And stand up against me like giants.

[Lectio8]
!Heb 4:16; 5:1-3
16 Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid.
1 For every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on them that are ignorant and that err: because he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
3 And therefore he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

[Responsory8]
R. That wicked one betrayed Jesus to the chief-priests and elders of the people
* But Peter followed Him afar off, to see the end.
V. And they led Him away to Caiaphas the High Priest, where the Scribes and Pharisees were assembled.
R. But Peter followed Him afar off, to see the end.

[Lectio9]
!Heb 5:4-10
4 Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was.
5 So Christ also did not glorify himself, that he might be made a high priest: but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
6 As he saith also in another place: Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech.
7 Who in the days of his flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence.
8 And whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered:
9 And being consummated, he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation.
10 Called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech.

[Responsory9]
R. Mine eyes do fail with tears, because the Comforter that should relieve me is far from me. Behold, O all ye nations
* If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
V. O all ye that pass by, behold, and see
R. If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
&Gloria
R. Mine eyes do fail with tears, because the Comforter that should relieve me is far from me. Behold, O all ye nations, * If there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

[Ant Laudes]
God spared not His Own Son * but delivered Him up for us all.
My spirit is overwhelmed within me; * my heart within me is troubled.
One thief said unto the other: * We indeed receive the due reward of our deeds, but what hath this man done? Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Lord, when my soul is troubled, * thou wilt remember mercy.
Lord, remember me * when thou comest into thy kingdom.

[Versum 2]
V. He hath set me in dark places.
R. As they that be dead of old.

[Ant 2]
They set up over his head his accusation written: * Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

[Ant 3]
When He had received the vinegar, * he said: It is finished! and he bowed his Head, and gave up the Ghost.

[Special Completorium]
@Tempora/Quad6-4::s/unto death/unto death, even to the death of the cross/