this day: vigils lauds prime terce sext none vespers compline
one day back: vigils lauds prime terce sext none vespers compline
one day forward: vigils lauds prime terce sext none vespers compline

Today (Friday, January 2, 2026): vigils lauds prime terce sext none vespers compline

Thursday, February 5, 2026
The Martyrs of Japan
Vespers

Introduction
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.

Antiphon 1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me.

Psalm 138 (139)    Domine, probasti
Lord, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting-places
and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me
and your right hand hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,
and the light around me turn to night,”
Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day;
darkness and light to you are both alike.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Division    
For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.

How deep I find your thoughts, O God!
how great is the sum of them!
If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God!
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.
They speak despitefully against you;
your enemies take your Name in vain.

Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate you?
and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with a perfect hatred;
they have become my own enemies.

Search me out, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my restless thoughts.
Look well whether there be any wickedness in me
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Antiphon Lord, you have searched me out and known me.

Antiphon 2 Free me from the violent, O Lord.

Psalm 139 (140)    Eripe me, Domine
Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers;
protect me from the violent,
Who devise evil in their hearts
and stir up strife all day long.
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent;
adder’s poison is under their lips.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent,
who are determined to trip me up.
The proud have hidden a snare for me
and stretched out a net of cords;
they have set traps for me along the path.

I have said to the Lord, “You are my God;
listen, O Lord, to my supplication.
O Lord God, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Do not grant the desires of the wicked, O Lord,
nor let their evil plans prosper.

“Let not those who surround me lift up their heads;
let the evil of their lips overwhelm them.
Let hot burning coals fall upon them;
let them be cast into the mire, never to rise up again.”
A slanderer shall not be established on the earth,
and evil shall hunt down the lawless.

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the poor
and render justice to the needy.
Surely, the righteous will give thanks to your Name,
and the upright shall continue in your sight.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Antiphon Free me from the violent, O Lord.

Antiphon 3 O Lord, I call to you; come to me quickly.

Psalm 140 (141)    Domine, clamavi
O Lord, I call to you; come to me quickly;
hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord,
and guard the door of my lips;
let not my heart incline to any evil thing.
Let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers,
nor eat of their choice foods.

Let the righteous smite me in friendly rebuke;
let not the oil of the unrighteous anoint my head;
for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.

Let their rulers be overthrown in stony places,
that they may know my words are true.
As when a plowman turns over the earth in furrows,
let their bones be scattered at the mouth of the grave.

But my eyes are turned to you, Lord God;
in you I take refuge;
do not strip me of my life.
Protect me from the snare which they have laid for me
and from the traps of the evildoers.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I myself escape.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Antiphon O Lord, I call to you; come to me quickly.

Short Lesson: 1 Peter 4:13-14
Beloved, rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

Responsory
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord.
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord.
Shout for joy, all who are true of heart, and rejoice in the Lord.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord.

Hymn     Sanctorum meritis
Come, friends, sing of the joys merited by the Saints,
bravest deeds for the faith gaining them lasting life;
hearts now swell with delight: singing we celebrate
Saints now joined in their victories.

These were feared by the world, though it held them in chains,
for they spurned all its pomp, fruitless and arid waste;
turning firmly away, they followed after you,
Christ, good King of the heavenly court.

They endure for your sake fury and savagery,
no murmur or complaint uttered in suffering;
but with hearts quieted, born of a peaceful mind,
they are patient and persevere.

Whose tongue could ever say, who has the voice to tell
what things you have prepared, gifts for your martyr Saints?
For their shedding of blood, crimson in flowing tides,
brought them bright and unfading crowns.

O Godhead, Three in One, hear us, we beg of you,
cleanse our hearts of all sin, save us from hidden snares;
bless your servants with peace; let us with all the saints
sing your glory from age to age. Amen.

Verse
Let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God.
Let them also be merry and joyful.

Antiphon The souls of the saints rejoice in the heavens, who followed in the footsteps of Christ; and because they shed their blood for love of him, therefore they exult with Christ without end.

Canticle: Luke 1:46-55    Magnificat anima mea
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Antiphon The souls of the saints rejoice in the heavens, who followed in the footsteps of Christ; and because they shed their blood for love of him, therefore they exult with Christ without end.

Litany
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
  hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
  your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.

Collect
O God our Father, who brought the holy martyrs of Japan through the suffering of the cross to the joys of eternal life: Grant that we, encouraged by their example, may hold fast to the faith we profess, even unto death itself; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Conclusion
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.