*Ps 118:95-96.*
Sinners wait to destroy me, but I pay heed to Your decrees, O Lord. I see that all fulfillment has its limits; broad indeed is Your command. (Alleluja, alleluja.)
*Ps 118:1*
Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Glory Be to the Father…
Sinners wait to destroy me, but I pay heed to Your decrees, O Lord. I see that all fulfillment has its limits; broad indeed is Your command. (Allelúja, allelúja.)
May the prayers of blessed Mary Magdalen help us, O Lord, Who were moved by her prayers and brought back alive from the grave her brother Lazarus, dead for four days.
Through our Lord…
Lesson from the book of Canticles
*Song 3:2-5; 8:6-7*
I will rise and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him Whom my heart loves. I sought Him but I did not find Him. The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city: Have you seen Him Whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them when I found Him Whom my heart loves. I took hold of Him and would not let Him go till I should bring Him to the home of my mother, to the room of my parent, I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and hinds of the field, do not arouse, do not stir up love before its own time. Set me as a seal on Your heart, as a seal on Your arm; for stern as death is love, relentless as the nether world is devotion; its flames are a blazing fire. Deep waters cannot quench love, nor floods sweep it away. Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love, he would despise it as nothing.
*Ps 44:8*
You love justice and hate wickedness.
℣. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness.
Alleluia, alleluia.
*Ps 44:3*
Grace is poured out upon your lips; thus God has blessed you forever. Alleluia.
Continuation ☩ of the Holy Gospel according to Luke
*Luke 7:36-50*
At that time, one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to dine with him; so He went into the house of the Pharisee and reclined at table. And behold, a woman in the town who was a sinner, upon learning that He was at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment; and standing behind Him at His feet, she began to bathe His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment. Now when the Pharisee, who had invited Him, saw it, he said to himself, “This man, were He a prophet, would surely know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he said, “Master, speak.” “A certain money-lender had two debtors; the one owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty. As they had no means of paying, he forgave them both. Which of them, therefore, will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house; you gave Me no water for My feet; but she has bathed My feet with her tears, and has wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, from the moment she entered, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil; but she has anointed My feet with ointment. Wherefore I say to you, her sins, many as they are, shall be forgiven her, because she has loved much. But he to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” And He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And they who were at table with Him began to say within themselves, “Who is this man, who even forgives sins?” But He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
*Ps 44:10*
The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety. (Allelúja.)
O Lord, may our gifts be acceptable to You through the glorious merits of blessed Mary Magdalen, whose offering of homage Your only-begotten Son did mercifully accept.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father…
*Common*
It is truly meet and just, and profitable unto salvation, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God, through Christ, our Lord. Through whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the Dominions adore it, the Powers are in awe. Which the heavens and the hosts of heaven together with the blessed Seraphim joyfully do magnify. And do Thou command that it be permitted us to join with them in confessing Thee, while we say with lowly praise:
*Ps 118:121-122; 118:128*
I have fulfilled just ordinances, O Lord; let not the proud oppress me. For in all Your precepts I go forward; every false way I hate. (Alleluja.)
(image: Rudolf Stricker, Wikimedia Commons)