Concluding a Service or Office

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The conclusions of the services of prayer among the Anglican Churches exhibit a wide variety of ascriptions, scriptures, and blessings. More contemporary forms conclude the Office with the sharing of the Peace dislocated from the Mass and without its Sacrificial context.  However, it does make perfect sense to observe the Peace at that point if the Offertory and Eucharist are to follow directly.   How shall the offices conclude in the revised rites and services?  I offer the following as a first thought drawing simply from what I did with the Prayer Book Office in expanding the conclusion to include other options such as the two ascriptions of praise by the sainted Thomas Ken as well as several selections of Sacred Scripture.

With the Anglican Morning Office normatively containing V. Praise ye the Lord. R. The Lord's Name be praised. I would conclude with the Benedicamus Domino then The Grace followed by a line from the Divine Liturgy that served as parallel to the verse and response mentioned above at an earlier part of the Office.  Whether it was the use of the Gloria at the end of Mass or an ascription of Praise at the end of the Office, to the traditional Anglican mind the worship of the Lord should end on a note of joy.  I type the following in English though in published form I would include English and Latin in parallel columns:

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

The Grace + of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord 
henceforth and forevermore.

[A kind friend in the west of Scotland has written that in her parish they do the above in a reversed order such that they say (1) Blessed be the Name..., (2) The Grace, and (3) Let us bless the Lord ... With the Eastward gaze whilst standing in the West, there are commonalities among these local riches worthy of consideration.]

For General Use on a feast or festival, I would use these words from Thomas Ken which in contemporary form figure prominently in the An Anglican Prayer Book 1989: 

Blessing and honour and thanksgiving and praise

more than we can utter, more than we can conceive

be unto Thee, O most adorable Trinity,

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

by all angels, all men, all creatures

for ever and ever,  Amen and Amen.

At times I used the following depending upon the weekday:

Sunday:   
To God the Father, who loved us, and made us accepted in the Beloved: to God the Son, who loved us, and loosed us from our sins by his own blood:  to God the Holy Spirit, who poureth the love of God into our hearts:  to the one true God, be all love and all glory, for time and for eternity. Amen.    Thomas Ken
Monday:   
Now to him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us:  To him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, world without end. Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21 Rheims
Tuesday:  
Now unto the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.  1 Timothy 1:17 AV (with Rheims)
Wednesday:  
Now to him who is able to preserve us without sin, and to present us spotless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, To the only wise God our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, before all ages, and now, and for all ages of ages. Amen.  Jude 24-25 Rheims (with AV)
Thursday:  
Now may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that we  may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen.  Romans 15:13  Rheims
Friday:  
Unto Jesus Christ, who hath loved us and freed us from our sins by his own blood,  and hath made us a kingdom, to be priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.  Revelation 1:4-6 (composite)

I also have a table of such conclusions for the Office depending upon Seasons of the Church Year, particular Red Letter Days, and a few special occasions, but I won't take up space here to print them.  In a printed edition it may be best to provide a ferial form and a festal one preceded with a permissive rubric to use something else.  I offer these as an idea on how our worship through the Office might conclude on that "note of joy" characteristic of the framers of the Eucharistic rite found in the 1928 & 1929 Books of Common Prayer.

Now that we are Catholic, I hope that in the appropriate Offices the Marian antiphons such as Ave Regina Caelorum, Salve Regina, and Regina Caeli will be sung after the Office in their traditional place.  As to which English translation should be employed ... ah, but that is another post.

+De ventre matris meae  

Thanksgiving for the Resurrection and the Ascension of the Lord

.
LET us bless the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost:
Let us praise and exalt him for ever.

Then shall be said together:

BLESSING and honour and glory and power
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty:
Just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints;
All glorious thy gifts, thou Spirit of life.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honour and power and might
be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

O GIVE thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious;
And his mercy endureth for ever.

Who hath loved us from all eternity;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

And remembered us when we were in trouble;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Who by his Cross and Passion hath redeemed the world;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

And hath washed us from our sins in his own blood;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Who on the third day rose from the dead;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

And hath given us the victory;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Who ascended up on high;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

And opened wide for us the everlasting doors;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Who sitteth on the right hand of God;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

And ever liveth to make intercession for us;
For his mercy endureth for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.

FOR the gift of his Spirit;
Blessed be Christ.

For the Catholic Church;
Blessed be Christ.

For the means of grace;
Blessed be Christ.

For the hope of glory;
Blessed be Christ.

For the triumphs of his gospel;
Blessed be Christ.

For the lives of his saints;
Blessed be Christ.

In joy and in sorrow;
Blessed be Christ.

In life and in death;
Blessed be Christ.

Now and unto the end of the ages;
Blessed be Christ.

Here may be added thanksgivings for particular mercies, and at their end all shall say together the General Thanksgiving.

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies,
we thine unworthy servants
do give thee most humble and hearty thanks
for all thy goodness and loving-kindness
to us and to all men.
We bless thee for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for thine inestimable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And, we beseech thee,
give us that due sense of all thy mercies,
that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful;
and that we show forth thy praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to thy service,
and by walking before thee
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit,
be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

BLESSING and honour and thanksgiving and praise more than we can utter, more than we can conceive, be unto thee, O most adorable Trinity, + Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by all angels, all men, all creatures, for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.

Cambridge Offices and Orisons
Eric Milner-White
B.T.D. Smith

New Texts for the soon to be Bl. John Henry Newman

Courtesy of the Oratorians
http://www.oratoriosanfilippo.org/21-06-2010.html


Si comunica inoltre che la Congregazione per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti, con Rescritto del 15 giugno ha approvato i testi propri della memoria del Beato John Henry Newman in lingua latina e in inglese. Li riportiamo, nell’attesa di presentare al medesimo Dicastero i testi in italiano e in altre lingue.

* * *

BEATI IOANNIS HENRICI NEWMAN, PRESBYTERI

De Communi pastorum: pro presbyteris.

COLLECTA

Deus, qui beátum Ioánnem Henrícum, presbýterum,

lumen benígnum tuum sequéntem

pacem in Ecclésia tua inveníre contulísti,

concéde propítius,

ut, eius intercessióne et exémplo,

ex umbris et imagínibus

in plenitúdinem veritátis tuae perducámur.

Per Dominum.

BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, PRIEST

From the Common of Pastors: For One Pastor

COLLECT

O God, who bestowed on the Priest Blessed John Henry Newman

the grace to follow your kindly light and find peace in your Church;

graciously grant that, through his intercession and example,

we may be led out of shadows and images

into the fulness of your truth.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Be sure to read the rest of the texts: http://www.oratoriosanfilippo.org/21-06-2010.html

The Visitation to Elizabeth

from Ramsho for
The Third Sunday of Announcement
Maronite Catholic Church Liturgy


Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as we begin and until we conclude,
May mercy and compassion be poured forth upon us
in this world and the next.
O Lord, our God, to you be glory for ever.
Amen.

O Lord,
with joyous hearts and souls,
may we glorify you in memory of that blessed day
when your Mother visited her cousin Elizabeth.
Mary's greeting put joy into Elizabeth's heart.
With Elizabeth may we say to the Virgin:
"Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb."
We shall give you glory and praise,
now and for ever.

Peace be with the Church and her children.

Glory to God in the highest,
and peace on earth and good will to all.
Praise the Lord all you nations,
glorify him, all you peoples!
For steadfast is his mercy toward us,
and the truth of the Lord endures for ever.
Glory be to the Father and tot hte Son and to the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever, and peace on earth and good will to all.

FIRST PRAYER

Lord, have mercy on us and save us.

Most High and hidden God,
for our salvation you became flesh in the Virgin Mary
and visited John your Forerunner when he was still
in the womb of his mother.
In your love, O God, visit our souls and bodies.
Enable us to give you thanks in purity and to adore you in sanctity,
and we shall praise you with your Father and your Holy Spirit
now and for ever.
Amen.

. . .

SECOND PRAYER

Lord, have mercy on us and save us.

Mary,
you are the glorious vessel in which the Light manifested itself in glory.
We ask you to petition the eternal Light which was placed within you
to remove from our souls the darkness of sin
and to fill us with the light of grace and sanctity.
Then, in justice and purity,
we shall celebrate the memory of your Visitation
and give glory to the One who was placed within you,
now and for ever.
Amen.

THE PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
according to the Maronite Liturgical Year
1982