English Prayer text below.
Wednesday of Ba’utha
| In pain and tears and fervent prayer, we cry to you, good Lord above! Be our healer and our wise guide: deep are our wounds; bitter our pain. We have no right to plead to you: our faults abound, our malice soars. The sea and land, and all therein have quaked and raged due to our sin. In our own time, as Scripture says, the end of days has come upon us. In mercy, save us from distress, for height and depth have been confused. O Good Shepherd, come tend your flock, for whose sake you endured the cross. Make peace for us in Church and world, that we may live a tranquil life. May we be yours, as is your will: Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. From age to age, amen, amen. | b-hash-sha w-dim’e wib-nonetha, k-qarukh illukh Mara tawa. hwy lan hakkym m-basmana d-mer-e hash-shan w’siqlih kewan. d-leban kene tad mar-dha-lukh ‘awlan ‘shin-leh wzid-lay gnahan. w-yama w-yawsha wkul biryatha zi’lay sh-ghish-lay ‘al by-sha-than. bzaw-nan kmil-lah haya kthyw-ta dhar-theh d-‘alma ‘illan mte-la. b-rah-mukh mkha-lis-lan m-balaye dim-bul-bil-lay rawma w-‘umqa. Ra’ya Tawa, mar`y l-`irwukh mbeyd talibay hash-sha t`in-nukh. wmat-wy l-kul-lan b-‘edta w-‘alma d-khay-ukh ‘umran bshe-na-yutha. w-hawukh diy-yukh mikh ‘ij-bonukh Baba wBrona wRuha d-Qudh-sha l-‘alam ‘almyn, amen w-amen. |
Petitions
* Let us all stand composed, in contrition and diligence, let us implore and say: Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. | Maran, mrahim illan.
* O Being from the Beginning, O Gracious God who sent his beloved son in his great mercy, and saved us from our error, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He, who in the virgin bosom was born of the pious and holy mother, and who gives joy to the angels and mankind as they give new glory to the redeeming Lord, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who enlightened us with the light of his revelation in the rays of the existence of his glorious Trinity, and in whose baptism united us to the treasury of the sons through that symbolic death, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who in his fast has paid our ransom and gained victory over Satan, who gave triumph to our weak race and taught us that with fasting we can conquer the evil one, and by prayer we can remove his wiles, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who processed upon the donkey and whom the people glorified with olive branches, and to whom children cried Hosanna, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who revealed the depth of humility by washing the feet of his disciples, broke his Body shared for the forgiveness of sins, and mixed his Blood as a drink for our forgiveness, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who was mocked out of love for us, whose face was spit upon for our sake, whose hands and feet were pierced, and who handed over his pure soul on Golgotha to the Father who sent him, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who descended to Sheol, triumphed over death, and was raised on the third day, and who raised many who offered new thanks to the one who resurrected their bodies with him, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* He who showed to Thomas the wounds in his hands and the place of the spear in his side, and who, before the eyes of his disciples, ate and drank to confirm that he rose and gives hope in his resurrection, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
Shmo’ ba’uthan, w-rahim illan.
* Adorable Father, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Eternal Son, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Holy Spirit, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Hope of our Life, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* O Christ our King, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* O hear our cry, and have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Forgive our sins, and have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* O Merciful One, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* You rejoice when we are saved, have mercy on us:
(stand) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* O Lover of Mankind, have mercy on us:
(kneel) Hear our pleading; have mercy on us.
* Hear our cry and have mercy on us.
(stand) Lord, have mercy on us.
Maran, mrahim illan.
* For peace in the world and serenity in all nations, for the establishment of the Catholic Church and the protection of her children, and for the salvation of all the oppressed, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For the health of our holy fathers…, and for all those in the same priestly service, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For priests, kings and authorities to be established on the hope of the true faith, your own wisdom, and fear of you, that they may lead in mercy, love and harmony, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For all hermits, those of whom the world is not worthy, and for all monks and nuns who have dedicated themselves to you, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For all those traveling on sea and land, for the imprisoned, weary and oppressed, and also for our enemies and those who hate us, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* For the sick and depressed to be healed by your will, for all the suffering to take comfort in your hope, and for the weak and poor to be aided by the right hand of your Majesty, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* O Compassionate God, who guides all creatures, and in overflowing kindness pours forth his benefits upon the evil and the good, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* O One whose Honor the Cherubim bless in heaven, whom the Seraphim hallow thricely, whom the spiritual glorify, and whose holy Name the angels adore, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* O Gracious, Kind and Compassionate One in his Nature, who created us from nothing: heal our sicknesses in your compassion and salve our wounds with the medicine of your pity, we implore you: Lord, have mercy on us.
* Save us all, O Christ our Lord, by your cross, establish your peace in your Church, bought by your victorious Blood, O Christ who withstood the passion on Golgotha for our sake, and have mercy on us: Lord, have mercy on us.
* Let us pray, peace be with us, and let us bend our knee.
(kneel)
* Arise in the power of God
(stand) Glory to the power of God. | Shuha l-hayleh d-Alaha.
Mawtwa
| Lord, have mercy on us, Lord, accept our supplication, Lord, be pleased with your servants. | Maran, ithraham ‘layn, Maran, qabbil ba’uthan. Maran, ith-ra’a l-‘awdayk. |
First Madrasha/Meditation
O God Divine, let our pleading come before you,
and in your mercies, answer the needs of all our souls.
El, Alaha, shmo’ ba’uthan q-byl-ta l-gebukh,
w-hallan b-rahmukh snyquth gyanan, m-bed k-yadhit bah.
O Overflowing in his mercies,
show your love,
lest the hater of all men mock your handiwork.
Richer than all, open your treasure unto us,
lest we be poor and sell ourselves to the devil.
Mighty of ages, keep your order by your power,
lo, it is shaken evil demons and pains.
O Being of whose Essence heav’n and earth are filled,
may your Will fill us, and in us your Name be blest.
O Hidden One: reveal in us your power,
and show the riches of your Graciousness.
O Fashioner of all, who created creation from nothing,
pity your work, lest it decay because of sins.
O Free Sustainer, who gives life to beasts and mankind,
extend your hand and fill us all with your great Gift.
O Fullest One, of whose Fullness the world is filled,
open the door of your Will to our neediness,
O Perfect One, whose constancy has no ending,
perfect in deed the promise of your words to us.
First Qiryana/Reading
O Painter of the world in paint which does not dull,
cleanse all the filth of error from our mind and heart.
O Maker of body, Breather of the soul,
tighten us well, lest we be slack in temptation.
O Honorer of man above all in his love,
pity your Honor’s image, lest it be ashamed.
Your Simple Name you gave to our composition,
may your great Name not be made dull by our dullness.
In us you have shown your great love toward your works,
show not in us a sign of wrath against your work.
In us you have brought to fulness all creation;
in us you have bound up earthly and heavenly.
In us you composed height and depth as in one flesh:
mute in our body, rational in soul and mind.
Unravel not this construction you have fashioned,
and may the bind that you have bound never be loosed.
At this marvelous composition my mind gazed,
and sought to journey through the path bound within it.
In this great bind my own meager mind was bound up,
and wondered at the skillful craft that bound it all.
Through this structure did my short thoughts go wandering,
to seek for words to tell the tale to listeners.
In this hope did my own mind seek understanding,
that I may go, bring good tidings to your creatures.
With this contract among your Scriptures I journeyed,
to tell to men the great tale of your workmanship.
my mind, this way, painted with the pen of my tongue,
that I might paint, for everyone, your own image.
I saw that man, whom you composed, was made wisely,
and wished to show his beauty unto all the world.
In the image of our image I saw tied the whole creation,
and I called all to come and see all within us.
Our nature pulls me to seek out all that within,
and how indeed this frail thing contained everything!
I saw your Name dwell within him as a temple;
wonder seized me: how can man fit the Hidden One?
Wretched indeed, yet you love him without measure,
and who would not marvel at chosen wretchedness?
If your Love has chosen him from all and named him,
we can be sure that you will not look down on him.
And if you made him lord above all things on earth,
who would not hold onto the yoke of his life’s work?
If you have called him to an exalted stature,
who could not know his place is true, his power great?
If you reveal yourself to us in him unveiled,
who would not focus all his gaze to his making?
If you have shown in him both the Son and Spirit,
who would not seek the mysteries found in his name?
If that Word begotten of you unites with him,
who would not call him emperor of height and depth?
If in him you showed your sweetness to the angels,
who would not take refuge in his Body and Blood?
If in him you have brought to rest your Providence,
who would not labor for him without weariness?
If through him you judge the earth when time has ended,
who would not fear the trial that is in his hands?
If in him you reward the good and scourge the bad,
who would not beg him to be advocate for him?
If he has power over this world and that to come,
who would not know he is alone the Son of God?
Second Madrasha/Meditation
Your servants knock upon your door, who wills our life,
open to us, that we receive alms like the poor.
B-tar’a d-rahmukh k-tarpy ‘awdukh ya ba’ayan,
Pthokh lan d’awrukh, w-shaqlukh zidqa mikh miskene.
Poor and lacking is our weak race of all good things:
sustain this thing with a small crumb of your great Gift.
He is too weak to gather his daily succor,
he cannot work the land in strength
without your Strength.
His work is filled with great fear, much as he works,
and there is no security for sustenance.
Suffering and grief meet his toil summer and winter,
all perils are constant for him –
and for his own.
Much is his work, and little that returned to him;
great is his weariness, and weak,
his sustenance.
He plants so much, but he harvests little of it
beaten and crushed, before he breathes,
death swallows him.
Second Qiryana/Reading
In fear he plants, and in alarm gathers his crops,
his heart does not rely on plant or gathering.
He casts his wheat, that it may returned and feed him;
he is distressed, lest he perish and lose his life.
He works his land and thinks it may fail to produce;
he walks the path, and Death sits and awaits for him.
As mothers wait, so he waits until his harvest,
the whips of Death strike at his mind at every hour.
He fights a fight of sufferings at every hour,
there is no end to the assault of his desires.
A great assault is posed at all times against him,
and if he sleeps, temptations come and plunder him.
The wretched one is cast before two sad ordeals:
the scourgings of desire and his sustenance.
As leather cords, he is beaten by his passions,
there is no place in him not filled with temptation.
He suffers for his life and for his laboring,
there is no time when he does not rest bitterly.
If the sun burns, his mind burns in desperate worry,
if the rain stops, his thoughts dry up, wilt with his plants.
If heat has gained the upper hand, he dies of thirst;
if cold attacks, he is consumed by frost and snow.
If he is poor, he is sad, begets complaining;
if he is rich, he puts on pride and arrogance.
If he is good, he looks down on the human race;
and if he sins, he is made weak and gives up hope.
If he is wise, he forgets the clay within him;
and if he prides, he is a beast without a mind.
In great and in small, his sufferings increase and grow,
and what can he do, where escape, with a brief life?
He is between neediness and bad excesses,
how can it be for him to keep his life in peace?
So difficult it is for mankind to live well,
and righteousness is not made easy for the flesh.
Flesh – he is flesh, much as he desires spirit,
though that desire is not his, but an Other One’s.
An Other dwells in him, as in temple of clay,
though in his life, he blossoms quickly, then decays.
He is all death, though he has a portion of life,
and even this life is so small, weighed with his pains.
So if the living that is in him so small,
how can he live a life without his corruption?
Third Madrasha/Meditation
May your mercies come to the aid of our weak race,
for its life’s strength is burned away in suffering.
Athay rahmukh, Mar-y, l-‘one d-ginsan mhyla,
R-peli w-shpilli kheyleh b-sharri d-darqul hash-sheh.
Stretch out your hand to athlete of desperate heart,
for he admits that he cannot enter the match.
Cry out and save, give heart to the mortal warrior,
for his hands are too weak themselves to hit the mark.
Command the intellectual beings to come help him,
for his hand falls short of grasping a straw of truth.
Call forth the heavenly legions to assist him,
before he falls and becomes a joke to all his foes.
Write and send him an letter of your Name above,
that he may be strengthened to carry through his pain.
Lift up your hand in writing of his life’s salvation,
and sufferings and demons will not look at him.
Third Qiryana/Reading
Rebuke the ranks of warriors who threaten him,
and lo, they will fall in dismay by your command.
Send one to watch, like the time of the Assyrian,
and lo, the powers who threaten him will fall away.
Send your command, as Isaiah to Ezekiel,
instead of figs, let it place mercy on our wounds.
Let us all hear what was heard unto the prophet,
“Instead of life, behold, I grant you forgiveness.”
Yes, Lord, return us to health of body and soul,
lest we be torn apart by wounds of our disgrace.
Come search for us, like the parable you told us;
let us enter within the flock of spiritual life.
Brighten your Face, seek our straying in mercy,
lest our beauty, stamped in your Name, may decompose.
Rejoice in us, like the younger son you told us,
explain to us, the voice of hope in his story.
With the deceitful one, we worked and lost our pay,
and have lived wickedly on swine-pods of desire.
We angered you (though, in fact, you are never angered);
we are unfit to call ourselves sons of your Name.
Let us become as hired hands to serve your house;
let us receive the crumbs that fall from your table.
If possible, fulfill now the story’s meaning,
and bring to light the symbol you wrote for our sake.
Tell us, your sons, “From death, you have returned to life,
and from the depths of ignorance, have turned to me.”
Let your pity clothe us with a robe of glory,
and place a pledge of life on our hand, like a ring.
Prepare for us the Sacrifice of Christ your Son,
in eating it, let us ban death from our body.
And if there is one who envies our repentance,
you pacify his bitterness with your sweetness.
Call those above and gladden them when we repent,
that those once saddened by our sins may now rejoice.
Please those who were angered because of our malice,
and turn them to the service of the needs of man.
Fourth Madrasha/Meditation
Do not, O Lord, turn from the pleading of our race,
lest our hope in you be weakened by our despair.
Mar-y, la maslit ba’utha d-miskenuthan,
D-laykun rapi tiklonan biqta’ta d-imud.
Do not, O Lord, turn your face from us your wrath,
lest demons who rebel mock us, as is their way.
Do not, O Lord, cast us from you, like the evil,
lest the evil be lifted up in our decay.
Be not, O Lord, unmerciful, you are Mercy,
(forgive me, Lord! You cannot be unmerciful.)
Let not the Name of your Greatness
be hurt by us,
(it never can, were we to sin
a million times!)
Be not, O Lord, lacking in help and treasury,
(oh, what I said of your Essence is such a lie!)
Be not, O Lord, a sojourner in creation,
nor like a guest who walks among what is not his.
Fourth Qiryana/Reading
Be not, O Lord, like sons of men, for you are God,
and not like man, who cannot save, for you save us.
And if our sins have prevailed more than all ages,
may you forgive due to your Name on which we call.
If our vices have made the air an ugly hue,
may you not show an angry face unfit for you.
If our evil has withheld us in our malice,
change not, O Lord, your gracious Name, which changes not.
You are all Good, you are all Just, and hate evil;
neither can your Goodness nor your Justice be weighed.
No one can know how to call your Name with fairness;
all names are small before the greatness of your Name.
If we say “Kind,” your Justice thunders on the earth;
If we say “Just,” heaven and earth fill with mercies.
If “Hidden,” then your works are unveiled before us;
but if “Unveiled,” none among us can see your Face.
If we say “Hearing,” you hear us before we call,
“Forgiving One,” your Love precedes us and our sins.
We cannot know how to pray nor how to praise you;
we fear to speak words that may be unfit for you.
How can we pray to one who has no need of us?
And how can we praise him who is eternally?
If he is praised, does he then increase in glory?
And if he does, is he made perfect by our praise?
If one blasphemes, does this detract from his glory?
If he is hallowed, does he gain it through our mouths?
If angered, was the shame of man hidden from him?
And if appeased, did we show him how to forgive?
If he sees something in remorse after a time,
did time stop him from knowing what he did not know?
If he did not know (blasphemy to even say it),
how could he gain knowledge of his handiwork?
No, earthly ones, do not think as with earthly things;
there is nothing in Existence lacking in him.
All creatures’ name is a preaching of his Essence,
and as he is, his knowledge is all within him.
He is before all else, and he is what he is,
and there is nothing lacking him, in all of time.
Thus should a product think of its own Maker;
thus is it right for all mankind to repay him:
We owe a debt of love to him who made us all,
come, let us try to pay a small part of so much.
He does not need our repayment, like one needy,
he makes pretexts that we may be enriched by him.
He has a treasure, life unending, in himself;
he longs to give of it to his adopted sons.
He called us sons through the inheritance of Jesus,
because of this, he disciplines us lovingly.
Let us therefore endure the chastisements of God,
and never become weary of hunger and pain.
If the name “sons” truly does apply unto us,
let us be sure our discipline is for our good.
Let us accept our pains without discouragement,
and let us face life’s struggles without murmoring.
For this alone do we ask of him when troubled:
do not, O Lord, repay according to our deeds.
Like Jesse’s son, let us plead for our wickedness,
and like him, move to the promise of penitence.
Fifth Madrasha/Meditation
Yes, Lord, tell us that word you told unto David,
and let us turn to penitence, the way he did.
En, Mar, nishwe, l-hay bath qala, dalwath Dawydh.
W-nipne l-dar-gha, d-shuqan ‘awla, bdumya dyleh.
Yes, Lord, let pass the faults of your servants, like his,
and let us hear the voice of forgiveness, like him.
David was just, but the evil one entrapped him;
but he turned back and blotted out sin from his heart.
So if confession blots out evil things and writes good,
then there is hope for the evil to become good.
You who forgave both adultery and the murder,
forgive our crimes, great as they are, as you see fit.
It was you who forgave David that lawless crime:
forgive now also all our sins against your Love.
It was you who loosed the judgment fit for a murder,
stop now also the tortures fit for our injustice.
Fifth Qiryana/Reading
You always mixed mercy with wrath in every age,
and gave no room for those who look down and despise.
You are the One who parceled your Love to just ones;
made them worthy to plead, although you need it not.
In your Love, you forgave our faults from the beginning,
and gave reward to all the just in graciousness.
Due to the just, you forgave our fathers’ malice,
lo, you forgave before they spoke and turned to you.
You cast out Justice, that mankind may plead to you,
that when they plead, they may know that sin can be fought.
When Moses prayed, you forgave the sin of the calf,
and told him, ‘Lo, I have forgiven as you asked.’
Joshua prayed, and you stopped both the sun and moon,
and wrote in the Scriptures that ‘Their course was forestalled.’
Samuel prayed, and you answered him in thunder,
and you replied to him through all the rain that came.
King David prayed; he saw the angel would destroy;
the angel stood in awe of him, as if of you.
Elijah called, and you bid the winds to rain down,
and you aroused the people whom his words had bound.
Elisha called, and by his hands you raised the dead,
and you counted his prophecy defeat of death.
Ezekiel called, and you took down the Assyrians,
and as this was, he would defeat the angel’s wrath.
And by your strength, Daniel also showed hidden things,
and Babylon wove him a crown of praise for it.
In every age, the just prayed and you responded;
in our age that has no just one, persuade yourself.
Your Kindness can persuade you more than all the just,
your mercy cannot be compared to that on earth.
Your own Love called all the just ones to persuade you,
now, without them, send us your Love without the just.
Yours are persuasion and the words of those who plead,
whom would you load with your own grace to your own sons?
May Goodness be yours entirely (it indeed is),
so grant us all that you gave us when time began.
Who asked you to create the world when it was not?
And who advised you to bind all things within man?
Who was the one who told you to name your image?
And who showed you how to complete your work in us?
So if in all existence, you needed no help,
what help need you regarding sin, a lousy gnat?
Our wickedness is a gnat before your Greatness;
it is a cup if placed beside your Mercy’s sea.
Your Mercy is a sea, and greater than a sea,
and height and depth are small compared to its greatness.
‘Your Pity is great:’ thus do cry earth and heaven;
when they were not, you spoke and they both came to be.
You made all things from nothing for the sake of man;
how could you turn away from us in times of wrath?
And, what is best, beyond measure by all creatures:
you clothed us all in your own love, and raised us up.
Our own Body, in glory, sits at your right hand,
and may it not be put to shame by wickedness.
Be it hallowed at your right hand in all honor,
for you have raised it to the Name, Divinity.
Sixth Madrasha/Meditation
O Lord, open the door to all of our pleading
which we offer to you in prayer, and have mercy.
Maran, b-rahmukh p-thokh lih tar’a l-ba’uth kullan,
Dib-nonetha k-maqir-wukh lukh, w-rahim illan.
Our prayer be a thurible of penitence,
in which your love may be pleased and be made content.
May our pleading come before you, Lover of mankind,
answer the pleas of your servants in your mercies.
O Lover of mankind, who loves the life of men,
visit creation with the sign of graciousness.
Forgiver of the faults of all the penitent,
forgive our sins, erase our debts, and have mercy.
O Pitying One, pity us, as is your way,
erase the list of all our sins, before it grows.
Scour all our filth, bandage all our scars, and heal us,
let us fulfill the law of Love, and have mercy.
Blessings
(At the end of Mass)
By your prayer, may the Lord grant over all the earth,
En, Mar! [Yes, Lord!] [kneel]
tranquil peace and calm serenity, by your prayer.
Amen. [stand]
By your prayer, may kings in all lands and places,
live in love and in unity, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Church saved by your living Blood,
raise her head above all danger, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Patriarch, our shepherd,
tend his flock with great diligence, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord support our bishop,
Mar ________, our good father, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the shepherds in every land
be adorned with every charism, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the priests who serve the Mysteries
have every blessing and favor, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may deacons who serve the altar
have every aid granted to them, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord instruct religious,
by the study of the Scriptures, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may this parish be protected
from all harm and all wickedness, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord help all our leaders,
our pastors and all our elders, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord help all the faithful,
that they may live in righteousness, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord grant every blessing
to all husbands and wives greatly, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may he bless orphans and widows,
and provide for and enrich them, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord comfort the mourning,
and have pity on the needy, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord instruct and discipline
children, that in him they be saved, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord save all the tempted,
and free them from the yoke of sin, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may there be rescue for captives,
and release for all in prison, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may those who bear pain and suffering
be inspired by the Lord’s cross, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may those who travel on earth and seas
be guided to the path of peace, by your prayer.
By your prayer, the Lord’s right hand rest upon you,
and the mercies of Lord Jesus, by your prayer.
By your prayer, be glory to the Lord Jesus,
and thanks to the Power who sent him, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the one who says these blessings,
and its author be made worthy, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may the Lord make all his blessings flow,
and cast his mercies upon us, by your prayer.
By your prayer, may we all repent and sing praise,
to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, forever.
| Lord, have mercy on us, Lord, accept our supplication, Lord, be pleased with your servants. | Maran, ithraham ‘layn, Maran, qabbil ba’uthan. Maran, ith-ra’a l-‘awdayk. |
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