The great thanksgiving of the Church, sung when something has gone right.
An ancient hymn of praise sung at the end of the Office of Readings on Sundays and feasts, and at any public thanksgiving.
When: On the last night of the year, at the end of a council, after a deliverance, or on any day a household knows it has been carried.
Why: Gratitude that is only felt evaporates. This is gratitude given words the whole Church already agrees on, so it survives the mood that produced it.
We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee. The noble army of Martyrs praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father. We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood. Make them to be numbered with thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people and bless thine heritage. Govern them and lift them up for ever. Day by day we magnify thee, and we worship thy Name, ever world without end.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.