Lent Prose
Attende Domine – Hear us, O Lord
Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinned against thee.
To thee, Redeemer, on thy throne of glory:
lift we our weeping eyes in holy pleadings:
listen, O Jesu, to our supplications.
Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinned against thee.
O thou chief cornerstone, right hand of the Father: way of salvation, gate of life celestial:
cleanse thou our sinful souls from all defilement.
Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinned against thee.
God, we implore thee, in thy glory seated:
bow down and hearken to thy weeping children: pity and pardon all our grievous trespasses.
Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinned against thee.
Sins oft committed, now we lay before thee:
with true contrition, now no more we veil them:
grant us, Redeemer, loving absolution.
Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinned against thee.
Innocent captive, taken unresisting:
falsely accused, and for us sinners sentenced,
save us, we pray thee, Jesu, our Redeemer.
Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinned against thee.
The Lent Prose as it is called in English is a plainsong responsory known in Latin by the first words, Attende Domine, ‘Hear us, O Lord’. Originally derived from the Mozarabic liturgy (Christians living under Arabic rule in Medieval Spain), it appears in the Liber Usualis and was translated into English and is found in the English Hymnal (1906) as adapted by W.J. Birkbeck. It serves to deepen our penitential adoration especially as we enter into Passiontide.