Qolo from Ramsho of Tuesday

So I've gotten a long enough respite today to translate the second Qolo from the Ramsho of Tuesday. It is a beautiful praise to God and plea to God for mercy on judgment - which is, again as I've said many times before, a very common element of Syro-Maronite liturgy.

Qolo

Lord, I called to You – answer me. Give heed to my words and accept them.

May our incense be acceptable before You, our Savior. May Your Lordship be pleased by it as You are wont regarding us sinners who confess that we offended You, who weaves mercy. Accept our incense.

My prayer is like incense before You; an offering of my hands like an offering of the evening. Establish, Lord, a guard at my mouth and a guard at my lips so that my heart will not turn to the evil word and doing iniquitous deeds.

Aaron purely took incense in his hand, went out against the watcher and restrained his sword. By the pleasing incense which is offered by Your worshippers may Your will, Lord, be appeased and forgive our debts.

I shall not eat salt with ungodly men.  May the righteous cast me down and rebuke me. The oil of the ungodly will not anoint my head.

Lord, I called to You and Your goodness answered me. May our prayer be like pleasing incense before You. As the offering of Elijah was accepted, accept, Lord, our service before Your greatness.

For my prayer is against their evilness. Their judges were restrained by the hand of stone and they heard my pleasing words.

God, whose door is open to penitents and answers those who knock on it with faith, incline Your ear to the petition of Your worshippers. Accept, in Your mercy, our service and our prayers.

Like a ploughshare breaks open the land, their bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol. I have lifted up my eyes to You, Lord, and I have placed my confidence in You. Do not cast out my soul.

Jonah called to You from within the sea and You answered Him, as with the House of Ananias in the furnace and You delivered them. All of creation calls to You, Compassionate One; forgive her and have mercy upon her like You are wont.

Guard me from the hand of the vainglorious who have hid snares for me. The iniquitous will fall together into their nets while I pass by.

To You the afflicted call, Compassionate One, and in You the distressed take refuge, Lover of Men. Be a guardian to the lives, through Your cross, of those who look to You and deliver them from the Evil One.

With my voice I called out to the Lord and with my voice I supplicated to the Lord. I have placed before Him my supplications and my tribulation before Him I have shown. When my spirit was afflicted, You knew my paths.

In Your image and likeness You created me, Compassionate One. Do not permit me to fall and perish in Gehenna. Lo! I cry out, “Remember me, Son of the Good One. May Your mercy be moved concerning me. Forgive my debts.”

In the way of my footsteps they have hid snares. I looked to the right and saw and there was no one to instruct me. I lost a house of refuge and there was no avenger for my soul. I cried out to You, Lord and said, “You are my hope and my portion in the land of the living.”

Good One who gave the wage in the evening to the diligent and who made those worthy who came at the 11^th hour, grant us, Lord, confidence in the resurrection so that with the first and the last we may sing glory.

Heed my petition for I have been humbled very much.  Deliver me from my perseuctors for they prevail over me. Rescue my soul from prison for I shall profess Your name. Your righteous ones will surround me while You requite me.

Have mercy on me, God, in that hour, when the good are separated from the evil before Your greatness, in which there is the terrible judgment and exaction, and every man stands with his deeds and acts.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn and have been firm that I will keep the judgments of Your righteousness. I have been humbled greatly. Lord, give me life according to Your word. Be pleased in the words of my mouth and teach me Your judgments.

Limpid God and Lover of the limpid, grant us, Lord, limpidness of heart at all moments. Cause vain thoughts to pass away from us, and all ideas that disturb the soul and body.

My soul is in Your hands at all times and I have not strayed from Your law. Sinners have placed snares for me and I have not turn from Your commandments. I have inherited Your witness for eternity for it is the delight of my heart. I have turned my heart to do Your commandments in truth for eternity.

Let not, Lord, our debts and sins be plaintiffs against us before Your throne, King Messiah, but may our debts and sins be forgiven by the abundant sea that is Your compassion, Lover of Men.

Glorify the Lord, all you peoples. Glorify Him, all you nations, for His goodness has prevailed upon us. Truly, the Lord is to eternity!

Mary was like a sealed letter. They read her while the seals upon her were unbroken. In her was the hope, life and salvation of Adam, who transgressed the commandment, and all his children.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, from now until eternity. Amen.

Permit us, Lord, on that day, on which You dawn, to behold the martyrs who were slain for Your sake. In their wings may we take shelter from the judgment which is prepared for the Adversary and the infidels.

Grant rest to the departed believers and to You be glory, Lord.

Grant, Lord, rest, life and delight to the departed who ate Your body and drank Your blood. May they see Your compassion in the house of judgment when You will come, and may they stand on the right hand of Your divinity.

The one verse I would like to point to is "Good One who gave the wage in the evening..." as it reflects a common but very hopeful truth about Syriac theology (which I've mentioned many times). In the other verses the destruction of Gehenna is mentioned directly (or alluded to) - an absolute desolation of an individual as punishment for their evil. However, this absolute destruction is given only to those who invest themselves absolutely in their evil. As the Marian [third to last] verse states, God granted Adam, who transgressed the commandment, hope, life and salvation, despite his wrongdoing and disobedience. Because Adam was repentant, and God's "door is open to penitents and [He] answers those who knock on it with faith" (typified by the entirety of the Incarnation), Adam was restored. In the same way God rewards the laborer who comes at the beginning of the work day and the 11th (or last) hour equally. One's conversion time is not important, so long as it occurs in sincerity and faith. God does not graduate the amount of reward between those who come first and those who come last, but rather rewards them as He will because His reward is His to give as the Judge of All (Matthew 20:1-16). It is best, on our own part, to convert sooner than later - but that in itself does not make us first before those who convert later. The sooner we convert, the sooner we can render due glory to God - however, envy of those who come after us because they are rewarded the same for "less work" is an indication that true conversion has not occurred in us.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!