Holy Saturday is the second day of the Divine Mercy Novena, Rosary Glorious Mysteries (with Scripture), Novena in preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday, Reflection for Divine Mercy Sunday (2022), Reflection for Divine Mercy Sunday (2021), Reflection for Divine Mercy Sunday (2020), Reflection for the Ascension of the Lord (2021), Reflection for the Ascension of the Lord (2020). Teach us to call your nameAs Jesus did.Make us to trust in you like little children.In Jesus name, Matthew 17:1-6; Lamentations 3:1-9, Lamentations 3:19-24. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Lord God,You loved this world so much,That you gave your one and only Son,That we might be called your children too. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. Allow your power to be manifest through our own weakness, so that others will recognize it is You who is at work on our behalf. We can talk and reconcile with God through sacrament and prayers and reflect on what we have done. TWO PRAYERS OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. Such a beautiful reflection of keeping this Time holy and true. Then the week intensifies with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy (or Black) Saturday, and finally, Resurrection SundayEaster! Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. Thank you for acknowledging those of us at work or on a busy schedule that does not allow us space to reflect and pray more deeply this holiest of weeks. Start your retreat this Sunday (Feb. 19) to follow, Vinita Hampton Wright edited books for 32 years, retiring in 2021. In Jesus name, Amen. Want to Go Deeper in Your Prayers? I kneel beneath your cross and beg for mercy. Amen. O Christ, Son of God, for our sake you fasted forty days and allowed yourself to be tempted. What Lent and Why is it Celebrated?What is the Holy Week? You have borne our sin and made the ultimate sacrifice to save us. Prayers for Lent to Focus on Grace and Mercy This Lenten Season, The Serenity Prayer: Bible Meaning and Use Today, Top 5 Daily Prayer Devotionals to Guide Your Faith Each Day. This week especially, we can use our time meditating on Jesus Passion for growing in patience and anticipating the joy of resurrection with hope that lingers while suffering. We always think of Lent as the most appropriate time to meditate about Jesus Passion, but we seldom give it much thought throughout the rest of the liturgical calendar. Yet, you only desired good things for us. Jesus conquered sin and death and rose to life eternal. WEDNESDAY DEVOTION: PRAYERS TO ST. JOSEPH. Give me grace and mercy as I try and fail, guidance when Im not sure which way to go, and wisdom to trust you in all things. It is only in Christ Jesus that we can boast.In his name, we ask you to help our unbelief.That we may love you, and walk in the way Jesus taught us.In his name. Reflection Questions Easter can be a time of renewed commitment to our Heavenly Father. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Prayer of Abandonment. Here are some easy prayers you can say to feel connected to God during Lent this year: Hallow offers Minute Meditationsshort, simple prayers that can help build your Lenten prayer habit in just a few minutes each day. InThe Characters of Easter, youll become acquainted with the unlikely collection of ordinary people who witnessed the miracle of Christs death and resurrection. May you have a very blessed Holy Week! Stretch forth the right hand of your majesty and be our sure defense; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Romans 12:2 Heavenly Father, I pray that as we gather for a divine purpose, we do not be conformed to this world. May I seek you evermore as I walk with you through this Holy Week and beyond. Last fall I made plans to be on vacation tour of Portugal with my husband and adult son without realizing Id be away during Holy Week. Amen. Beliefnet is a lifestyle website providing feature editorial content around the topics of inspiration, spirituality, health, wellness, love and family, news and entertainment. You came to offer us light and life, a hope in you that surpasses anything the world can offer. You are holy and just. The Bible does not specifically mention Lent. Shes authored four encouraging, unsettling books including Running from a Crazy Man and The Art of Hard Conversations. Based on the book of the same name, the online retreat invites you to practice being a spiritual athlete. All rights reserved. Theres one for each day, beginning with Palm Sunday, and each of them is based on one of the traditional Scripture readings given on that day in church lectionaries. Let us put ourselves in the presence of the Lord so that someday we will be able to enter His Kingdom. You can also use the Hallow app and pray the Stations of the Cross at home. Read about this day in these passages: Matthew 27:62-66, Mark 16:1, Luke 23:56, and John 19:40. We praise You and honor You in silence and in peace. Holy Week reflections download all five, Easter Week reflections download all five. Stations of the Cross. Good Friday is the first day of the Divine Mercy Novena, A Chaplet for the Mercy to Forgive Another, Novena in preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday Holy week prayer is a practice Christians find helpful to focus our thoughts and prepare our hearts during the time we mark the most pivotal events of our faith. Week of Ash Wednesday. How Is Harry Potter a Literary Christ Figure? There are moments. Give us strength, we pray,To walk faithfully with Jesus,Even when the road we walk is rockyEven when the message of the cross seems like foolishnessAnd even when we feel betrayed. Lent Reflections. O Heavenly and Almighty Father, who sent his only Son Jesus to live and die as one of us, save me. He is risen! These meetings are not about us because Father, You are in us; therefore we ask that You will be at the center. Ignite Your Prayers with 16 Ways to Pray! 10 Holy Week activities to make yourEaster more joyful. Holy Week also features Holy Thursday and the Easter Vigil, two liturgies that are unique and beautiful. It involves the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. Thank you for those suggestions. . As we meet together help us to reflect and remember that we must give to the poor because our treasure is not here, but it is in heaven. Happy Easter! We are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house. And help me live the life you desire of me, bringing glory to you in all that I do. And finally, fasting is also a way of participating, in a small way, in the sufferings of Christ and can be particularly powerful when accompanied by prayer and confession. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. I pray we too adopt this reflective mindset so that we can complete Your works, Amen. Mass Reading Options. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Faithful God, I pray that we examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. Easter prayers. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. Related:Holy Week ScripturesWhat Is Ash Wednesday?Easter Bible VersesPalm Sunday Scriptures and Bible Verses, Photo credit: GettyImages/Tinnakorn Jorruang. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35 NIV). We may be fortunate to have an employer who gives us Good Friday as a day off. Pray with us. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. And what to give up for Lent is a personal choice. 7 Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh? Finding God in the Midst of the Storm. We may back away, and we may even turn to the world instead of . I pray that during this meeting, You stir up an attitude of self-correction within me, Amen. In His Name, we pray, Amen. These are prayers Ive written based on the daily Scripture readings in the Lectionary. God, may Your light guide my day, and your spirit bring me peace. Its not that Ive got any spectacular vacation plans. He knows our past lives, our current thoughts, motives and actions, and our destiny. In Jesus name, we pray. John Henry Hanson, O. Praem. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. Join our 'Prayers and Possibilities' newsletter for weekly encouragement and I'll send you a printable of these Holy Week prayers as a FREE gift. For many of us, this comes as a welcome relief. Im soul-weary after months of winter and darkness and stress. A prayer for the Marquette community during COVID-19. 40 Days at the Foot of the Cross. Where Have We Not Yet Surrendered Our Lives to God? Amen." Morning:Father God,we cant begin to understand the mystery of this day when Jesus body lay in the tomb and the disciples waited together in wonder and in prayer. 12 Promises of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray also that we consider what we achieve during our meetings and question how in line we are with Your will. We ask that you would trade the ashes of our lives for the beauty of your Presence. John 18:1-40, John 19:1-42; Isaiah 52:13-15; Isaiah 53:1-12; Hebrews 10:16-25; Psa 22. Readings for the Day; iPray with the Gospel by Fr. Some observers gawked, some respectfully gave way, some jeered. So do all the other actions we might take to help us let go of our own desires and align with Gods call for us. Its an important time to remember that the cross isnt simply a piece of jewelry we wear or an icon we embrace, but it was a beautiful agony undertaken by our God, who loved us so much He sent His only Son to die so that we might have eternal life. But perhaps this isnt such a bad way to enter Holy Week tired and unprepared, hungry for a new beginning, eager for the light to shine in the darkness. 12 SINS WHICH MUST BE CONFESSED FIRST BEFORE RECEIVING COMMUNION. Our prayers of petition add nothing to God: neither to His knowledge of us, nor to His love for us. Lent traditionally lasts forty days, modeled after Christ's forty-day fast in the desert, and ends on Good Friday. Copyright 2009-2023 Loyola Press. May we be like Him today as we serve those around us and live for You. Call the Daily Hope free phone line A Church Near You Find local services or events near you during Lent Search churches Most Catholics recognize Lent as a solemn period where we repent. Once again, your gospel tells us, Martha served,And Mary knelt at Jesus feetTo anoint them with costly perfume.The disciple who was about to betray himSaid that it was a waste. The primary event of Holy Monday recorded in all four gospels is Jesus clearing the temple and chastising the moneychangers. Evening: Father God, thank You that Jesus came humbly, riding on a donkey, proclaiming peace. Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, we pray for your great mercy, that you guide us towards you, for we cannot find our way. Amen. We intercede this morning for all who dont know You that they may hear the gospel and that their hearts would be fertile soil to receive the truth of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Listen to and reflect on each reading right from your phone. How can weakness be strength? Read about the events of this day in Matthew 26:1775, Mark 14:12-72, Luke 22:7-62, and John 13:1-38. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Hebrews 5:8-9 NIV). to, recite, On Holy Tuesday, Jesus and His followers traveled to the Mount of Olives where He delivered the Olivet Discourse, touching on the destruction of the temple and signs of the end of the age. A new command I give you: Love one another. As we prepare our souls to accept and surrender to the weight of His love before entering into the lighthearted celebration of the Easter season, it behooves us to pause each day with some degree of solemn appreciation for Him who was glorified by way of surrender and death. Daily Prayers during Lent, 2023: The First Four Days of Lent February 22-25 The First Week of Lent February 26 - March 4 The Second Week of Lent March 5-11 The Third Week of Lent March 12-18 The Fourth Week of Lent March 19-25 The Fifth Week of Lent March 26 - April 1 Holy Week: The First Four Days April 2-5 Holy Week: The Sacred Triduum April 6-8 Your photos of the paths remind me of your long-ago trip to England when you captured images of many paths, which you shared with us in Days of Deepening Friendships. Copyright All rights reserved. In 2023, the Church will use readings from Cycle I for weekday liturgies. Known as Via Crucis in Latin, this form of prayer commemorates the journey Jesus made to Calvary, and the various steps he made in that journey. Vinita, your reflections always provide me with much food for thought. Its just that my children and I will be off from school (Im a teacher), the days will grow longer and warmer, and the bulbs I planted in the garden last year will poke their green leaves out of the earth and blossom to the sun. I'm just an ordinary girl following an extraordinary God, learning to seek God's possible in this world of impossible. Ranks of automatic-weapon armed Israeli soldiers marched shoulder to shoulder through the lanes, forcing all to press against the side walls to let them pass. With all creation, we rejoice in You, in Your Son, and in Your Holy Spirit! This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Pray. Let us not be legalistic in doing good for Your kingdom. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Evening:Father God, tonight we are awed at the mystery of Christs death and all that He accomplished for us on the cross. After all, Lent includes (and prepares us for) some of the longest liturgies of the year. Lent is a popular time to reflect on these words. Heavenly Father, what great love you have for me that you would send your only begotten Son to die for my sins. III Project; Get the Ultimate Introduction to Philosophy. May we bring You honor and glory today with our thoughts, words, and actions. site will not then work. Short words of meditation then lead into a shared prayer, recited by all. What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. Prayers. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!, By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return., So submit yourselves to God. In modern times, Stations of the Cross often take place on Friday evenings during Lent. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Turn our eyes away from worthless things, and lead us to love you sincerely; through your mercy. George Boronat; Reflection by Fr. Lord God,We wait, on Friday, for the resurrection of SundayAnd sometimes our lives seem a succession of FridaysAnd we cannot see what is Good.. Such simple & inspiring guidance that can assist us in our prayer. We must also take this as an opportunity to reflect with God about ourselves. The Hallow app also offers daily Mass readings, morning prayers, daily reflections and more each day. The Stations of the Cross are a popular devotion during Lent. Theres no set number of prayers or even how you should pray. But fasting and almsgiving matter too. Today's Prayer: . Wed instead carry on in our comfortable lives than stretch ourselves until it hurts for the love of Him who was stretched on a Cross for us. He also knows what is about to play out. Seven prayers for Holy Week The events of Easter have meaning beyond our own personal lives. Today, as we recall your final hours, we consider a world without you and hold onto the hope we know we have in you. We praise the beautiful name of Jesus. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of Loyola Press is expressly prohibited. 1st Friday of the month: DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection is a healing gift to the whole of creation. "Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:14) Waiting is likely one of the most challenging aspects of the human condition. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Dont try to learn anything new or have a profound experience; simply read the story, asking God to help this story live in you better this year than it ever has before. Here are some easy prayers you can say to feel connected to God during Lent this year: "God, may Your light guide my day, and your spirit bring me peace. Vinita, your gentle guidance offers me abundant introspective, life-giving pauses that lead to moments that lead to spiritual bread. We can wait for God with courage and fidelity, regardless of how long He asks us to hold off on taking action. Sometimes the way has seemed too dark. A time to let His light shine upon you, and to walk the road alongside Him from His suffering to His resurrection. Short Lent prayers are an easy way to go from desiring to pray more during Lent to actually doing so. (Zechariah 9:9). Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to progress through this season of Lent, all of us are continuously reminded to make our lives and actions to be truly good and worthy of God, and we are reminded today to show compassion and mercy on others, just as the Lord Himself has shown to all of us whenever we disobeyed, rebelled and sinned . Almighty God, grant that we who deserve to be afflicted for our evil deeds may mercifully be relieved by the comfort of your grace; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. I ask that you bless them abundantly today and throughout Lent. Join us in prayer throughout the season of Easter. All is God. Maybe theres a soup recipe from Great-Grandma, or a certain homemade bread that sets the tone by sending fragrance through the house. Pray. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Since man does not live by bread alone, nourish our souls with the heavenly food of your Word; through your mercy, O our God, you are blessed and live and govern all things, now and forever. Tuesday of Holy Week - John 13:30. Here are eight prayers to take you and me through Holy Week. Fasting is a way of denying ourselves the excesses and distractions of life so that we might be more aware of the Lord's voice. As I come before you to eat the bread of redemption and drink the cup of your salvation, may I recommit my heart to serving you and leading through love. A great starting point for drawing closer to God and improving our prayer life during Lent is simply the desire to improve our prayer life during Lent. With so many demands on our time and attention, opening and closing each day of Holy Week with prayer can quiet our hearts. May they find peace in You as we have, in Jesus name. Holy Week is the most sacred time in the Church's liturgical calendar, entirely focused on Jesus' Passion, death, and resurrection. In the stillness, may we sense Your presence and know You are near. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. This morning we confess our need for you and bring all our cares and concerns before Your throne. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. That they can be home based. In Jesus name, Amen. You promised salvation through the Messiah and today we remember that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of our promised Redeemer. Joseph, This post is based on Week One of An Ignatian Prayer Adventure. I pray that during our meetings we first learn to question ourselves before we criticize others. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:7-8 NIV). Let Hallow guide you through common questions or misconceptions about Lent prayers so you can have no doubts about getting started in deepening your prayer life.