Monday in Holy Week
Monday in Holy Week
Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we (I) , walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we (I) , walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
Monday | 51:1-18(19-20) | v | 69:1-23 |
Jer. 12:1-16 | Phil. 3:1-14 | John 12:9-19 |
Anyone who is of a mind to keep Holy Week spiritually day by day will find it readily available and easy using the Book of Common Prayer. A suitable devotional prayer, the collect for each day, is found at pages 220-221, and the lessons for each day of Holy Week are found in the Daily Office Lectionary at page 956, copied above. The top line names the psalms for the day, on the left is the psalm for morning, on the right the psalm for evening.
The collects are meant for use in corporate worship, but simply change “we” to “I” and pray on. The petition of the prayer is that we may be led to find the way of the cross to be the way of life. This past Saturday evening I officiated a lovely wedding at First Presbyterian Church, a magnificent church where I've officiated several weddings over the years. In a couple of weeks Linda and I will drive to Raleigh, North Carolina where I will officiate another wedding. For both, and for every wedding, indeed for life itself, Christian theology is at its finest expression in the prayer that the officiant says at the very end in the blessing of the marriage. I offered this prayer for Melanie and Jonathan last Saturday. On Saturday, May 7th I shall pray it again for Lauren and Daniel.
If we can change “we” to “I” in the collect to make it fit ourselves, we can adjust this most holy prayer also as needs be to make it personal to our own situation. Let anyone who wishes to claim it change it as you will and make it a personal prayer for a special blessing this morning, whoever, wherever, or whatever you may be in life.
Most gracious God, we give you thanks for your tender love
in sending Jesus Christ to come among us, to be born of a
human mother, and to make the way of the cross to be the
way of life. We thank you, also, for consecrating the union of
man and woman in his Name. By the power of your Holy
Spirit, your out the abundance of your blessing upon this
man and this woman. Defend them from every enemy. Lead
them into all peace. Let their love for each other be a seal
upon their hearts, a mantle about their shoulders, and a
crown upon their foreheads. Bless them in their work and in
their companionship; in their sleeping and in their waking; in
their joys and in their sorrows; in their life and in their death.
Finally, in your mercy, bring them to that table where your
saints feast for ever in your heavenly home; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and
reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
in sending Jesus Christ to come among us, to be born of a
human mother, and to make the way of the cross to be the
way of life. We thank you, also, for consecrating the union of
man and woman in his Name. By the power of your Holy
Spirit, your out the abundance of your blessing upon this
man and this woman. Defend them from every enemy. Lead
them into all peace. Let their love for each other be a seal
upon their hearts, a mantle about their shoulders, and a
crown upon their foreheads. Bless them in their work and in
their companionship; in their sleeping and in their waking; in
their joys and in their sorrows; in their life and in their death.
Finally, in your mercy, bring them to that table where your
saints feast for ever in your heavenly home; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and
reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
TW+