Opening Prayer I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you see my affliction and know the anguish of my soul. -Psalm 31:7 (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good. Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! -Psalm 38: 17-22 (Free expression of praise and thanksgiving to God) Confession of Sin Truly I have sinned against you, the Lord, the God of Israel. -Joshua 7:20 (Time of silence for confession of sin) The Words of Jesus After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. -John 19:38-42 (Think deeply on these life-giving words of Jesus) Prayers for Ourselves and Others So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. -Acts 12:5 (Time to bring before God our own needs and the needs of others) Closing Prayer Lord, help us to see in your crucifixion and resurrection an example of how to endure and seemingly to die in the agony and conflict of daily life, so that we may live more fully and creatively. You accepted patiently and humbly the rebuffs of human life, as well as the torture of the cross. Help us to accept the pains and conflicts that come to us each day as opportunity to grow as people and become more like you and help us realize that it is only by frequent deaths of ourselves, and our self-centered desires that we can come to live more fully, only by dying with you that we can rise with you. -Mother Teresa (1919-1997) |