Opening Prayer
Let me hold fast to You, beautiful Lord, whom the angels themselves yearn to look upon. Wherever You go, I will follow You….You carry my grief, because You grieve for my sake. You passed through the narrow doorway from death to life, to make it wide enough for all to follow. Nothing can ever now separate me from Your love. Amen -Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) (silent reflection) Prayer of the Bible There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. O God you have made everything beautiful in its time. You have also set eternity in human hearts. -Ecclesiastes 3:1,11 (Free expression of praise and thanksgiving to God) Confession of Sin Lord, I have heard of your fame, and I stand in awe of Your deeds. O Lord, revive Your works in our day; In our time make them known; In wrath remember mercy. -Habakkuk 3:2 (Time of silence for confession of sin) The Words of Jesus And while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. -Mark 14:3-6 (Think deeply on the life and words of Jesus) Prayers for Ourselves and Others God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. -Romans 1:9-10 (Time to bring before God our own needs and the needs of others) Closing Prayer O Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of your Eternal Father, You said with your most pure lips: Without me you can do nothing. O Lord, my Lord, with faith I embrace in my heart and soul the words you have spoken. Help me a sinner, to accomplish the task that I begin for your sake in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirt. Amen -Eastern Orthodox prayer |