Ash Wednesday Litany

Let us clothe ourselves in sackcloth and ashes, and let us fast and weep before the Lord, for our God is very merciful, and will forgive our sins:

Hear, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

Let the servants of the Lord weep before the altar and say, “Spare, Lord, spare your people, and do not put to shame the lips that praise you.”

Hear, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

Let us amend the sins which we have ignorantly committed, that we do not receive God’s grace in vain, but know this as the time of God’s favor and the day of salvation.

Hear, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

Help us, God of our salvation, and for the glory of your name deliver us, Lord.

Hear, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

Remember, mortal, that you are dust, and to dust you will return:

Hear, Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against you.

Source: Roman Missal, i. 48; cf. Sarum Manual, 134. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Reference to 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 added.