Christian Prayer – A Collection of Prayers

Good Friday Litany

Lord, hear the prayers of your people,
and forgive our sins, for you are kind.

Lord, Creator of the world, you judge righteously, deliver us from evil by your Right Hand,
and forgive our sins, for you are kind.

By your Cross you purchased for yourself a people from the nations, graciously blot out the sins of all, O Christ,
and forgive our sins, for you are kind.

You called on the Father, and asked him to forgive. Forgive our debts, and loosen our bonds,
and forgive our sins, for you are kind.

You promised the rest of Paradise to the thief. Help the penitents who are bound,
and forgive our sins, for you are kind.

Mozarabic Breviary, 574. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Good Friday Response (2)

My enemies lie in wait for me without a cause.
Holy Father, have mercy and deliver me.

I was led as a lamb to the slaughter, caught by my enemies like a bird in a snare without a cause.
Holy Father, have mercy and deliver me.

Evil people opened their mouths against me, they gnashed their teeth, seeking to devour me. They hissed and shouted and shook their heads, bringing false witness against me without a cause.
Holy Father, have mercy and deliver me.

They condemned and nailed me to the cross with nails of iron. Judas sold me for thirty pieces of silver. They pierced my side with a spear, and there flowed out water with innocent blood without a cause.
Holy Father, have mercy and deliver me.

They surrounded me, even when I was buried in the tomb. They put a seal on the stone without a cause.
Holy Father, have mercy and deliver me.

Look, merciful Father, and help the wretched, for whom I suffer such bitter punishments without a cause.
Holy Father, have mercy and deliver me.

Source: Gallican Sacramentary, 842. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Good Friday Response

O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed! (Lamentations 1:9)

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

Sent from the Father, I came to seek the lost and to redeem with my blood those who were carried captive by the enemy. A cruel people rejected me.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

Foretold by the prophets, I was born of a virgin, I took on myself the nature of a servant to gather those who were scattered. The hunters took me.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

They rewarded me much evil for good. They devised wicked plans against me. They sold me for money.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

They put a crown of thorns on my head. They spit on me. They mocked my affliction.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

They hung me on the cross with evil thieves. They fed me with gall, and to punish me they gave me vinegar to drink.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

Those I came to deliver accused me. They beat me with scourges and crucified me. They pierced me with a spear.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

I was laid in the tomb. I broke the gates of hell. I brought out the captives and led them on high. I displayed them in triumph.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

Most merciful Father, forgive all their evil deeds. Blot out their sins and absolve the crimes of those who did not know what they were doing.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

You pardoned the crimes of the repentant thief. Loosen our chains and absolve our guilt. Save us by your cross.

Have mercy, righteous Father, and forgive us all.

Source: Mozarabic Manual, 354; cf. Gallican Sacramentary, 843. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

…And Forgive Us

We cry to you, Lord, have mercy on us,
and forgive us.

King of Heaven and eternal Lord, receive the prayer we pour out before you,
and forgive us.

Visit the sick, release the captives, help the widow and the orphan,
and forgive us.

We have sinned and have turned from you. Redeemer of all, save us,
and forgive us.

Have mercy on the penitent, and wash away the stains of sin,
and forgive us.

Source: Mozarabic Breviary, 166. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Litany of Repentance

Christ, pitying Redeemer of souls, listen to the sighing of those who mourn,
and have mercy.

Lord, hear to your Church, and grant forgiveness to all we pray for,
and have mercy.

Remember that we are but dust and will return again to the earth. Refashion us for good,
and have mercy.

Forgive the sinner, restore captives to their country, and answer the prayers of all,
and have mercy.

Forgive our guilt, forgive our sins, forgive the debts of all, to all grant pardon,
and have mercy.

Source: Mozarabic Breviary, 418, Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Ash Wednesday Collect

Lord Jesus Christ,
because of your love for humanity
you took on yourself the form of a servant,
although you are our Lord.
You walk like a wounded man,
although you are our Physician.
Raise us from our falls,
enlighten our blindness,
and loosen the chains of sins that have bound us;
you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.

Source: Leofric Missal, 182, shortened. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Litany Prayer for Ash Wednesday 2

Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Our Father…

Together let us pray to the Most High, that he would mercifully grant peace in our days. Amen.

That he would add deeds of love to our faith and hope. Amen.

That we may be received into the company of those above. Amen.

Source: Roman Missal, i. 161. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

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.

Litany Prayer for Ash Wednesday 1

Pleasant is this present life, and it passes;
Christ, your Judgment is awesome, and it prevails.
Therefore let us forsake uncertain love, and think of your infinite holiness, crying:
Lord, have mercy on us.

“Come, and return to me,” says the Lord.
Come, let us explore and examine our ways. Let us return to the Lord and say:
You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Source: Ambrosian Manual, ii. 119, 120, shortened. Freely modified from Devotions from Ancient and Medieval Sources (Western), ed. Rev. Charles Plummer, 1916.

Reference to Lamentations 3:40 added.

Thoughts on the Prayers of the Faithful

WordPress lets me know when other blogs share links to A Collection of Prayers, and I’m always interested in how ACOP’s material is being used or quoted. Monsignor Charles Pope recently wrote an article, “Improving the Prayer of the Faithful,” and he referenced ACOP’s “The Litany of Gelasius” as a good ancient model.

Pope quotes another article, lamenting the pitfalls of prayers written to be modern, relevant and inclusive:

It is surely no exaggeration to say that throughout the world the quality of these intercessions has tended to be deplorable, ranging from trite and saccharine sentiments to political propaganda, from progressivist daydreams to downright heretical propositions to which no one could assent without offending God. Even when the content is doctrinally unobjectionable, all too often the literary style is dull, flaccid, rambling, or vague. … [There is] problematic content, poor writing, and [a] monotonous manner of delivery.

This reminds me of a somewhat humorous review on Amazon on a book of Prayers of the Faithful, in which there were petitions …

“For the homely, that their hearts may be beautiful enough to show through…” (Assumption)
“For activists who spend lonely days fighting strip mining companies, water and air polluters, and others who ravage this world…”
“For a frost that will tarnish the value of gold and put sparkle into the dullness of life…”
“For a society where we don’t have to make a million dollars, run the 100 in 10 seconds, invent a laser or die, in order to be believed…”
“That we will reverence the mystery of other people’s lives and of our own life when we use words like negro, middle-class, culturally-deprived, and PhD.”
“For soldiers who don’t get mail, children who flunk, showgirls who grow old, for all who suffer, that they will know there is no suffering unnoticed by God…”
“That those who collect bottle for recycling, and plant trees, and cover up strip mines, will show us how to care for the creation we have been given…”

My denomination’s liturgy and prayer tradition has/had the pitfalls of going in the opposite direction. Some have called the Prayer of the Church “the sermon with eyes closed” because the preacher would often present the same thoughts from the sermon in the prayer. Several Prayer of the Church / General Prayer resources were really more homiletic and devotional rather than intercessory.

Pope quotes “General Instruction in the Roman Missal” on the Prayers of the Faithful:

In the Prayer of the Faithful, the people respond in a certain way to the word of God which they have welcomed in faith and, exercising the office of their baptismal priesthood, offer prayers to God for the salvation of all. It is fitting that such a prayer be included, as a rule, in Masses celebrated with a congregation, so that petitions will be offered for the holy Church, for civil authorities, for those weighed down by various needs, for all men and women, and for the salvation of the whole world. As a rule, the series of intentions is to be

For the needs of the Church;

For public authorities and the salvation of the whole world;

For those burdened by any kind of difficulty;

For the local community.

My series, Praying with the Readings was written after researching the Prayers of the Church / Prayers of the Faithful, what the intended function of those prayers should be, and striving to write petitions that would be for all, for those in need, for those in the community, and for the good of Christ’s church in all the world, along with scripture references to the day’s lectionary readings, and some connection with the church of the past.