holy thursday – A Collection of Prayers

A Prayer for Love

O blessed Lord, you have commanded us to love one another. Just as we have received your undeserved blessings, may we love everyone in you and for you.

We ask your kindness for all, but especially for the friends whom your love has given to us. Love them, O fountain of love, and move them to love you with all their heart, that they may will, and speak, and do only those things which are pleasing to you.

Our prayer is cold, because our love is so feeble, but you are rich in mercy. Do not measure your goodness to them by the dullness of our devotion, but as your kindness surpasses all human affection, so let your hearing transcend our prayer. Do what is best for them, according to your will, that being ruled and protected by you always and everywhere, they may receive eternal life in the end; to you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: St. Anselm, eleventh century Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

Variant:

O blessed Lord, who hast commanded us to love one another, grant us grace that having received thine undeserved bounty, we may love everyone in thee and for thee. We implore thy clemency for all; but especially for the friends whom thy love has given to us. Love thou them, O thou fountain of love, and make them to love thee with all their heart, that they may will, and speak, and do those things only which are pleasing to thee.

For Love

Coptic[1]

O God of love,
giver of concord,
through your only Son
you have given us a new commandment
that we should love one another
even as you have loved us,
the unworthy and the wandering,
and gave your beloved Son for our life and salvation.
Lord, in our time of life on earth
give us a mind forgetful of past ill-will,
a pure conscience and sincere thoughts,
and hearts to love one another;
for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Coptic Liturgy of St. Cyril

“love one another as you have loved us” is a reference to John 15:12

“and you gave your beloved Son” is a reference to John 3:16 and Matthew 3:17

The Glory of Servanthood

jesus-washing-peters-feet-ford-madox-brown O Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of man,
you did not come to be served, but to serve.
Give us grace to lay aside all our vanity,
clothe us with your power,
and crown us with your humility,
that finally, in the glory of serving,
we may stand beside your throne,
where with the Father and the Holy Spirit
you reign, one God,
now and forever.
Amen.

Source: Modified from A Book of Collects in Two Parts, John Wallace Suter and John Wallace Suter, Jr., Milwaukee: Morehouse Publishing, 1919.

This prayer references Matthew 20:28, John 13:4 and Matthew 10:40-42

Painting by Ford Madox Brown, public domain

For Purity

O Holy Spirit of God,
very God,
you descended on Christ at the river Jordan,
on the apostles in the upper room;
we have sinned against heaven and before you;
purify us again with your divine fire,
and have mercy on us;
for Christ’s sake.
Amen.

Source: Nerses of Clajes (St. Nerses I)

A Communion Prayer

veit-dietrich

O Lord God, heavenly Father,
we praise and thank you for your grace
that through your Son Jesus Christ
you established this supper
in which we eat his body and drink his blood.
By your Holy Spirit, help us
to use this gift worthily,
to confess and forsake our sins,
to confidently believe that we are forgiven through Christ,
and to grow in faith and love day by day
until we come at last to the joy of eternal salvation,
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Veit Dietrich, 1506-1549

Source of this version: Freely paraphrased from http://olcc.us/liturgical-resources/collects-veit-dietrich/

Prayers by Veit Dietrich are included in Prayers from the Evangelical-Lutheran Heritage, available from Amazon.com, and also available for Amazon Kindle. It is a collection of prayers from the history of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church from Luther to Loehe. The collection includes prayers by Johannes Bugenhagen, Georg C. Dieffenbach, Veit Dietrich, Matthias Flacius, Wilhelm Loehe, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Joachim Mynsinger, Johann G. Olearius, Johann Jacob Rambach, and the early agendas and prayer books of the Austrian, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lueneberg, Norwegian, Nuremberg, Pomeranian, Riga, Russian, Saxon, Schleswig-Holstein, and Swedish Evangelical-Lutheran churches.

A Prayer for Cleansing

O Jesus, my feet are dirty.
Come even as a slave to me,
pour water into your bowl,
come and wash my feet.
In asking such a thing I know I am overbold
but I dread what was threatened when you said to me,
“If I do not wash your feet I have no fellowship with you.”
Wash my feet then, because I long for your companionship.
And yet, what am I asking?
It was well for Peter to ask you to wash his feet,
for him that was all that was needed for him to be clean in every part.
With me it is different:
though you wash me now I shall still stand in need of that other washing,
the cleansing you promised when you said,
“there is a baptism I must needs be baptized with.”

Source: Origen (c. 185–254)

Source of this version: http://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/02/footwashing-prayer-origen.html

Part also found here: https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/prayers-of-earliest-christians/

Closing Prayer for Holy (Maundy) Thursday

This prayer may be used in place of the prayers “We give thanks, almighty God,…” “O God the Father, source of all goodness…” in the Common Service or “Hear the prayers of your people…” in the Service of Word and Sacrament in Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal.

CLOSING PRAYER

M: Lord Jesus Christ, on the night before you suffered, you showed your disciples the extent of your love, you gave them this sacrament of forgiveness and remembrance, and you promised them that you would drink it again with them in your Father’s kingdom. As we have partaken of this sacrament, show us your love in your words of invitation, restore our joy in the forgiveness you have won by your death and resurrection, and give us hope in the promise you have given of a feast to come. In this sacrament, live and rule in us, even as you live and rule with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.

Formatted as poetry:

Lord Jesus Christ,
on the night before you suffered,
you showed your disciples the extent of your love,
you gave them this sacrament of forgiveness and remembrance,
and you promised them that you would drink it again with them
in your Father’s kingdom.
As we have partaken of this sacrament,
show us your love in your words of invitation,
restore our joy in the forgiveness you have won by your death
and resurrection,
and give us hope in the promise you have given of a feast to
come.
In this sacrament,
live and rule in us,
even as you live and rule with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.

Closing Prayer for Holy (Maundy) Thursday by Paul C. Stratman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Please contact for any commercial usage.