the love that is in our homes never become nar-row and excluding, but let it reach out to all who can be drawn into our care … Make the life of this community a token that we are all children of one Father, and bless its members who patiently serve those who are in need.
Have mercy on those who suffer because of faults that have not been forgiven, and those who do not know how to forgive but are caught up in a cycle of retaliation … Give peace and a fresh start to those who are weighed down by guilt, because they have failed in love and generosity and do not know how to make amends.
Pardon in their last hour those who die unreconciled and still bearing a load of anger … May they too be numbered with your children whose deaths were peaceful and all be blessed together in everlasting life.
Christ give us grace to offer our prayers in love for all people.
SECOND SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
Matthew 6:25–34
Let us pray to God, the giver of all beauty in heaven and earth.
Inspire your Church with zeal to seek the Kingdom, setting aside all worldly concerns that may lead away from the goal … Let your people live each day as if it were the first and the last of your purpose for us, to make known the righteousness which is not our own but the fruit of your bounty.
As we give thanks for beauty of the natural world, we pray that it may not be lost through human greed and folly … May those who have control of change act responsibly, as knowing that they are stewards of a treasure not of their making, a glory beyond the riches of the kings and rulers of the earth.
When troubles come in our lives and we are concerned for ourselves or those near to us, make us free from the anxiety that destroys hope and show us the way that is opening before us … Confident in the love that sustains what love had created, let us seek to do your will in all things.
Comfort those who are weighed down by worry about food and clothing and other bodily needs … Help the individuals and the agencies working for the relief of poverty and give generous compassion to all who have enough to spare for others.
Bless in your nearer presence those who have ended their span of life and entered into beauty beyond anything they knew upon earth … May they find peace in the Kingdom where anxiety has gone and there is no more fear, because God’s righteousness is all in all.
We pray through Christ who has taught us to trust and not to be afraid.
SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE LENT
Matthew 27:1–9
Let us pray to God who leads us to see his glory and hear his voice.
As the Church has been called to be the servant of your glory, may she be worthy to be your dwelling on earth … It is good for us to be here, and we pray that we may be filled with the wisdom of the Law, the vision of the Prophets and the grace of Jesus Christ now and in all time to come.
Bless the people of the world with the light that leads them to the heights where they may see your glory, and the strength to return to the plain where the work of life must go on … Guide those in authority to hear the wisdom of the past and to see with clear vision where their present duty lies.
As we go about our daily lives, grant us the times of peace when we may be aware of the glory that is all around us … Through our prayers and meditations bring us closer to the Saviour, to follow him as the first disciples followed, and to know his fullness as they knew it.
Have mercy on those whose suffering lets them see only the darkness of the cloud and keeps them from hearing the voice of divine assurance … Dispel the fear that holds many back from knowing that God is love and calls us to draw near and adore him.
May those who have died in the faith of Christ, and in this world received a partial vision of his glory, now enter into the fullness of his presence … May they dwell for ever in the holy place from which the blessed ones are never turned away.
May our prayers be accepted through Christ, the Son revealed in glory.
ASH WEDNESDAY
John 8:1–11
In penitence and faith, let us pray to the Lord.
As we begin this season of Lent, may our offering of prayer and abstinence be secret, and our love and compassion in the name of Christ be manifest … Grant to the Church the spirit of true repentance and the joy that breaks through sorrow when sins repented become sins forgiven.
Bring to a world where many trust in material things and seek their goal in greater wealth the knowledge of where the true treasure is to be found … Enlighten those whose confidence is in themselves, to know that even if their works are good they are rich only in offering them to God.
Help us now to consider our relationships with others, to see where we can put right the faults we have committed and to heal trust that has been broken … Open our hearts to receive the treasure of God which comes to us through the treasure of human love.
Have mercy on the poor who have no riches to give, no luxury to set aside … May this Lent be a time of greater understanding and care towards those in need … Bring relief to the hungry whose fasting is not chosen but forced upon them.
Grant that the faithful departed may find the heavenly treasure that they sought during their lives on earth … We rejoice with them that their years of obedience and devotion have come to their end in the eternal worship of God.
We pray in the name of Christ, our example and our strength in all our Lenten offerings.
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Matthew 4:1–11
Let us pray for God’s protection of the Church and of the world.
Guard the Church against the assaults of evil … Be close to us when we are tempted to abuse the gifts we have received, to make a show of strength or to use influence from false motives … May we never use means we know to be wrong, with the excuse that the end will be good.
Look with mercy on a world where there are many temptations: where some think only of their own bodily comfort, some desire to show their power by foolish acts, some seek greater power and embrace evil to attain it … Come with your saving love and bring life to the desert places of all hearts.
Grant that what we offer in this Lent may not become a temptation to pride … May our homes be made more joyful and our work more dedicated as we seek to bring our lives closer to the life of our Saviour.
Have mercy on those who in the wilderness of the world find no relief … Hungry, fearful, lonely, many are falling into despair or following ways that lead to deeper distress … May God and his angels bring them relief.
We pray for those who have passed from this world and are free from all temptation … We give thanks that they are delivered from evil, and pray that we in our time may be brought to worship with them and with the host of angels.
May our prayers be accepted in the name of Christ, tempted like us but without sin.
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
John 3:1–17
In
