Hear Our Prayer. Raymond Chapman
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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 the power of the Spirit, let us pray to God.
Renew your Church by the working of the Holy Spirit … In quiet and humble rebirth may your people find new strength as your body in the world and show the way of salvation to all who seek.
God who loved the world even to sending the Son to be its Saviour, come among us for the healing of conflict between nations and races … Draw those who hold power and influence into the presence of Christ, to know his love and to make it their own in all their dealings.
Lift up our eyes to see the grace of God in all around us … Lift up our hearts to be his messengers to our families and friends and in our community … Help us to find in what is familiar the new birth of his love.
Have mercy on those who have lost their way and no longer seek to know God and to do his will … May the life-governing Spirit bring healing to the sick, and strength to those who minister to them.
May the souls of those who have died be gloriously born again to the eternal life where love is complete and the night of seeking turns to the perfect day … May we too in our time be born again in glory.
We pray in the name of Christ, lifted up in pain and in triumph for our sake.
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
John 4:5–42
Let us pray to God who knows the secrets of all hearts.
May the Lord who gives the living water to all who come to him in faith, give grace to the Church, so to drink of that water that she may bring life to many … May he lift our eyes to see where the time is ripe for harvest and seek to be worthy labourers for the coming of the Kingdom.
Give the word of truth to the world, where there is strife between nations and races, where faiths can be hostile and gender divisive … May honesty overcome all shame and deceit, so that wrongs that have been hidden may be brought to light and healed.
May our Lord be with us in our homes and in all the homes of this community, to teach us by his word, to sustain us with the food of loving obedience and lead us to worship in spirit and in truth … Make us honest in our dealings with one another and repentant for our sins.
Have mercy on all whose lives are distressed by broken relationships, by misunderstandings that have turned to bitterness, by the suppressed anxiety that eats away the heart … May those who have found only partial truth be led into the right way, to know and to perform the will of God.
May those who have passed from this world, and now drink of the living water that flows from the throne of God, rejoice in the eternal worship which is beyond all place and time … May we by grace come to the same rejoicing.
We pray in the name of Christ, the Messiah of all who worship in spirit and truth.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
John 9:1–41
Let us pray to God for light and healing in the Church and in the world.
Give to the Church the perfect vision of truth and the will to serve it … Open the eyes of the faithful to the faults that hinder their ministry, so that the light may shine through them to the glory of God.
Lighten the darkness of the world where so many stumble and fall in the blindness of pride, of false trust, of power misused … When people doubt the divine love and meet with suspicion the signs of its working, let the words of those who have known it be heard above the voices of mistrust.
Give to our families and to all the homes of this community the love that remains faithful in adversity and does not fear when hostility comes from outside … In all our meeting with others, may we speak the truth with boldness and witness to the blessings that we have received.
Have mercy on all who are blind or whose sight is failing … Empower and guide those who work to treat afflictions of the eyes, and bless their skill … Give courage to parents whose children have sight problems, and bless their acts of care and love.
We pray for the departed whose sins have been washed away and who live now in the light of heaven that will never fade … Grant that we may come to share with them the perfect vision of God.
May our prayers be accepted in the name of Christ, the light of the world.
or MOTHERING SUNDAY
Luke 2:33–35
Let us pray for the Church and the world, cherished in the tender love of God.
As our Lord grew to manhood under a mother’s care, may his Church be as a mother to her children … Bless her ministers with the gift of compassion, to offer themselves in service to all who come to seek their help.
We pray for the world, that all its people may be as one family in harmony and peace … Let motherly love be the desire and the ideal of all the human race … Bless those in positions of