Advent:
Prayer to Help Others Find Christ
O Lord Jesus, I thank You for the gift of faith and for the continual grace You give me to nourish and strengthen it. Enable me to cultivate the genuine desire for You that lies beyond the zealous search for justice, truth, love, and peace found in our contemporaries. Encourage these searchings, O Lord, and grant that all true seekers may look beyond the present moment and catch sight of Your countenance in the world. Come to the aid of those who are weary and disillusioned in their searching, and inspire them with renewed hope during this season of Christian hope.
Prayer for Christ’s Triple Coming
Lamb of God, You once came to rid the world of sin; cleanse me now of every stain of sin. Lord, You came to save what was lost; come once again with Your salvific power so that those You redeemed will not be punished. I have come to know You in faith; may I have unending joy when You come again in glory.
Prayer for Christ’s Coming in Grace
O Lord Jesus, during this Advent come to us in Your grace. Come to prepare our hearts, minds, and bodies to welcome You on Christmas Day. Come to comfort us in sadness, to cheer us in loneliness, to refresh us in weariness, to buttress us in temptations, to lead us in doubt, and to exult with us in joy.
Christmas:
Prayer to Jesus, God’s Greatest Gift
O Jesus, I believe that the greatest proof of God’s love is His gift to us of You, His onlySon. All love tends to become like that which it loves. You love human beings; therefore You became man. Infinite love and mercy caused You, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, to leave the Kingdom of eternal bliss, to descend from the throne of Your majesty, and to become a helpless babe. Eventually You even suffered and died that we might live
You wished to enter the world as a child in order to show that You were true Man. But You become man also that man may become like God. In exchange for the humanity which You take from us You wish to make us share in Your Divinity by sanctifying grace, so that You may take sole possession of us. Grant me the grace to love You in return with a deep, personal, and productive love.
Prayer for Christ’s Rebirth in the Church
O Lord Jesus Christ, we do not ask You to renew for us Your birth according to the flesh. We ask You to incarnate in us your invisible Divinity. What You accomplished corporally in Mary accomplish now spiritually in Your Church. May the Church’s sure faith conceive You, its unstained intelligence give birth to You, and its soul united with the power of the Most High preserve You forever.
Prayer that Christ my be known to All
O Lord give us a new Epiphany when You will be manifested to the world: to those who vilify Your name, to those who oppress Your Mystical Body, to those who deny You, and to all those who unconsciously long for You.
Bring the day closer when all people will know and love You together with the Father and the Holy Spirit – and the Kingdom of God will have arrived.
Prayer to the Infant King
O Jesus, the Magi offered You revealing gifts: gold, because You are our King: frankincense, because You are our God: and myrrh, because You are our Redeemer. Like the Magi, I offer You my gifts: the gold of my earnest love as Your faithful subject; the frankincense of frequent prayer as Your creature; and the myrrh of a generous self-sacrifice as a sinner.
Lent:
Prayer to be freed of the Seven Deadly Sins
O Meek Savior and Prince of Peace, implant in me the virtues of gentleness and patience. Let me curb the fury of anger and restrain all resentment and impatience so as to overcome evil with good, attain Your peace, and rejoice in Your love.
O Jesus, Model of humility, divest me of all pride and arrogance. Let me acknowledge my weakness and sinfulness, so that I may bear mockery and contempt for Your sake and esteem myself as lowly in Your sight.
O Jesus, Teacher of abstinence, help me to serve You rather than our appetites. Keep me from gluttony – the inordinate love of food and drink – and let me hunger and thirst for Your justice.
O Jesus, Lover of purity, remove all lust from my heart, so that I may serve You with a pure mind and a chaste body.
O Jesus, Father of the poor, help me to avoid all covetousness for earthly goods and give me a love for heavenly things. Inspire me to give to the needy, just as You gave Your life, that I might inherit eternal treasures.
O Jesus, Exemplar of love, keep me from all envy and ill-will. Let the grace of Your love dwell in me that I may rejoice in the happiness of others and bewail their adversities.
O Jesus, zealous Lover of souls, keep me from all sloth of mind or body. Inspire me with zeal for your glory, so that I may do all things for You and in You. Amen.
Prayer for Contrition
Merciful Father, I am guilty of sin. I confess my sins before You and I am sorry for them. Your promisees are just; therefore I trust that You will forgive me my sins and cleanse me from every stain of sin. Jesus Himself is the propitiation for my sins and those of the whole world. I put my hope in His atonement. May my sins be forgiven through His Name, and in His Blood may my soul be made clean.
Prayer to know Jesus Christ
O Lord Jesus, like St. Paul, may I count everything as loss in comparison with the supreme advantage of knowing You. I want to know You and what Your Passion and Resurrection can do. I also want to share in Your sufferings in the hope that if I resemble You in death I may somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Give me grace to make every effort to supplement faith with moral courage, moral courage with knowledge. knowledge with self-control, self-control with patience, patience with piety, piety with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. May these virtues keep me both active and fruitful and bring me to the deep knowledge of You, Lord Jesus Christ.
Stations of the Cross:
Station 1: Jesus is condemned to Death
Prayer: O innocent Jesus, having sinned, I am guilty of eternal death, but You willingly did accept the unjust sentence of death, that I might live. For whom, then, shall I henceforth live, if not for You, my Lord? Should I desire to please men, I could not be Your servant. Let me, therefore, rather displease men, and all the world, than not please You, O Jesus.
Station 2: Jesus carries His Cross
Prayer: O my Jesus! I cannot be Your friend and follower, if I refuse to carry the Cross. O dearly beloved Cross! I embrace You, I kiss You, I joyfully accept You from the hands of my God. Far be it from me to glory in anything, save in the Cross of my Lord and Redeemer. By it the world shall be crucified to me, and I to the world, that I may be Yours forever.
Station 3: Jesus falls the First Time
Prayer: O Jesus! O Mary! I am the cause of the great and manifold pains which pierced your loving hearts. O that also my heart would experience and feel at least some of your sufferings. O Mother of Sorrows! Let me participate in the sufferings which You and Your Son endured for me, and let me experience Your sorrow, that, afflicted with You, I may enjoy Your assistance in the hour of my death.
Station 4: Jesus meets His Afflicted Mother
Prayer: O Jesus! Whosoever does not take up his Cross and follow You is not worthy of You. Behold, I join You in the Way of Your Cross; I will be Your assistant, following Your bloody footsteps, that I may come to You in eternal life.
Station 5: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus To Carry The Cross
Prayer: O Jesus! Whosoever does not take up his Cross and follow You is not worthy of You. Behold, I join You in the Way of Your Cross; I will be Your assistant, following Your bloody footsteps, that I may come to You in eternal life.
Station 6: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
Prayer: Most merciful Jesus! What return shall I make for all the benefits You did bestow upon me? Behold, I consecrate myself entirely to Your service. I offer and consecrate to You my heart; imprint on it Your sacred image, never again to be effaced by sin.
Station 7: Jesus falls a Second Time
Prayer: O Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Offer me Your helping hand, and aid me, that I may not fall again into my former sins. From this very moment I will earnestly strive to reform; never more will I sin! You, O sole support of the weak, by Your grace, without which I can do nothing, strengthen me to carry out faithfully this my resolution.
Station 8: Jesus speaks to the weeping Daughters of Jerusalem
Prayer: O Jesus! Who shall give to my eyes a torrent of tears, that day and night I may weep for my sins? I beseech You, through Your bitter and bloody tears, to move my heart by Your divine grace, so that from my eyes tears may flow abundantly, and that I may weep all my days over Your sufferings, and still more over their cause, my sins.
Station 9: Jesus falls the Third Time
Prayer: Most merciful Jesus! I return You infinite thanks for not permitting me to continue in sin, and to fall, as I have so often deserved, into the depths of hell. Enkindle in me an earnest desire of amendment; let me never again relapse, but vouchsafe me the grace to persevere in penance to the end of my life.
Station 10: Jesus is stripped of His garments
Prayer: Induce me, O Jesus! To lay aside my former self, and to be renewed according to Your will and desire. I will not spare myself, however painful this should be for me: stripped of things temporal, of my own will, I desire to die, in order to live for You forever.
Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the Cross
Prayer: O Jesus, gracious Lamb of God, I renounce forever my impatience. Crucify, O Lord, my flesh and its concupiscences, scourge, scathe, punish me in this world; do but spare me in the next. I commit my destiny to You, resigning myself to Your holy will: may it be done in all things.
Station 12: Jesus dies on the Cross
Prayer: O most amiable Jesus! Who will grant me that I may die for You? I will endeavor at least to die to the world. How must I regard the world and its vanities, when I behold You hanging on the Cross, covered with wounds? O Jesus, receive me into Your wounded heart: I belong entirely to You; for You alone do I desire to live and to die.
Station 13: Jesus is taken down from the Cross and placed in the Arms of His Blessed Mother
Prayer: O Lord Jesus! Your lifeless body, mangled and lacerated, found a worthy resting place in the arms of Your Virgin Mother. Have I not often compelled You to dwell in my heart, full of sin and impurity as it was? Create in me a new heart that I may worthily receive Your most sacred body in Holy Communion, and that You may remain in me, and I in You, for all eternity.
Station 14: Jesus is laid in the Tomb
Prayer: O Jesus! You have set me apart from the world: what, then, shall I seek therein? You have created me for heaven: what, then, have I to do with this world? Depart from me, deceitful world, with Your vanities. Henceforth I will follow the way of the Cross, traced out for me by my Redeemer, and journey onward to my heavenly home, there to dwell forever and ever.
Easter:
Prayer in Praise of Christ’s Humanity
O Risen Lord, You body was part of Your power, rather than You a part in its weakness. For this reason You could not but rise again, if You were to die – because Your body, once taken by You, never was or could be separated from You even in the grave.
I keep Your Most Holy Body before me as the pledge of my own resurrection. Though I die, it only means that my life is changed, for I shall rise again
Teach me to live as one who believes the great dignity and sanctity of the material frame in which I am lodged.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit of light and love, You are the substantial love of the Father and the Son; hear my prayer.
Bounteous bestower of most precious gifts, grant me a grant a strong and living faith, which makes me accept all revealed truths and shape my conduct in accord with them. Give me a most confident hope in all divine promises which prompts me to abandon myself unreservedly to You and Your guidance.
Infuse into me a love of perfect goodwill, that makes me accomplish God’s least desires. Make me love not only my friends but my enemies as well in imitation of Jesus Christ who through You offered Himself on the Cross for all people. Holy Spirit, animate, inspire, and guide me, and help me to be always a true follower of You.
Ordinary:
Prayer for a Productive Faith
O Lord, increase my faith and let it bear fruit in my life. Let it bind me fast to other Christians in the common certitude that our Master is the God-Man who gave His life for all. Let me listen in faith to the Divine Word that challenges me. Help me to strive wholeheartedly under the promptings of my faith in the building of a world ruled by love. Enable me to walk in faith toward the indescribable future that You have promised to all who possess a productive faith in You. Amen.
Prayer to Grow with the Church Year
O Lord Jesus, I know that all human relations take time if they are to grow and deepen. This is also true of my relations with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which must grow over the course of my life. However, this growth is not automatic; time alone means nothing unless I add my earnest efforts to it.
You have inspired Your Church to set aside special times when this growth can develop more intensely – the special seasons of the Church year. If I fail to move toward You during these times, I waste precious opportunities and endanger my spiritual life. Help me to take them seriously and make a real attempt to use them well, so that I may grow into the person You want me to be.
Prayer to Christ in the World
Lord Jesus, let us realize that every action of ours no matter how small or how secular enables us to be in touch with You. Let our interest lie in created things – but only in absolute dependence upon Your presence in them. Let us pursue You and You alone through the reality of created things. Let this be our prayer – to become closer to You by becoming more human.
Let us become a tree branch on the vine that is You, a branch that bears much fruit. Let us accept You in our lives in the way it pleases You to come into them:as Truth, to be spoken; as Life, to be lived; as Light, to be lighted: as Love, to be followed; as Joy, to be given; as Peace, to be spread about; as Sacrifice, to be offered; among our neighbors and all people.
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