Triduum Prayer - 2011

As we approach the Triduum, I offer this prayer. May God bless our final days of Holy Week and celebrations of the Resurrection of the Lord.

Grace and Peace,

LP

Merciful God, our creator, companion, and guide, the path is long and steep but Jesus continues his journey in Jerusalem. We know where the road leads. That wearies us. We understand that fidelity to you means turning from paths less demanding and discipleship comes with a cost; yet, we confess that we find it hard to make our discipleship a priority. We face so many needs, temptations, and difficult decisions.

Jesus keeps walking. Help us to keep our eyes on him and remind us that he must continue. Jesus must keep walking because we are weak and need the benefit of his conviction that you travel with us and never forsake us. He must keep walking because we focus on ourselves and need his ministry in which life finds us as we offer our lives to you. Jesus must keep walking because our ways are not yours and we need the forgiveness, reconciliation, and new beginnings you extend in and through him.

We confess, God of grace, that we lack the strength to stay with Jesus and the determination not to betray or deny him. May we at least have the faith and the longing for faith to bear witness to him. In a world infatuated with physical prowess, help us to work for transformation not by submission forced from the outside in, but by love flowing from the inside out. In a world in which we often stand safely behind our resources to care and provide for our children, help us to take our children on our knees as Jesus did, sit with our youth as he would, and share ourselves with them. In a culture devoted to pleasure, gratification, and security, help us to empty ourselves more completely that we might live more fully in him who gave everything that we might have life abundantly.

We know we do not walk with Jesus alone, so we pray for those who travel with us. We pray for those who help us find the path, those who give us strength, and those who have found their home in you, whose presence remains in us. We pray for those most affected by recent storms, those whose storms are more internal, those who hunger of body, those who hunger of spirit, those who have lost their way, those too weary to travel, and those whose names and concerns weigh heavy on our hearts.

Merciful God, our creator, companion, and guide, we thank you for the journey: for dreams worthy of our lives; visions that stretch our faith and imaginations; and for judgment that holds us accountable and inspires us. We thank you for baptism. Help us to follow Jesus, so that we may be found in you. We pray in the name of Jesus, who lives with you in holy relationship, one God, Mother/Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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