Praying Christ's Passion

Below is an excellent example of a classic prayer updated and adapted for modern usage. This litany allows for those praying it time to reflect on the events of Christ's Passion so as to foster loving gratitude and a deeper understanding of both Our Lord's humanity and his complete identification with us in our need.

This litany also challenges us to see where we fall short of honoring Christ in his Passion in our thoughts, words, and deeds -- helping to give our Friday devotion more substance and connection with the rest of our lives.

Use of this litany is one way for us to honor the Church's teaching that each Friday is a "little Good Friday," as each Sunday is a "little Easter."

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A Litany of the Passion (contemporary language form)

This litany may be used as a private devotion on Fridays through the year (especially during mid-day), during Lent as part of a Lenten rule of prayer, as devotions on Good Friday or before/after the Stations of the Cross.

God the Father, maker of heaven and earth,

Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit, sanctifier of the faithful,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God,

Have mercy on us.

Silence follows each line until the versicle and response.

Jesus, gathering your disciples at the table:

Jesus, washing their feet in humility:

Jesus, offering yourself in bread and wine:

Jesus, going into the garden to pray:

Jesus, whose disciples slept while you grieved:

Jesus, in fear and from a troubled soul, still seeking the Father’s will:

Jesus, whom Judas betrayed with a kiss:

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,

R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus, standing before Annas and Caiaphas:

Jesus, spit upon, blindfolded, and struck:

Jesus, against whom false accusations were made:

Jesus, denied three times by Peter:

Jesus, taken before Pilate:

Jesus, rejected for a murderer:

Jesus, exhibited before the crowds:

Jesus, condemned by Pilate:

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,

R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus, crowned with thorns:

Jesus, mocked by soldiers:

Jesus, sent out carrying the cross:

Jesus, whose cross Simon was made to carry:

Jesus, whom the women mourned:

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,

R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus, nailed to the cross:

Jesus, lifted high upon the cross:

Jesus, praying forgiveness for us all:

Jesus, giving your mother and beloved disciple to each other:

Jesus, granting paradise to the penitent thief:

Jesus, crying out in abandonment:

Jesus, from whose side flowed water and blood:

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,

R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus, taken down from the cross:

Jesus, wrapped in a shroud:

Jesus, buried in a borrowed tomb:

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,

R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

From all evil,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From unbelief and hardness of heart,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From any denial of you,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From sloth and sleep when you call us to watch,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From all false judgments and untrue accusations,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From acts of cowardice and expediency,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From words that mock and scorn,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From cruelty and disregard of injustice,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From all refusal to know our own sins,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From all fear to stand by when another suffers,

Good Lord, deliver us.

Hear our prayer, O Lord, and grand that we may die daily to sin and live in righteousness,

Hear our prayer.

That we may take up our cross daily and follow you,

Hear our prayer.

That we may never deny you,

Hear our prayer.

That we may never falsely accuse or violently attack anyone,

Hear our prayer.

That moved to sorrow by your sufferings, we may work for the relief of others,

Hear our prayer.

That we may receive with gratitude the promise of forgiveness and reconciliation,

Hear our prayer.

That having followed the way of the cross in this life, we may come to the joys of your eternal kingdom,

Hear our prayer.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, remember us when you come into your kingdom, and teach us to pray:

Our Father…deliver us from evil. Amen.

By his cross and passion, + may our Lord Jesus Christ bring us to the joys of paradise. Amen.

- From The St. Augustine’s Prayer Book,
Forward Movement Publications, 2014