THE PRAYER VIGIL WITH JESUS AT THE ALTAR OF REPOSE

Our prayer vigil is our way of being with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
that night he agonized with the Father about the impending events. We are also with
him when Judas arrives with the soldiers to arrest him and take him away

Use this time for prayer in its many forms – verbal, mental, and also that deep
silent exchange between your heart and the heart of God – a “force field” of the
continual exchange of love between you and him. Silence, stillness is the context.

You may want to vary your posture of prayer. Note pads and pencils are here
for your use in writing down thoughts you want to remember. Also, they are available
for you to write down something you forgot to do – distractions that can deflect you
from prayer, but things needing to be dealt with back home or at the office.

A statement of the meaning and nature of the Real Presence of Jesus in the
Sacrament is available to you, if you would like to use it to focus yourself a bit.

An outline of devotion from the Bible, Prayer Book, and Hymnal is also available
for your use. Let this time with Jesus and your parish family be one in which you and
our Lord, the Holy Spirit, develop a devotional plan best for you now.

BIBLE READINGS

Isaiah 52:13-53; 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 53:4-9a

Exodus 12:1-14a
Genesis 22:1-18
Philippians 2:5-11
Hebrews 9:11-15, 24-28; 11:39 – 12:15
I Corinthians 1:18-31; 11:23-26
Luke 22:14-30
John 18th and 19th chapters

PRAYER AIDS
Prayer Book, beginning on page 814 (note index just before, and the number of the
prayer). Use any helpful to you.
Note prayers 66 and 67, page 834, and “Holy Cross Day,” page 192.
Compline, page 127
  
O Lord, make us, we beseech thee, to be fulfilled with the everlasting fruition of thy
Godhead; whereof the receiving of thy precious Body and Blood in this life is both a
figure and a pledge, who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
O God, who in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar dost in a special manner fulfill thy
promise to be with thy people until the end of the world, increase the ancient practice
of the reservation of this Holy Mystery , that our priests may at all times be able to
minister the same to the sick and dying, and they faithful people to adore and worship
thee, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God world
without end. Amen.
O God, who wonderfully refreshest thy Church by thy precious Body and Blood, pour
out upon it thy quickening spirit, that, living upon thee on earth through partaking of
the heavenly mysteries, we may attain to live with thee in heaven; who livest and
reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost one God, world without end. Amen.
O God, who in a wonderful sacrament has left unto us a memorial of thy passion,
grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood,
that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of thy redemption who livest and
reignest with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
  
The words of hymns useful for prayer and meditation:
164, 158, 168, 171, 302, 305, 308, 310, 312,
313, 314, 318, 324, 329, 330, 332, 336, 339

Also hymns under these headings: Holy Communion, Lent, Passiontide

ADORATION AND INTERCESSION TO CHRIST

IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

O Savior of the world, our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, Lover of Souls and King of
Saints, we adore thee present in the blessed sacrament of the altar, and we pray thee
to intercede for us, pleading the virtue of thy holy life and death.

We adore thee in the mystery of the Incarnation, dwelling in all the splendor of the
heavenly places; and worshipped by saints and angels as God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of Very God, but on earth, veiling thy glory as God made man, even as in the
Holy Communion thou art hidden beneath the elements of bread and wine.

We adore thee in thy Holy Nativity, lying as a helpless babe upon the straw or asleep
in the Virgin’s arms, but ruling all things as almighty God. And as Saint Mary and
Saint Joseph, the shepherds, and the Wise Men and all the heavenly host worshiped
thee in thy manger throne as the only begotten of the Father, so we bend in loving
adoration before thee now, enthroned in the holy sacrament of the altar.

We adore thee in thy holy life: in thy home at Nazareth, in thy ministry among men,
reviled and persecuted, weary, hungry and faint, often with no place in which to lay
thy head, tempted in all points as we are and like unto us in all things, yet without
sin. And we pray thee grant us grace to follow thy blessed example, pleasing not
ourselves, going about doing good, and bearing our cross after thee, our Lord and
Master, our Savior and King despised and rejected among men but the very Light of
the World whom we here acknowledge in the blessed sacrament.
We adore thee in thy death and passion, in thine agony in the garden, in thy bitter trials before
Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate, on the Way of Sorrows, and on the Cross of Calvary. And
we worship thee, our most holy redeemer, covered with blood, dust, and spittle, in all thy pain
and humiliation, who didst patiently suffer all things for “us men and for our salvation,” who
could have had legions of angels at thy side. And we pray thee that we may be washed in thy
precious blood and receive to ourselves the pardon won for us, as we plead the memorial of thy
death and passion in the holy sacrifice of the altar and feed on thee, the Lamb of God that
takest away the sins of the world, as thou givest thy body and blood unto everlasting
life.

We adore thee, our risen and ascended Lord, who didst conquer sin and the grave,
who didst rise again from the dead and take thy glorified human nature to the highest
place of sovereignty and honor at the right hand side of God. And we pray thee that we
may rise from our sins and ascend to lead a better life, seeking the things which are
above and preparing for that wonderful life hereafter, when we hope to see thee face to
face, by approaching thee here on earth in the sacramental feast.

O Savior of the world, may we ever adore thee more and more, and never requite thy
love for us by coldness, carelessness, or wrongdoing. May we wholly give ourselves to
thee, who wast nailed to the cross for us. May we burn with the fire of love, the ardor
of devotion, the fervor of zeal, adoring, glorifying, and following thee so that we may
truly “see light in the face of Jesus Christ.” As God may we worship thee, as man may
we copy thee, as both may we be united with thee in the most comfortable sacrament
of the Body and Blood, the very joy of existence here, the very promise of life hereafter.

Glory , honor, praise, and worship be to thee forevermore, who with the Father and
the Holy Ghost are one God, world without end. Amen.