The Call to Prayer
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD.
Psalm 31:24
The Request for Presence
In your righteousness, deliver and set me free; incline your ear to me and save me.
Psalm 71:2
The Greeting
O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;
My times are in your hand.
Psalm 116:14, 31:15a
The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I said in my alarm, “I have been cut off from the sight of your eyes.” Nevertheless, you heard the sound of my entreaty when I cried out to you.
Psalm 31:22
A Reading
It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies’ remaining on the cross during the Sabbath – since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity – the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so instead of breaking his legs, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it – and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfill the words of scripture: Not one bone of his will be broken; and again, in another place scripture says: They will look to the one whom they have pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus – though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews – asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away. Nicodemus came as well – the same one who had first come to Jesus at night-time – and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, following the Jewish burial custom. At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:31-42
The Refrain
I said in my alarm, “I have been cut off from the sight of your eyes.” Nevertheless, you heard the sound of my entreaty when I cried out to you.
The Morning Psalm
Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit
In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.
Incline your ear to me; make haste to deliver me.
Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe, for you are my crag and my stronghold; for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.
Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me, for you are my tower of strength.
Into your hands I commend my spirit, for you have redeemed me, O LORD, O God of truth.
Psalm 31:1-5
The Refrain
I said in my alarm, “I have been cut off from the sight of your eyes.” Nevertheless, you heard the sound of my entreaty when I cried out to you.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
The Prayer Appointed for the Week
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that I, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Concluding Prayer of the Church
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day. Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all that I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.