Glory to you, O holy One. You descended from the heavenly dwellings to the earthly depths. In your compassion you took the form of a slave to forgive your servants. You walked on the waves of the sea in order to sanctify Adam, who was created in the image of your majesty.

O Lord, you sanctified those who are impure and with your hyssop you purified sinners and made them whiter than snow. Through your powerful grace, forgive me and your servants, who ask you for the pardon of their faults and the forgiveness of their sins. As you forgave the family of Cornelius through the hand of Simon Peter, the Apostle, in the same way, may pardon of sins descend upon us and upon all the children of your flock, who have been redeemed by your precious blood.

We glorify you, your Father, and your Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

Amen.

From the Liturgy for Saturday of the Light (Prayer of Forgiveness)

O Lord and High Priest, fragrant incense of forgiveness, you offered yourself on the wood of the cross for foolish sinners.. You sacrificed yourself for our sake. Now, O Lord, cancel the debt of our guilt and save us from retribution. Remove the scourge of anger and all suffering from us. Encourage us with your joyful hope and your healing remedy. In your compassion, pardon the faithful departed, and we shall praise you with them, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

Amen.

O Judge of the living and the dead, who rewards and punishes, this morning we raise our prayers and thoughts to you. We share in your sufferings when you appeared before the judges, when you played the role of the accused, and were dragged from court to court. You lived among us and could not be conquered by sin. May we erase hatred, purify our thoughts, and follow your teachings. Thus, we shall receive pardon in this world and on the day of judgment receive your mercy, and glorify you, your Father, and your Holy Spirit, for ever.

Amen.

Our Lord has taught us at this Last Supper:
He is the true bread come down from heaven.
For our salvation he drank from death’s cup,
that we may now drink life everlasting.

Look, O Lord, upon us, your worshipers standing before you, with souls in agony and bodies in affliction. Nothing can help and nothing can save, except your mercy, and no one can heal and no one can give life, except your love.

Since we bore your seal from the waters of baptism, believed in your name, and consumed your body and drank your blood, let your living cross be a rudder for our ship, and guide us through the storms which surround us.

Shine your salvific mercy upon us; and, by your grace, let there be a rest to our affliction. Let your mercy bring comfort to us as we bow before you, forgive our sins and blot out our offences from your book.

From Prayer of Forgiveness (Sedro) for the Rite of the Lamp.

The lenten weekday cycle of the Maronite rite reflects our estrangement from God and our need to coversion. We are called to take courage and to turn back. They Syriac fathers have traditionally spoken of this movement toward God as a nautical journey whose destination is the harbor of life. During the journey of Lent, we pray:

Bless, Lord, our fasing… Make it a journey which leads us to the harbor of salvation.

“Your King shall come to you, humble and riding on a donkey!”

Behold, the King of Sion rides a donkey and enters the city amid the songs of praise of little children and suckling babes. Everyone cries out:

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.”

Waving olive branches, they praise the King of Israel. Today, the Church gathers her children from all peoples and nations; in the churches and convents they chant hymns of praise. In procession small and great alike go forth, singing in every language.

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,”

Christ the King.

O Our Lord, Jesus Christ, we firmly believe in all that our Mother the Holy Church believes in and teaches us to believe in because You are the One who revealed it to her, O You, who are the Truth which neither deceives nor is deceived.

We beseech You, through your love for Your Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, and for Saint Joseph, Your chosen Just One, and through your the five wounds inflicted upon you because of our sins, grant us Your Grace so we may live and die with it.

By the road, as Christ walked along, sat a man who could not see.
Bartimaeus began to shout: ”Son of David, pity me! I believe you are the Lord, who can give light to my eyes.
Since you let me hear your voice, let me also see your face. Give me light that I may see.”

O Our Lord Jesus Christ, we are sorry from the depth of our hearts, because we have sinned against You with our bad actions, deserved Your punishment by temporal sufferings and everlasting fire of Hell and lost the joys of Your Heavenly Kingdom. We are especially sorry for we have sinned because we have sinned against Your Fatherly Love, O You who are the Good God and deserve the love of all your lowly creatures. We firmly resolve not to return to sin and rather, to accept death one thousand times than to commit one mortal sin.

Jesus Christ our Lord, you carry the sins of the world and you forgave the sins of the paralytic. You cured him and had him carry his mat in front of the crowd. Make us worthy to meditate on your amazing miracles, and strengthen us with the power of your forgiveness. May we share in the grace of your redemption, to glorify and thank you, your Father, and your living Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

O Our Lord Jesus Christ, we dedicate ourselves to Your Divine and Trustful Will, and willingly accept from Your Hand sickness, tribulation and death the way You want and when You want. O Our Beloved Jesus, all we desire is to accomplish Your Good Will now and always in all places and at all times.

Today we commemorate the announcement to Mary that she is to be the Mother of God. The feast actually recalls two aspects of the same salvific mystery: the incarnation of the divine Word and the motherhood of Mary. With time, the incarnation of the Son of God was stressed on the feast of the Birth of Our Lord and today’s feast became a Marian feast.

Holy One, through you, sinners are sanctified and the penitent seek you who desire our salvation and well being.
Do not look on the weakness of our humanity and the insignificance of our deeds. but treat us according to your mercy, for we take refuge in you.
orgive our offenses, for who besides you can pardon?
Full of joy, we shall give you glory, now and for ever.

O Sister Rafka, you walked with Jesus and carried daily your cross with courage. After a life lived in pain and torment, you were rewarded with heaven’s glory.

Lord, guard and sustain your Church. Raise up saints and holy ones within her ranks, and bless all her monks and nuns. Sanctify them as the live and work for you. Alleluia! We praise you, Lord.

O Our Lord Jesus Christ, we rely on You and hope from you to help and guide us in this our life, to forgive our faults so that we may inherit Your everlasting paradise because all our hope is dependent on Your endless mercy and Your indescribable goodness.

Make us worthy, O Lord, to stand before You with pure hearts and to believe in Your birth from a virgin as Joseph, Your chosen one, believed after You revealed Your mystery to him. As You appointed the angel in the garden of Eden to guard the tree of life, so have You chosen Joseph and appointed him guardian of Your virgin mother in whom You dwelt. Grant us, O Lord, to taste the cherished fruit of Your tree, so that we may glorify You, Your Holy Father and Your blessed Spirit, now and forever.

Jesus Christ, O Physician, Lover of all people, we thank you for your compassion, for you have bandaged the wounds of our suffering humanity. Heal the sick and console the sorrowful. Accept our prayers as you accepted the plea of the hemorrhaging woman. Bless our comminity that prays to you. We believe that you are our Savior and Redeemer, and we await the day of your glorious resurrection..

O Our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess and adore You because You are our God, our Savior and our Supreme Judge. We bow in front of Your Divine Majesty offering You our thanks for all the Graces You granted and will grant us.

We beseech You, through your love for Your Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, and for Saint Joseph, Your chosen Just One, and through the wound of Your RIGHT FOOT. Grant us to live and die in your grace.

Amen.

In a pleading voice, the leper said to the Savior of mankind:

“If you desire, Lord, you can make me clean.”

With mercy and kindness our Savior extended his hand and touched him:

“I desire it; be cleansed and be a witness to the truth.”