Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Day 4)
January 21, 2025
DAY 4 (Jan 21)
The Paschal Mystery: Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Opening Invocation
R/ Glory and praise to you, O Lord
Blessed are you, O Christ, Firstborn of all creation:
you are crowned with glory and honour. R/
At your Name every knee will bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth
and every tongue will confess that you are the Lord. R/
Let us rejoice and sing praises to you, O Christ, beloved Son of the Father:
you are the Risen One, you call us to live in you. R/
We adore you, we glorify you, for you are King of kings and Lord of lords:
you have opened to us the kingdom of heaven. R/
We give you thanks at all times and we bless your Name:
you are with us always, to the end of the age. R/
Scripture (Phil 2:5-11)
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Psalm 16:5, 7, 10, 11
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
From the Ancient Church
God the Father was very merciful: he sent his creative Word who, in coming to deliver us, came to the very place and spot in which we had lost life, and broke the bonds of our fetters. His light appeared and made the darkness of the prison disappear and hallowed our birth and destroyed death, loosing those same fetters in which we were enchained. (Irenaeus of Lyon)
The Saviour came down to earth out of mercy for mankind. He fully suffered our passions, before he suffered the cross and deigned to take on our flesh. For if he had not suffered, he would not have come to dwell in the midst of human life. First he suffered, then he descended and was seen. What is that passion which he suffered for us? The passion of charity. (Origen of Alexandria)
The body thanks you, that it was saved by your humiliation. It was a strayed sheep, and the lion lay in ambush to dismember it, and sin in secret is the beast that tears it into pieces. David preserved himself while he saved the sheep, instead of our body you delivered your body to that death that devoured us but was not sated. (Ephrem of Nisibis)
Musical Selection (Let This Mind Be in You; Amy Marcy Beach; lyrics in video)
Collect
Lord our God,
glorifying your Son Jesus, you have freed us from death.
Through his resurrection,
awaken our slumbering hearts,
enlighten all who seek you
and make the morning star shine upon us,
Jesus Christ, the Living One,
who is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.