How do you prepare your heart for the Holy Triduum?
Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are some of the holiest and most solemn days of the year.
Pope Saint Leo the Great said,
"True reverence for the Lord’s Passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity."
The Church offers many meditative prayers on Jesus' Passion and death.
Some include the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Chaplet of the Precious Blood, the Chaplet of the Holy Face of Jesus, and the Holy Wounds Chaplet.
Along with the prayers above, here are eight additional prayers to help you meditate on Jesus’ Passion as we enter into the Holy Triduum. They are also great prayers for any day of the year.
1) Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Jesus
O Loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God,
I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship
the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder
on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross,
which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones
as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater
than any other Wound of Thy Most Blessed Body.
I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful;
I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks
for this most sacred and painful Wound,
beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain
and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross
to be merciful to me, a sinner,
to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins,
and to lead me on towards Heaven
along the Way of Thy Cross.
Amen.
Hail Mary… (3 times)
2) Saint Padre Pio’s Prayer to Jesus
O my Jesus, give me Your strength
when my weak nature rebels
against the distress and suffering of this life of exile,
and enable me to accept everything with serenity and peace.
With my whole strength I cling to Your merits,
Your sufferings, Your expiation, and Your tears,
so that I may be able to cooperate with You in the work of salvation.
Give me strength to fly from sin, the only cause of Your agony,
Your sweat of blood, and Your death.
Destroy in me all that displeases You
and fill my heart with the fire of Your holy love
and all Your sufferings.
Clasp me tenderly, firmly, close to You
that I may never leave You alone
in Your cruel Passion.
I ask only for a place of rest in Your Heart.
Amen
3) Saint Therese’s Prayer to the Holy Face of Jesus
O Jesus, Who in Thy bitter Passion didst become “the most abject of men, a man of sorrows,” I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper!
Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love, and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men.
The tears which well abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value.
O Jesus, Whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy Divine Image and to set me on fire with Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen.
4) Saint Gertrude’s Prayer in Honor of Christ’s Passion
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, grant that I may aspire towards Thee with my whole heart, with yearning desire, and with thirsting soul, seeking only Thy sweetness and Thy delights, so that my whole mind and all that is within me may ardently sigh to Thee, who art our true Beatitude.
O most merciful Lord, engrave Thy Wounds upon my heart with Thy most Precious Blood, that I may read in them both Thy grief and Thy love; and that the memory of Thy Wounds may ever remain in my inmost heart, to excite my compassion for Thy sufferings and to increase in me Thy love. Grant also that I may despise all creatures, and that my heart may delight in Thee alone.
Amen.
5) Anima Christi
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, embolden me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Never permit me to be parted from you.
From the evil Enemy defend me.
At the hour of my death, call me
and bid me come to you,
that with your Saints I may praise you
for age upon age.
Amen.
6) Prayer to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ
‘’Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, Save Us & The Whole World’’
7) Prayer in Honor of the Five Wounds of Jesus by Saint Clare of Assisi
(from The Five Wounds of Christ)
Let me kiss the wounds in
Your hands, dear Lord.
With sorrow deep and true,
and may every movement of my hands
be an act of love for You!
Let me kiss the wounds in Your feet,
Dear Lord, with sorrow deep and true,
and may every movement of my feet
be an act of love for You!
Let me kiss the wound in Your Heart,
Dear Lord, with sorrow deep and
true, and may every movement
of my heart be an act of love for You!
Amen.
8) The Prayer Before a Crucifix to Jesus Christ Crucified ("En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu")
"Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus,
I cast myself upon my knees in thy sight,
and with the most fervent desire of my soul,
I pray and beseech thee that thou wouldst impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, with true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment; while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate thy five wounds, having before my eyes the words which David the prophet put on thy lips concerning thee: “My hands and my feet they have pierced, they have numbered all my bones.”