4. OPENING PRAYER

At last, we’ve reached the stage in which we find ourselves gathered, as it were, with the heavenly host, and are ready to allow the Word to speak itself into our midst.

O God of eternal glory,
you anointed Jesus, your servant,
to bear our sins,
to encourage the weary,
to raise up and restore the fallen.
Keep before our eyes
the splendour of the paschal mystery of Christ,
and, by our sharing in the passion and resurrection,
seal our lives with the victorious sign
of his obedience and exaltation.
We ask this through Christ, our liberator from sin,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
holy and mighty God for ever and ever.
Amen.

☞ Now move on to the next section