he Armenian people have persisted for millennia, enduring genocidal campaigns, war and political instability. Since its inception, CNEWA has worked closely with the Armenian churches — particularly in the Middle East and, since the great earthquake in December 1988, in the Armenian heartland perched in the Caucasus Mountains — to alleviate poverty in body, mind and spirit. CNEWA responds to these human needs with compassion, care and the informed perspective that comes with decades of experienced service in the region.
Based on CNEWA’s century-old relationship with the Armenian Church, we offer a collection of prayers drawn from the Book of Lamentations by St. Gregory of Narek as an inspirational gift to help you strengthen your relationship with the Lord during this Lenten season.
May these verses bring you healing and hope this Lent and beyond!
he voice of a sighing heart, its sobs and mournful cries, I offer up to you, O Seer of Secrets, placing the fruits of my wavering mind as a savory sacrifice on the fire of my grieving soul to be delivered to you in the censer of my will.
Compassionate Lord, breathe in this offering and look more favorably on it than upon a more sumptuous sacrifice offered with rich smoke.
Please find this simple string of words acceptable. Do not turn in disdain. May this unsolicited gift reach you, this sacrifice of words from the deep mystery-filled chamber of my feelings, consumed in flames fueled by whatever grace I may have within me.
rant me life, compassionate Lord.
Hear me, merciful Lord.
Be charitable to me, forgiving Lord.
Save me, long-suffering Lord.
Protect me, defender Lord.
Be generous, all-giving Lord.
Free me, all-powerful Lord.
Revive me, restoring Lord.
Raise me again, awe-inspiring Lord.
Enlighten me, heavenly Lord.
Cure me, omnipotent Lord.
Grant pardon, inscrutable Lord.
Bestow gifts, bountiful Lord.
Adorn me with grace, generous Lord.
Let us be reconciled, healing Lord.
ay you heal the souls and wash away the transgressions of those who read this book with pure hearts. Forgive their debts and free them from the bonds of sin. Release the flow of tears from those who study this book, and instill in them the desire to repent.
And with them, Lord, grant me, contrition for my willfulness, and give them grace-filled inspiration through my voice.
May their prayers, through this book, also be offered for me, and may their sighs rise like incense in place of mine.
May your light enter and dwell in those who taste and embrace these mournful psalms. And if through me some pious readers dedicate themselves to you, receive me also, merciful Lord, with those who live for you.
nd now, now, compassionate God, I pray for your mercy, as you instructed in your own words, “Make offerings in the name of God’s salvation and you shall be made holy, for I want contrition not sacrifice.”
Be exalted anew in remembrance of this offering in incense, for everything is in you, and everything is from you. To you glory from all.
Amen.
nd now, I, earthbound and preoccupied with the cares of everyday existence, numbed by the deceitful wine of foolishness, I, who lie in all things and am truthful in none, marked with these faults, how shall I come before your judgment, Just Judge, terrible beyond words and telling, mighty God of all?
The more I compare my sinful ingratitude with your loving-kindness, the more I prove your law is always stronger, and my lawlessness, always defeated.
ord Jesus, blessed with the Father, by favor of your Holy Spirit and all who are blessed through your blessedness, blessed only son of the blessed, no other king other than you, Christ, rules over my breath.
As the prophet Isaiah said, the blessing of Jacob will come when I lift away his sins.
Now, have mercy upon me, Lord, with lovingkindness, as you did in the past and bless me, your speaking, thinking vessel, as you did the voice of David and Moses, by the visitation of your word of salvation. May I receive pardon with your blessing.
o that I will not give up hope of salvation, and, laying down my arms, surrender to so many invisible attackers, which are nothing other than the tribe of foes, springing up, of their own, in the categories just described, in numbers and forms that are terrifying, I shall show here as against these warriors, the mightiest of godly champions, most victorious and undefeated, which at the same time are summoned by a most painful grief, like a difficult-to-swallow fruit of an unreachable tree, or the toil and hardship of an untrodden path.
nd now, what will you do, my lost soul?
Where will you hide?
How will you live?
And how can you escape the prison of your sin?
Your transgressions are many and your punishments countless.
The scolding severe and the harsh words endless. Even the angels have lost patience and the judge cannot be bribed.
The court is mighty and the tribunal just.
The vengeance is terrible and the retribution, merciless.
The sentence terrifying and the condemnation, direct.
The rivers fiery and the streams impassable.
The darkness is thick and the fog impenetrable.
The pit is vile and the torment eternal.
Hell is all-encompassing and the blizzard unrelenting.
Now, indeed you have piled up all these bitter things, a depraved and terrible cell of unbearable punishment, O my worthless sinful soul...
or yours is salvation, and from you is redemption, and by your right hand is restoration, and your finger is fortification.
Your command is justification. Your mercy is liberation. Your countenance is illumination. Your face is exultation.
Your spirit is benefaction. Your anointing oil is consolation.
A dew drop of your grace is exhilaration.
You give comfort. You make us forget despair. You lift away the gloom of grief. You change the sighs of our heart into laughter.
To you is fitting blessing with praise in heaven and on earth from our forefathers and unto all their generations forever and ever.
Amen.
or even he who has committed mortal sin, even he, recaptured in the evil spirit’s prison and cast down into the abyss of evil, even he still can grasp the slender hope of salvation.
Even he has hope of escape through redemption, like the remorseful sinner miraculously reclaimed through the raindrops of his eyes caused by the compassion of the Almighty, the Almighty who again made the earth flourish, as a gift from the Spirit of God.
Let us remember also the healing and encouraging words of our Lord, “With faith, anything is possible.”
First and foremost let us consider this the measure of what is good and favored in the eyes of God; for the way to the holy of holies is through faith.
Without faith, the Lord of glory did not, will not show his miraculous power to us, asking first that his good work be met by our faith.
For this reason he who is with God is, of his own, capable of receiving life, for the blessed mouth of God has promised, “Your faith shall save you.”
nd now, I, the most laggard of believers, devoid of goodness, contemplate with my mind’s eye all creation out of nothing by the hand of our maker.
And with hope, my faith grows that Jesus Christ can do anything he wills, as Paul advised and David taught.
As I believe, so have I spoken.
May their prayers take life in me so that through faith I might know him and the power of his resurrection. And that I may, in the words of the Apostle, share in his torment and the glory that followed.
For true faith attends and resembles the transformation of renewal, from sin to atonement, from wrongdoing to righteousness, from uncleanness to holiness, from unforgivable mortal transgressions to blameless bliss, from earthly bondage to heavenly freedom.
nd taking refuge in this unclouded assurance, I who was broken, am restored, who was wretched, am triumphant, who was dissipated, am healed, who was desperately outlawed, find hope, who was condemned to death, find life, who was mortgaged by damnable deeds, find the light, who was debauched by animal pleasures, find heaven, who was twice caught in scandal, again find salvation, who was bound by sin, find the promise of rest, who was shaken by incurable wounds, find the salve of immortality, who was wildly rebellious, find the reins of tranquility, who was a renegade, find calling, who was brazenly self-willed, find humility, who was quarrelsome, find forgiveness.
Therefore, to Jesus Christ and his almighty and awe-inspiring Father, to the name and the will of the beneficence of the true Holy Spirit, the blessed essence and one Godhead, all power and dominion, majesty and glory forever. Amen.
ccept with sweetness almighty Lord my bitter prayers.
Look with pity upon my mournful face.
Dispel, all-bestowing God, my shameful sadness.
Lift, merciful God, my unbearable burden.
Cast off, potent God, my mortal habits.
Spoil, triumphant God, my wayward pleasures.
Dissipate, exalted God, my wanton fog.
Block, life-giving God, my destructive ways.
Undo, secret-seeing God, my evil entrapments.
Fend off, inscrutable God, my assailants.
Inscribe your name on the skylight of my abode.
Cover the roof of my temple with your hand.
Mark the threshold of my cell with your blood.
Imprint the outside of my door with your sign.
Protect the mat where I rest with your right hand. Keep my cot pure from all seductions.
Preserve my suffering soul by your will.
Steady the breath of life you have given my flesh.
Surround me with your heavenly host.
Post them on watch against the battalion of demons.
ou brought joy to the gloomy heart. You steadied the fainting soul. You restored happiness to the despondent spirit.
You filled his emptiness with the anointing of the life-giving baptismal font and the cup of light. You renewed him through regenerative, heavenly bread, your body.
…
You, who minister without charge to the unworthy, grant me also atonement and healing, O compassionate, mighty, inscrutable, incorruptible and awesome, eternally blessed one, unto the ages of ages.
Amen.
ou found me, a sinner, lost in darkness crying like the psalmist in prayer, and because of your willing care you were called Shepherd, for not only did you care, but you sought, not only did you find, O worker of miracles, but with the goodness of your love, a love that defies description, you rescued me, lifting me upon your shoulders, to set down alongside your heavenly army, the heirs to your fatherly legacy.
emember me, Lord of all, benefactor, light in the darkness, treasure of blessing, merciful, compassionate, kind, mighty, powerful beyond telling, understanding, or words, equal to all crises, you who are, in the words of Jacob, always ready to do the impossible.
O fire that clears away sin’s underbrush, blazing ray that illumines every great mystery, remember me, blessed one, with mercy rather than legalisms, with forbearance rather than vengeance, with lenience rather than evidence, so that you weigh my sins with your kindness and not with judgment.
For by the first, my burden is light, but by the second, I am damned forever.
od of goodness, Lord of bliss. The more you bestow, the greater your glory.
The more you give, the more you are loved. The more your mercy, the more your greatness. For all your benevolence, you are rightly praised. Though Lord of all, you came to us as our equal. Though possessing everything, you weigh by our measure. Though you have gifts beyond telling, you accept our skimpy payment. And to the account of mortals, you grant unlimited credit. Your generosity is sublime, yet not too high to receive our meager praise. Show the same compassion to me with my countless debts so I might in expressing gratitude for your gifts also commemorate your love. To you glory in all things.
was born in sin, the child of mortal labor. Now, in one day, a penalty of countless thousand has come due.
I turn to you for forgiveness not on the meager human scale, but with the full undiminishing measure of lovingkindness shown toward us by our Savior Jesus Christ:
Before I was, you created me. Before I could wish, you shaped me. Before I glimpsed the world’s light, you saw me. Before I emerged, you took pity on me. Before I called, you heard me. Before I raised a hand, you looked over me. Before I asked, you dispensed mercy on me. Before I uttered a sound, you turned your ear to me. Before I sighed, you attended me.
Knowing in advance my current trials, you did not thrust me from your sight. No, even foreseeing my misdeeds, you fashioned me.
ear, all-seeing vision of hope and goodness of life, the profuse sighs of my hurting soul, unreachable greatness, fearful name, living word, longed for message, delectable taste, worshipful calling, confessed beneficence, sweet perception, professed reality, glorious essence, blessed existence.
Lord Christ, praised and worshiped with your Father and exalted and proclaimed with the Holy Spirit, who alone became human like us for our sakes, so you might make us like you for your sake, light unto all, merciful, almighty and heavenly in all ways, I pray that, with your divine miracle-working power, compassionate God, you restore this, my collapsing broken earthen vessel.
compassionate Lord who loves humankind, almighty God, as you consider these words of pleading, treat them as a confession from a contrite soul fallen at your feet in repentance.
And as you judge, note and weigh the tearful soul, the heaving sighs, the quivering lips, the dry tongue, the clenched face, the good will in the depth of the heart, you who are the salvation of humanity, the seer of the undone, the creator of all, the healer of invisible wounds, the defender of the hopeful and the guardian of all, to you glory forever and ever.
do not put my hope in mankind, for I would be cursed by the evil eye and falter in despair.
Rather I place my faith in you, my Lord, who loves our souls.
You, who even at the hour you were nailed to the cross overflowed with boundless compassion, and beseeched your Father on high to take mercy on your tormentors.
Now grant me hope of atonement, life and refuge, so when I take my last breath I might receive from you a healed soul.
To you with the Father and the Holy Spirit, all power, victory, majesty and glory forever.
caregiving, mighty, heavenly, kind, creator of all out of nothing, send the thunderbolt of wisdom in powerful words, upon the movements of my tongue that it might cleanse the senses with which you endowed me, so that with the faculties you created and fixed a second time, I might offer thanks to you with unfailing voice and unbroken speech.
For the glory of the majesty of your Father, our God, forever.
ord God of all, able to do anything, all-encompassing space, unbounded, unlimited, close to all with your very essence, nowhere, yet without you there are no bounds, invisible, yet without the light of your dawn nothing is visible, awesome glory, incomprehensible name, voice of majesty, sound of the infinite, essence beyond analysis, unreachable distance, immediate closeness, who notes gentleness and sees distress, stands by grief and can cure all hopeless cases, Father of compassion who spreads mercy, God of comfort.
lessed, kind, mighty, loving, forbearing, caring, ingenious, visitor, defender without sparing, protector victorious, life indestructible, intercessor to heaven, undiminishing fullness, bliss celebrated, lovingly extend your right hand of mercy.
Accept and present me, a manifold sinner, my sins forgiven and cleansed, to your Holy Spirit, equal to you in honor, O living Word, so that reconciled through you the Holy Spirit might return to me.
Through you, may the almighty Holy Spirit cleanse me with pure will and present me to your Father so I may with him and through him always be bound with grace to you through the breath of salutation inseparably united with you. And for these gifts, to you, the Father and the Holy Spirit, three persons, one nature and one godhead, glory and thanksgiving from your created beings, forever and ever.
or as Job said, the snares of evil are all around, from these I cannot escape. But by your good will if the light of compassion should shine, if the door of your mercy should open, if the rays of your glory should spread, if the care of your hand should be revealed, if the dawning sun of life should break forth, if the sight of your beautiful morn should be unveiled, if the bounty of your sweetness should flow forth, if the stream from the maker’s side should run, if the drops of your pure love should shower down, if the good news of the dawn of your grace should resound, if the tree of your gift should blossom, if the parts of your blessed body are distributed, if the dashed expectations should be reassembled, if the silenced sound of your beckoning voice, Lord, should again be heard, if your banished peace should return, then with this blessing shall the faith of steady hope be forever mine finding refuge in the Holy Spirit, who with the Father is worshiped with the voice of sweetness and together with you bathed in light too bright for human eyes.
Grant life, forgiveness and heavenly bliss to me, a sinner, holding your incorruptible grace, the true token of faith, as an indestructible legacy.
ay he who copies these words be crowned among the blissful. May he expecting your mercy join the ranks of the pure.
May he be granted life through your beneficence for his homage to God the Word.
May the praiseworthy blessings of your lips Be upon the heart of him who distributes this book.
May the aspiration of Solomon’s book of Proverbs be fulfilled.
Through your Spirit, exalted God, may the imprint of your image be incorruptibly renewed, for you alone are patient and forgiving, and to you all glory.
f you call me, I will fear. For I have betrayed the gift of goodness, forsaken bliss, abandoned grace, disavowed my word, forgotten the gift of life, lost boldness and confidence, angered the creator of my being, trampled that grace beyond words, deformed the image of honor.
But if you, Lord Jesus, reach out to me in loving-kindness as I suffocate with sighs of pain, then, as the Scriptures promised, “Your cure will cleanse away the greatest sins.”
And through your boundless kindness I will be joined to you, with your image of light reimprinted upon my soul.
Atoned and reestablished in your salvation, I will reach the immortal life of the virtuous and give glory forever to you with the Father and Holy Spirit.
orgive these sins, generous God, and do not focus only on them. It is easier for you to erase them than for me to describe my vile actions.
Therefore, I write without restraint so you may blot them out, you, who for the sake of us sinners became long-suffering.
My soul, like Ezra’s yearning heart, is anxious, my spirit, restless as I list these faults, showing how I am in danger of every mortal passion, how I am fallen into a pit of sin.
And like Job, I doubt you hear me.
Now, as a self-accused, self-condemned captive, bound by sin, I turn myself in and block all of life’s possibilities.
But by your mercy toward me your greatness is multiplied, praiseworthy Lord.
ou alone are great and generous in everything.
You are the definition of abundant goodness, who pours forth constantly without measure, more than we ask or expect, as Paul said in gratitude.
For you commanded we should do good, from dawn to dusk, in the same day, nine times fifty, plus three, plus four times ten.
Always attentive, forgiving with an unfettered heart, something more than the expectation of men’s prayers.
And if we place my wretchedness and disgrace beside your glory, omnipotent and awesome power, God of all, blessed Lord Christ, by what measure of weight shall the balance between the creator and the clay be set?
You remain in these things infinite and unexaminable, good in all things, having no part in the wrath of darkness; therefore, far less are the number of stars than your greatness, for you called them into existence from nothing by merely pronouncing their names.
ow, let us see the truth of your words, O merciful God of all, who forgives and blesses the sinner, even the sinner faltering many times a day, if he turns back repentant, even if the choice to turn back is made with his last breath, or in the very midst of sinning, especially since our cruel companion, as we try to govern ourselves, is the always contrary, lying, cheating, flattering Instigator, the same who, in the words of the Proverbs, grazes on the wind.
My wayward body, which has been an unruly fugitive from you, my creator, and easy prey for the Predator, is like the thorns among the wheat endlessly wavering on any excuse, so often only you can keep track.
And then comes the pitiful wail, which follows the sinning, hopeless and tormented, hear me sighing, “alas” as I come before you, Lord, with pleas for mercy and wretched groans, written with tears, humbled by pangs of guilt caused by the distress of boundless evil.
nd now, since I have increased the distress of my sighing voice with great cries and inconsolable grief, so that you, merciful forefather of confession of invisible secrets, Son of the living God, Lord Jesus Christ, might look with kindness and grant atonement, for you are indeed able and truly sufficient. If you want, you have the means; as much as you want, you can do, you, who are more enriched by giving than receiving. Your treasure increases more by sharing than gathering. Your estate grows more by disbursing than collecting. Your stores pile up more by distributing than hoarding.
All this gives me faith that through you I might find the path to salvation.
hand of Jesus Christ, giver of all gifts, turn also toward me extending your grace. Dwell in me, become a part of me and do not leavemy anguished soul, the chamber of love.
And may your incorruptible image, a token of the brilliant light beckoning us to Christian salvation, stay with me to intercede for my entry in the book of your legacy of eternal life, Holy Spirit of the Gospel and heavenly creator.
And to you who are your own sole cause, and to you, the only begotten of the sole cause, and to you who bear the sole cause, three persons in one Godhead, worthy of glory from the greatest of mortals and the ranks of saints, forever.
lmighty, beneficent God of all, who loves mankind, maker of the visible and invisible, savior and creator, defender and peacemaker, spirit of the Father Almighty, we beseech you with outstretched arms, tears and prayers, as we appear before you, you, who strike terror in our hearts, judge us as we approach with trembling and fear, presenting first this sacrificial offering of words to your power that is beyond understanding.
You share the throne, glory and creatorship of the undiminishing honor of the Father.
You examine our deepest secrets and mysteries.
urn toward me and have mercy upon me, O God, who so thirsts, hungers and longs for my salvation.
You have gone so far as to designate a heavenly host of blessed immortals, to act as priests and intercessors for man’s salvation, so that on behalf of us earthly beings, for the reconciliation of the wretched and abandoned like me, they might perpetually pray for your great blessed mercy, with this light-giving phrase, “Have mercy upon Jerusalem,” so that based upon your great revelation places left empty by the fallen angels, might be filled by human beings, who have joined you, in the manner of the earthly Jerusalem, about which you sent us good news.
n the manner of Peter, seeking to follow you, God of all, I was swallowed by the waves of the sea of my sinful life.
Extend your life-giving right hand to help me, for I am foundering.
In the voice the Canaanite women, I pray from the bottom of my heart, like a starving dog yelping, wretched and anxious, begging for scraps, a few crumbs of the bread of life from your bountiful table.
Save my physical altar, Son of bitterness, who came to rescue me when I was lost.
For yours is majesty, victory and power. And you are atonement and healing, renewal and bliss.
To you all glory and praise forever.
o matter how great the mounting debt of my sins, the saving grace of your trials is greater by far.
You were nailed to the cross, the instrument of death, on your all-embracing creative hands, which hold all souls, so my disobedient hand might be stilled.
Out of compassion for my wantonness, you bound the motion of your two life-giving feet, so they might be pawned for my miserable feet, always racing toward brutishness.
…
Although I waver and am sold to the powers of death, I am redeemed by your blood.
You are blessed twice over and blessed again, praised in all things, forever and ever.
nd so my reprimand shall come, as Job said, not from myself, but from your all-seeing eye, of which I am in terror, wrenched with anxieties, dread and fear. But refuge for my broken spirit lies in your living, incorruptible, constant hope, that looking on me with mercy, as one condemned to perdition, when I present myself before your heavenly beneficence, empty-handed and without gifts, bringing with me the evidence of your untold glory, I will remind you who never slumber in forgetfulness, who never shut your eyes, never ignore the sighs of grief, that with your cross of light you may lift away from me, I beg you, the peril that chokes me, with your comforting care, the vacillating sadness, with your crown of thorns, the germs of my sin, with the lashes of the whip, the blows of death, with the memory of the slap in the face, the neediness of my shame, with the spitting of your enemies, my contemptible vileness, with your sip of vinegar, the bitterness of my soul. For yours is all the boundless goodness, only begotten Son of God, together with which, I remember my wrongs, calling your all-blessed name aloud with supplications.
ow, look upon me besieged by overwhelming danger, you who are alone sweet to all.
Cut me loose with your victorious sword of life, the cross, and release me from the nets that have snared me, nets that assail me on all sides as the captive of death.
Please steady my shaky feet on the crooked path and heal the burning fever of my anguished heart.
Turn away the demonic whisper of temptation to sin against you…
Renew the image of light revered by the glory of your mighty name, my soul.
Fix your glowing grace upon my face and the perception of my mind, an earthbound creature.
And cleanse my squalid sinfulness with your purity so that you might restore and reveal your image in me.
With your divine, living, uncorrupted and heavenly light that envelopes your three persons.
For you alone are blessed with the Father and Holy Spirit forever and ever.
on of the living God, blessed in all things, whose awesome birth by your Father passes all understanding, for whom nothing is impossible, before the dawning of the uneclipsed rays of the mercy of your glory sins melt away, demons flee, transgressions are erased, bindings are cut and chains undone.
The dead are born again, infirmities are cured, wounds are healed, corruption is cleansed, sadness withdraws, sighs retreat, darkness flees, fog departs, twilight vanishes, darkness lifts, the night passes, alarm is banished, evil is destroyed, despair is exiled.
And your omnipotent hand rules, redeemer of all.
ord God of compassion, salvation and mercy, redemption and restoration, healing and health, enlightenment and life, resurrection and immortality, remember me, when you go to your kingdom, O awesome, mighty, doer of good and creator of all, living, praised, perfecter of all, accessible to the sighs of all beings.
With the man who was crucified with you, who was not captured for your sake and was not bound, was not hanged and was not nailed, was not beaten in your great name and was not disgraced, was not tortured and was not treated with contempt, was not crushed and was not killed, I beg to be worthy of the Kingdom and the most desired light that is the reward of the just.
May you, by the authority of saying the oath, “Amen,” affirm that your gifts are unchanging and are glorified for giving the hope of salvation to those of us who consider ourselves totally abandoned.
lessed, blessed, and blessed again! Having accepted me by that same faith, raise me up from my fallen state, doer of good, cure me of disease, merciful, return me from the edge of death to life, life-giver, for I am yours, same as man’s faith, my refuge.
Grant the breath of life to the body of the dead, O resurrection, life, immortality, and inexhaustible joy, boundless grace, unwavering forgiveness, omnipotent right hand, all-governing hand, all-reaching finger, you have only to wish it, Lord, and I shall be saved, only to think it, and by your mercy shall I be justified.
Say the word, and I will be found spotless.
Forget my wrongs, and I shall venture to emerge.
Cultivate me and I shall cleave to you, you who are glorified in all things forever.
oundless God, genuine son of God, inexplicable, creator of everything, Christ King, light for the darkened hearts of the unknowing, light who took human form like us, but are in essence like him who sent you, whose form is miraculously revealed through ours.
Blessed by your heavenly Father, who sent you and with whom you share glory for creation.
You care enough for my salvation, an exiled slave, that you delivered yourself to evil men and without resorting to your divinity drank from the cup of death for me, a sinner, according to the plan of your divine economy, with true humanity and perfect divinity.
And the Holy Spirit is also of the same essence as you and the Father, equal in honor with the Son and the Father, one perfect Trinity in three persons indivisible, without beginning or time, benefactor to all, life giver of all, peacemaker of all, creator of existence and shaper of all things, glorified with one indivisible nature.
eal me with your bread of life, confront me with mercy, for you are my first refuge.
Clothe me, a lawless sinner, merciful and unvengeful God, with the clothes of my former innocence.
Place, with your boundless generosity, the ring with your seal of courage on my sinful hand that lost everything by straying in sin.
Protect the soles of my bare feet with the sandals of the Gospels.
Guard me from poisonous snakes. And even though I am wanting in virtue you sacrifice the fatted calf of heaven, your only begotten Son, out of love for mankind.
Your blessed Son who is always offered and yet remains whole, who is sacrificed continuously upon innumerable altars without being consumed, who is all in everyone and complete in all things, who is in essence of heaven and in reality of earth, who is lacking nothing in humanness and without defect in divinity, who is broken and distributed in individual parts, that all may be collected in the same body with him as head.
Glory to you with him, Father most merciful.
xalted and mighty God, who has no beginning, no becoming, and no end, observer with an unsleeping eye, parent of the only begotten, glorious and inscrutable, before heaven and earth, justify granting your mercy to me to whom it has been denied.
Celebrate my restoration to life. Announce the good news for me who is dying.
Reveal your good will, O praiseworthy Lord, to all creation.
Be true to your name, ineffable, and grant me, a miserable sinner, renewed salvation.
Wipe away the mortgage of my sins.
And commute the death sentence upon my soul with the blood of your beloved Son. With his blood assure salvation for the good. Show the majesty of your mercy at the bridal feast. Do not shut me, a supplicant, out of the house of life.
hrist God, awe-inspiring name, vision of majesty, inscrutable image of sublimity, infinite force,
model of the light of salvation, defender of life, gate to the kingdom of heavenly rest… indescribable son of the one and only God. What is impossible for me is easy for you. What is beyond my reach was put there by you. What is inaccessible for me is close to you. What is hidden from me in my fallen state is within view for your beatitude. What is impossible for me is done by you. What is incalculable for me is already tallied by you, who are beyond telling. What is despair for me is consoling for you. What is incurable for me is harmless for you. What is sighing for me is rejoicing for you. What is heavy for me is light for you. What effaces me is written for your power. What is lost for me is conquered for you. What is inexpressible for me is comprehensible for you.
What is gloom for me is radiance for you. What is infinite for me you hold in the palm of your blessed hand. What is somber for me is refreshing for you. What sets me to flight, you withstand. What holds me in check, you handily turn back. What is fatal for me is nothing before your almighty essence.
he venerable voices of the prophets, foretold the liberating mission of your blessed coming, which is beyond human telling.
For the manifestations of the revelation of your good news and the salvation of the cross, are countless and varied, faint and feeble, old and fleeting…
Your victory in the battle for goodness, for a new, immortal life of grace, baptism, resurrection and renewal, for our kinship with you and union with your Holy Spirit, for forgiveness, liberation and enlightenment, for eternal purity, true bliss, in communion with the angels, in unfading glory, is the plea for reconciliation upon our lips voiced by your Lord on high.
And what is more awe-inspiring, for it is a monument to your magnanimity: the gift of divine nature by election of your grace, uniting us with you, Creator, by partaking of your body and sharing in your light of life, the fulfillment of the good promise, which, in Paul’s words, the Old Law did not have.
You, Savior, came with your father’s bounty, perfected and fulfilled in perpetuity our undiminishing hope in you, Redeemer of all.
To you glory with your Father, with praise and blessings to the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.
our testament is the gospel. Your judgment is freedom. Your lawbook is grace.
You are not limited by laws.
You are not bound by canons. You are not hampered by imperfections. You are not humbled by obedience. You are not restricted by smallness. You are not measured by boundaries.
You do not err out of anger.
You do not alter out of wrath.
You do not misjudge out of severity.
You do not simmer out of agitation.
You do not falter out of ignorance.
You do not waver out of soft-heartedness.
You do not diminish out of exaltation.
You do not abandon your duty of care.
You do not weaken your salvation.
You are the beginning and the end of all.
Everything is from you alone. Therefore glory to you and worship forever.
Amen.
©2025 Catholic Near East Welfare Association
Photo Credits:
Cover, pages 13, 16, Digital images courtesy the Walters Art Museum, licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0; pages 2, 24, 54, 59, 63, Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program; pages 4, 8-9, 33, 39, 51, 60, Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford; pages 21, 29, Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images; page 27, Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images; page 44, Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.
Catholic Near East Welfare Association, born of the compassionate vision of Pope Pius XI in 1926, stands as an instrument of healing and hope across the lands of the ancient Eastern churches. Throughout CNEWA’s world, we work in lockstep with the local churches to mend the fractures of a broken world — bringing emergency aid and long-term support to vulnerable and marginalized communities in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine.
Quietly, prayerfully, joyfully, CNEWA lives out the great command — “Love one another.”
To learn more, visit: cnewa.org
Catholic Near East Welfare Association 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017
www.cnewa.org • 1-800-442-6392