Praying through Lent with USPG (14): 19 March 2019

Saint Joseph with the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child in the mosaic of the Holy Family by Christopher Hobbs in the Chapel of Saint Joseph in Westminster Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

The mid-Lent celebrations of Saint Patrick’s Day have come to end, and today in the Calendar of the Church is Saint Joseph’s Day [19 March 2019].

During Lent this year, I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections.

USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.

This week (17-23 March), the USPG Prayer Diary is focussing on Injustice.

As an introduction to this week’s prayers, the Prayer Diary on Sunday published an article by the Anti Human Trafficking (AHT) Programme in the Diocese of Durgapur in the Church of North India.

Tuesday 19 March:

Pray for all who live in poverty and long for the security of job and home, that their needs are addressed by governments and their hopes realised.

Readings (Saint Joseph’s Day): II Samuel 7: 4-16; Psalm 89: 26-36; Romans 4: 13-18; Matthew 1: 18-25.

The Collect (Saint Joseph’s Day):

God our Father,
who from the family of your servant David
raised up Joseph the carpenter
to be the guardian of your incarnate Son
and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Give us grace to follow his example
of faithful obedience to your commands;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lenten Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
whose Son grew in wisdom and stature
in the home of Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth,
and on the wood of the cross perfected
the work of the world’s salvation.
Help us, strengthened by this sacrament of his passion,
to count the wisdom of the world as foolishness,
and to walk with him in simplicity and trust;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The fresco of Saint Joseph in north aisle chapel of Saint Joseph in Saint Saviour’s Church, Waterford … the fresco painted by the Irish Dominican, Father Aengus Buckley, shows Saint Joseph surrounded by four angels; four local Waterford girls sat as models for the angels (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Continued tomorrow

Yesterday’s reflection