Holy Thursday Foot Washing Prayers of Petition
FutureChurch’s Russ Petrus developed the following prayers of petition for Holy Thursday in the Spring of 2020 as the COVID pandemic closed churches and made foot washing – and important element of the Holy Thursday Mass – unsafe. We welcome you to pray them alone or with your communities:
Leader:
That we may be faithful to Christ’s example of service, we pray:
Reader:
Wash us, O God, of sexism, homophobia, transphobia and all forms of exclusion — that our Church may be a place where all share equally at Your banquet table, knowing themselves to be wonderfully made in Your divine image and likeness, we pray:
Wash us, O God, and make us servants to one another.
Wash us, O God, of nationalism, xenophobia, racism and all forms and systems of prejudice and oppression — that our lands may be spaces of bountiful welcome, sanctuary, refuge, and opportunity we pray:
Wash us, O God, and make us servants to one another.
Wash us, O God, of consumerism, materialism, wastefulness, and other habits and mentalities which exploit and desecrate our common home — that Mother Earth may thrive, feeding, sustaining and providing for all creation, we pray:
Wash us, O God, and make us servants to one another.
Wash us, O God, of ignorance, hardness of heart, self-doubt, fear and everything that keeps us from walking in solidarity with the poorest and most vulnerable among us, we pray:
Wash us, O God, and make us servants to one another.
Wash us, O God, of feelings of despair and helplessness in this time of pandemic — that we may reach out to one another in tender care and seek new and creative ways to be in communion and solidarity with each other, we pray:
Wash us, O God, and make us servants to one another.
Leader:
Pour your abundant love over us, O God, like flowing water;
that we may be refreshed in faith and hope.
May those who have died bathe in the light of your eternal presence;
Give those who are sick to drink deeply of your healing energy;
and immerse all who provide for our basic human need in your protective care.
We make these prayers, and all the prayers we carry with us, in Jesus’ name. AMEN
Image Credit Sculpture: “Divine Servant,” by Max Greiner, 1990. Pittsburgh, TX. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.