PRAYER OF WELCOME TO JESUS THE LISTENER
When everyone is gathered to receive the Jesus the Listener Crucifix, the Leader of the Service invites the people gathered to prayer, using these or similar words.
Leader: Let us welcome our Saviour Jesus the Listener in our midst. Let us make room for him in our home, in our hearts and in our daily lives.
People: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you in my house. Increase my faith, deepen my love, and strengthen my hope so that I may believe in your forgiveness and you may save me.
After the Crucifix has been erected, the Leader continues.
Leader: Behold Jesus the Listener, our Lord and our God! Our Saviour hangs on the Cross. Stretched forward, he is listening. His eyes are upon us, and on his face we behold the suffering of the God-Man and the mercy of our God who loves us.
People: We give thanks to the most Holy Trinity for this greatest work of love in the Passion of Jesus.
The Paschal Candle is lit, preferably by a member of the family, and placed beside the Crucifix. This candle should be lit during all prayer times, in private or in common. While lighting the candle, the following prayer may be used.
Leader: O Jesus the Listener, you are the Light of the World. By the merits of your holy and glorious Wounds, illumine our lives with your saving presence. May you, who victoriously rose from the dead, dispel the darkness of evil and sin from our hearts and minds.
People: Jesus the Listener, we welcome you as our Light. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may your presence in us be a light to others. May they see your goodness in our words and actions and give praise to our heavenly Father.
Leader: As we prepare to remember Our Lord’s Passion, let us be encouraged by the exhortation of St. Paul of the Cross: “It is very good and holy to consider the Passion of our Lord and to meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God. In this most holy school, we learn true wisdom, for it was there that all the saints learned it. Indeed when the cross of our dear Jesus has planted its roots more deeply in your hearts, then will you rejoice” (Letters of St. Paul of the Cross, Vol. I, p. 43; Vol. II: pp. 440, 825).
All: Loving Father, you gave St. Paul of the Cross a special love for the Passion of your Son Jesus. May St. Paul’s example inspire us to embrace our own daily suffering with courage and joy.
A Member of the Host Home: O Jesus the Listener, accept our humble hospitality.
We offer you all we have. Let our tears of repentance wash and refresh your feet. Accept our kisses as signs of gratitude. Receive our prayers and sacrifices as oil and perfume to anoint your hair.
We remember with joy that those who came to you in faith were healed of their afflictions, pains and diseases. May your presence among us, O Jesus the Listener, enable us to grow in faith, hope and love so that we also may experience the same healing power.
All: Like St. Peter, we proclaim, O Jesus the Listener, that in your body you brought our sins to the Cross so that we, dead to sin, may live in accordance with God’s will. By your Wounds we are healed. At one time we were straying like sheep, but now we have returned to you, the shepherd and guardian of our souls Cf. 1 Peter 2:24-25).
O Jesus the Listener, grant us the grace to unite our prayer with that of Mary your Mother who at the foot of the Cross helps us with her example as the faithful servant of the will of God.
After this Service of Welcome, the Prayer Service to Jesus the Listener begins.
PRAYER SERVICE
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE
Leader: Let us place ourselves in the presence of God. Let us examine our conscience and let us ask God to forgive us.
PENITENTIAL ACT
You were sent to heal the contrite: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
You came to call sinners: Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
You plead for us at the right hand of the Father: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Leader: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.
All: Amen.
Leader: Let us adore Jesus Crucified,
People: wounded for our sins.
Let us pray.
Eternal God, in your infinite mercy and love, you created us in your image and made us share in your divine life. Because of our disobedience, we lost your friendship and became slaves of sin, but you did not abandon us to eternal damnation. You sent your only-begotten Son to redeem us by assuming our human nature, and though innocent, he accepted suffering and death on the cross.
Through the Holy Spirit, the power of your love, Jesus restored our friendship with you. He brought us back to you, together with the whole universe, by the eternal offering of himself in obedient love, through his Passion and Death.
Loving Father, together with Mary our Sorrowful Mother, we place ourselves at the foot of the cross of your beloved Son. We ask you to receive the offering of our daily suffering in union with the sacrifice of your Son Jesus. As we share in his Passion and Death, may we also share in his glorious Resurrection.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
FIRST READING Is 53:1-5
Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
When I call, answer me, O my just God, you who relieve me when I am in distress; have pity on me, and hear my prayer! Ps 4:2
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Hearken to my words, O Lord, attend to my sighing. Heed my call for help, my king and my God! To you I pray, O Lord; at dawn you hear my voice; at dawn I bring my plea expectantly before you. Ps. 5:2-4
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; to my cry give ear; to my weeping be not deaf! For I am but a wayfarer before you, a pilgrim like all my fathers. Ps. 39:13
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Incline your ear, O Lord; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor. Keep my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have pity on me, O Lord, for to you I call all the day. Ps. 86:1-3
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
O Lord, hear my prayer; hearken to my pleading in your faithfulness; in your justice answer me. And enter not into judgment with your servant, for before you no living man is just. Ps. 143:1-2
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
SECOND READING 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation it is the power of God. Scripture says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and thwart the cleverness of the clever.” Where is the wise man to be found? Where the scribe? Where is the master of worldly argument? Has not God turned the wisdom of this world to folly? Since in God’s wisdom the world did not come to know him through “wisdom,” it pleased God to save those who believe through the absurdity of the preaching of the gospel. Yes, Jews demand “signs” and Greeks look for “wisdom,” but we preach Christ crucified—a stumbling block to Jews, and an absurdity to Gentiles; but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s folly is wiser than men, and his weakness more powerful than men.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Phil 2:8-9
Alleluia!
Or during lent it is said:
Praise and glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Christ became obedient for us even to death, dying on the cross.
Therefore God raised him on high and gave him a name above all other names.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL Luke 23:39-43
One of the criminals hanging in crucifixion blasphemed him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Then save yourself and us.” But the other one rebuked him: “Have you no fear of God, seeing you are under the same sentence? We deserve it, after all. We are only paying the price for what we’ve done, but this man has done nothing wrong.” He then said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter upon your reign.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you: This day you will be with me in paradise.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
LITANY OF JESUS THE LISTENER
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
Christ hear us, Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Mary, our Sorrowful Mother, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Guardian Angels, pray for us.
St. Paul of the Cross, pray for us.
All Saints and Blessed of the Passionist Family, pray for us.
(Patron of the parish church), pray for us
All our patron saints, pray for us.
Leader: We ask Jesus the Listener to listen to the needs of our Church.
People: Jesus the Listener
Leader:
Listen to the needs of our Holy Father, our bishops, pastors and other Church leaders.
Listen to the prayers of your Church for priestly and religious vocations.
Listen to the wants of those who serve us as: Priests, Deacons, Religious Brothers and Sisters and Lay People.
Listen to our necessity to obey the Law of God and the Precepts of the Church.
Listen to our joy in practicing our Faith in the celebration of the Sacraments.
Leader: We ask Jesus the Listener to listen to the needs of our Civil Society.
People: Jesus the Listener
Leader:
Listen to our prayers for our country.
Listen to our prayers for all our civil servants.
Listen to our need for morally-upright and just civil leaders.
Listen to the necessity for justice in our society.
Listen to the need for sound educators in our schools.
Listen to the needs of the unemployed.
Listen to the plight of the homeless.
Listen to the needs of those in prison.
Listen to the fears and anxieties of refugees.
Listen to the hopes of the immigrants.
Listen to our need to divest ourselves of our prejudices.
Listen to our necessity to respect God’s creation and to preserve the environment.
Leader: We ask Jesus the Listener to listen to the needs of our families.
People: Jesus the Listener
Leader:
Listen to our yearning for a stable and loving family.
Listen to the hopes and dreams of parents and grandparents.
Listen to the gratitude of adopting parents.
Listen to our prayers for all our deceased relatives, friends, and benefactors.
Listen to the emotional distress of the divorced and separated and their families.
Listen to the enthusiasm of the young.
Listen to our appreciation for senior citizens.
Listen to the pain of the widow and the orphan.
Listen to the emotional distress of those in bereavement.
Leader: We ask Jesus the Listener to listen to our spiritual needs.
People: Jesus the Listener
Leader:
Listen to our faith and trust in you.
Listen to our hope in you.
Listen to our love for you.
Listen to our desire to see your Providence in all suffering.
Listen to our struggle to avoid sin and live according to God’s Word.
Listen to our pleading for renewal of our moral and spiritual lives.
Listen to our yearning for eternal life with you.
Listen to our anguished cries for a Christian attitude toward life.
Listen to our prayers to always do God’s will.
Listen to our search for Christian unity, and unity among all people.
Listen to our prayers for all missionaries.
Listen to our necessity to become evangelizers.
Listen to our need for a correct sense of sin.
Listen to our prayers to be your faithful follower.
Listen to our request to be faithful and obedient children of your Mother Mary.
Listen to our repenting hearts.
Listen to our desire to practice virtue.
Listen to our effort to live a life of prayer.
Listen to our request for courage to openly profess our Faith.
Listen to our thankfulness for having created us in your image and likeness.
Listen to our striving to recognize and love you in each other.
Listen to our yearning for peace in our hearts, in our homes, and in our world.
Leader: We ask Jesus the Listener to listen to our personal human needs.
People: Jesus the Listener
Leader:
Listen to our need to be heard.
Listen to our need to be loved.
Listen to our gratitude.
Listen to our joys and happiness.
Listen to our crying hearts.
Listen to our emotional pain.
Listen to our anxieties.
Listen to our physical sufferings.
Listen to our confusions and doubts.
Listen to our loneliness.
Listen to our isolation.
Listen to our alienation.
Listen to our yearning for good communication.
Listen to our need for friendship.
Listen to our desire for companionship.
Listen to our longing for understanding.
Listen to our request for forgiveness.
Listen to our need to give and receive compassion.
Listen to the anguish of the depressed.
Listen to the torture of the scrupulous.
Listen to our prayers for our benefactors.
Leader: We ask Jesus the Listener to listen to the needs for a good quality of life.
People: Jesus the Listener
Leader:
Listen to the right to life of the unborn.
Listen to the discomfort of the ill.
Listen to our need to overcome incurable diseases.
Listen to the helplessness of those suffering from substance abuse.
Listen to the cries of those who are physically, psychologically and emotionally abused.
Listen to the needs of senior citizens.
Listen to the fears of the dying.
Listen to our appreciation for all those who minister to the ill and the poor.
Listen to the needs of the physically challenged.
Listen to the cries of the poor.
Listen to the spiritual wants of the materially rich.
Listen to the laments of the oppressed and persecuted.
Listen to our prayers for all those who suffer and die for justice and freedom and peace..
Listen to the special requests we make confident in your mercy.
Leader: We now ask Jesus the Listener to answer our personal and special requests which we make silently with confidence in his mercy.
(Please pause and silently add your own petitions.)
Leader: Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
People: Spare us, O Lord.
Leader: Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
People: Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Leader: Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
People: Have mercy on us.
Let us pray.
Jesus our Saviour and Lord, we raise up our hands and turn to you in prayer with confident hope. We remember your telling us: “Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. The one who knocks, enters” (Mt 7:7-9). We trust that you will grant our requests, as you did grant those of the Good Thief dying on the cross beside you, of Martha and Mary, the blind, the lepers and the sinners, so that one day we may be with you in your kingdom where you live for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer to Jesus the Listener
Jesus the Listener, I come to you because I need You to look upon me and love me. You know me better than anyone. You know my joys and my sorrows, my struggles and my suffering. May your merciful glance inspire me with perseverance in accepting everything for love of You. I shall not depart from your presence without saying with the Psalmist: “He has heard my voice in supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me the day I called” (Ps. 116:1-2). I ask this through the infinite merits of your Passion and Death. Amen.
Prayer to Jesus Crucified
Lord Jesus, how many ages have you hung upon your cross, and still I pass you by and regard you not, except to pierce anew your Sacred Heart? How often have I passed you by, heedless of your great sorrow, your many wounds, your infinite Love? How often have I stood before you, not to comfort and console you, but to add to your sorrows, to deepen your wounds, to scorn your Love? You have stretched forth your hands to comfort me, to raise me up, and I have taken those hands that might have struck me into hell, and bent them back on the cross, and nailed them there, rigid and helpless. Yet, I have but succeeded in engraving my name on your palms forever. You have loved me with an infinite Love, and I have taken advantage of that Love to sin the more against you. Yet, my ingratitude has but pierced your Sacred Heart, and upon me has flowed your Precious Blood. Lord Jesus, let your blood be upon me, not for a curse, but for a blessing. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on me. Amen.
Prayer to Our Mother of Sorrows
O Sorrowful Mother, through Divine Grace you had the courage to do God’s holy will, especially in moments of trial. At the foot of the Cross on Calvary, your Son’s Passion gave you the strength to endure your own personal agony as you watched him sacrifice his life for us.
There you gave us a true witness to a new living faith that we always want to emulate. You are the new Eve, the Woman who shares in restoring the life of Grace lost through original sin.
As the faithful handmaid of the Lord, you bring comfort and peace to the people of God who are in sorrow and distress. As our loving Mother who always leads us to Jesus, may we show you our gratitude by being living witnesses in the world of your Son’s fidelity, compassion and love. Amen.
Prayer to St. Joseph (By Fr. Claudio Piccinini, C.P. and Mrs. Andreina Brann)
O Blessed St. Joseph, we honour you as the most watchful guardian of the Holy Family and faithful spouse of Mary the Mother of God. It was your privilege to diligently protect Jesus and Mary while they were under your care on earth. With confidence in your powerful intercession before the throne of God, we ask you to obtain our requests. (In silence mention your request.) Protect us, our families and friends from all spiritual and physical harm. Teach us your virtues of humility, obedience, prudence and patience. Help us to be pure in our thoughts, words, and actions. Assist us to fulfill with joy the duties and responsibilities of our states in life. Be our constant guide in our daily activities so that we may be called “upright” before God as you were (cf. Matthew 1:19). Strengthened by your example, may we live holy lives so that we may die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary
Prayer for Benefactors
God Our Father, your love for each one of us is so great that we know you will not be surpassed in goodness. We beseech you, therefore, to look upon your sons and daughters who have offered themselves and their resources so that the Passion and Death of your Divine Son may be remembered.
May each one of them be sanctified by your Holy Spirit. Grant them health of mind and body. Fill them with your Peace and Love on this earth, and after this exile, welcome them for ever in your presence in Heaven. Amen.
Prayer for Vocations
O Jesus the Listener, our Divine Shepherd, You called the Apostles and made them fishers of souls. Call our sons and daughters to be your impassioned and generous followers. Bless them with a share of your universal thirst of salvation for which you renew your sacrifice each day. O Lord open their eyes and hearts to the needs of the entire world. Make them CO-workers in your mission of building up your Church. Place them under your providential care and let them be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Amen.
Prayer for the Holy Father
O Lord, have mercy upon your servant, Pope Benedict XVI, our Supreme Pontiff. Direct him according to your loving kindness in the way of eternal salvation. May he desire what is pleasing to you, and may you send him everything he needs to accomplish your will with all his might. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
CONCLUDING RITE
Departure of the Crucifix from The Host Home
All: O Jesus the Listener, we thank you for your presence in our midst. We thank you for all the grace we have received from you. We have come to love you more deeply through the remembrance of your Passion. Like the Good Thief who was saved by your presence, we ask that you bring us, and all those for whom we have prayed, to everlasting life with you.
We pray that all the families whom you will visit through this Devotion will experience your peace and know your love.
Grant us the grace to courageously say with the Apostle St. Paul, who learned the power of your Cross from his own suffering: “May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Gal 6:14).
You may kiss the Crucifix and silently add your own personal farewell to Jesus the Listener. Immediately following, the Leader will present the smaller Jesus the Listener Crucifix to the members of the host home. This Crucifix is to be permanently installed in a place of honour where it can be easily viewed. The following prayers may be used.
ENTHRONEMENT OF THE CRUCIFIX IN THE HOST HOME
Leader: Behold Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
All: We worship you, Jesus the Listener. We venerate your Cross. We praise your Resurrection. Through your Cross, you brought salvation and joy to the world.
Members of Host Home: Jesus the Listener, you saved the world through your Passion and Death. With gratitude we consecrate ourselves and our home to you. Let this Crucifix before us be a constant reminder of your words: “I came that they might have life and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10). O Jesus the Listener, protect each of us from evil. Give us the courage to be your followers and grant us eternal life.
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so that the people could be healed, we also lift high this Crucifix, O Jesus the Listener, so that by believing in you, we may have eternal life (cf. Jn 3:14).
All: “Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
Leader: O Jesus the Listener, we enthrone you in a place of honour in our home so that you may live at the center of our hearts and be the master of our lives. May we never forget your words of invitation and promise to us:
People: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt 11:28-30).
May the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the sorrows of Mary our Blessed Mother be ever in our hearts.