FEAST OF SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH – 18th MARCH
March 18, 2024
Day Twenty-Nine of Lent – Jesus is Lifted Up on the Cross
March 18, 2024
18 March, 2024
To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:43
Abba Father, Deliverer, and Merciful, Compassionate God, Whose covenanted promises, unshakable and everlasting, have helped us rise from the dredges of sinful existence to a hope of gaining eternal salvation and everlasting life, we extol your Holy Name. You have saved us and redeemed us to a lasting reconciliation and relationship with you as our Father, restored, sanctified, justified, adopted, by the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, in Whose Name witness is borne.
Lord, your mercy is unsurpassed and your plans are everlasting. Jesus came to the earth to restore your plans and thus, to restore your glory. It had never been your intention to abandon us, who were the image and likeness of you and carried within us your own breath. Our Savior recreated us to righteousness of spirit, by dying for us and erasing the entire burden of our iniquities. His resurrection and ascension into heaven has gained for us eternal salvation. Thus, with our heart we confess our faith, and with our mouth we proclaim your unending glory.
Lord, help us, through baptism in Christ and rebirth in the Spirit, manifest the total transformation in our lives that this deep faith brings about. Our Redeemer Who has sacrificed his life for us to enjoy the palatial joys of the Heavenly Kingdom for all eternity, is the gate through which we pass, to enter heaven and he is the only Way, the only Truth and Life. Bless us, dear Jesus, as in your Name we send up our pleas to our Eternal Father, for deliverance from the stranglehold of sin and death, and rewards of eternal life, in the Presence of the Triune Godhead. Amen
