READING
Joel 2:12-13  

Return to me with your whole heart,
  with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
  and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
  slow to anger, rich in kindness,
  and relenting in punishment.

RESPONSORY
God himself will set me free, from the hunters snare.
God himself will set me free, from the hunters snare.
From those who would trap me with lying words
-and from the hunter's snare.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
God himself will set me free, from the hunters snare.

BENEDICTUS (Canticle of Zechariah)
Antiphons for Benedictus:
Week 1:   Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.
Week 2:   You have one teacher and he is in heaven: Christ the Lord.
Week 3:   The Lord said: Peter, I do not tell you to forgive only seven times, but seventy times seven.
Week 4:   The man who cured me told me to pick up my sleeping mat and go home.

INTERCESSIONS
Week 1 and 3

Praise to Christ, who has given us himself as the bread from heaven. Let us pray to him, saying:

   Jesus, you feed and heal our souls; come to strengthen us.

Lord, feed us at the banquet of the eucharist,
 - with all the gifts of your paschal sacrifice.
Give us a perfect heart to receive your word,
 - that we may bring forth fruit in patience.
Make us eager to work with you in building a better world,
 - so that it may listen to your Church and its gospel of peace.
We confess, Lord, that we have sinned,
 - wash us clean by your gift of salvation.

Our Father...

God the Father has given us his only Son, the Word made man,
to be our food and our life. Let us thank him and pray:

   May the word of Christ dwell among us in all its richness.

Help us in this Lenten season to listen more frequently to your word,
-that we may celebrate the solemnity of Easter with greater love for Christ, our paschal teacher,
-that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.
Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Anointed One,
-that our lives may reveal him more effectively.
Purify and renew your Church in this time of salvation,
-that it may give an even greater witness to you.

Our Father...

Week 1   Father,
look on us, your children.
Through the discipline of Lent
help us to grow in our desire for you.
We ask this...

Week 2   Lord,
watch over your Church,
and guide it with your unfailing love.
Protect us from what could harm us
and lead us to what will save us.
Help us always,
for without you we are bound to fail.
Grant this...

Week 3   Lord,
you call us to your service
and continue your saving work among us.
May your love never abandon us.
We ask this...

Week 4   Father,
may our Lenten observance
prepare us to embrace the paschal mystery
and to proclaim your salvation with joyful praise.
We ask this...

Reading
Joel 2:17a

Between the porch and the altar
  let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, "Spare, O LORD, your people,
  and make not your heritage a reproach,
  with the nations ruling over them!"

Create in me a clean heart, O God.
 - Renew in me a steadfast spirit.

Antiphon: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the sinner to die, but to turn back to me and live.

Reading
Jeremiah 3:25b

We have sinned against the Lord, our God,
From our youth to this day,
  we and our fathers also;
  we listened not to the voice of the Lord, our God.

Turn away your face from my sins.
 - Blot out all my guilt.

Antiphon: Armed with God's justice and power, let us prove ourselves through patient endurance.

Reading
Isaiah 58:1-2

Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
  lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
  and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
  and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
  and not abandoned the law of their God.

My sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit.
 - A humble contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.

RESPONSORY
To you, O Lord, I make my prayer for mercy;  
To you, O Lord, I make my prayer for mercy;
heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
I make my prayer for mercy;
Glory to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
To you, O Lord, I make my prayer for mercy.  

MAGNIFICAT (Canticle of Mary)
Antiphons on Magnificat:
Week 1:   When you wish to pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret.
Week 2:   You are all brothers, sons of one Father who is in heaven. Do not call anyone on earth your father.  Nor must any of you be called a teacher, for your only teacher is Christ.
Week 3:   This is how my heavenly Father will treat each one of you, unless you forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.
Week 4:   Now that you are well again, do not sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.

INTERCESSIONS
Week 1 and 3

Christ our Lord has warned us to watch and pray to avoid tempation. With our whole heart let us pray to him:

   Turn to us, Lord, and have mercy.

Jesus, our Christ, you promised to be with those who pray in your name,
 - help us always to pray with you to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
Bridegroom of the Church, cleanse her from every stain,
 - tach her to walk in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Friend of the human race, teach us concern for our neighbor as you have commanded,
 - that all may see you more clearly as the light of the world.
King of peace, give your peace to the world,
 - that your presence may reveal your saving power in every place.
Open the door of eternal happiness to all the dead,
 - welcome them into the glory of unending life.

Our Father...

Let us praise the Lord Jesus, who, lifted high on the cross, drew all things to himself.  With loving hearts let us pray:

Draw all things to yourself, O Lord.

Lord, may the mystery of your cross shine on all mankind,
 - that all may see you as the way, the truth and the life. (R.)
May all who thirst for you, the living water,
 - drink their fill for ever. (R.)
Inspire all teachers and artists,
 - to prepare mankind for you kingdom. (R.)
Guide all estranged from you by sin or scandal,
 - that they may come back to you, and remain always in your love. (R.)
Welcome all our deceased brothers and sisters to your home in heaven,
 - to share the joy of the blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints. (R.)

Our Father...

Week 1   Father,
look on us, your children.
Through the discipline of Lent
help us to grow in our desire for you.
We ask this...

Week 2   Lord,
watch over your Church,
and guide it with your unfailing love.
Protect us from what could harm us
and lead us to what will save us.
Help us always,
for without you we are bound to fail.
Grant this...

Week 3   Lord,
you call us to your service
and continue your saving work among us.
May your love never abandon us.
We ask this...

Week 4   Father,
may our Lenten observance
prepare us to embrace the paschal mystery
and to proclaim your salvation with joyful praise.
We ask this...