Easter Monday Prayer

(The special prayer either before or after the Monday evening meal

is a selection from Psalm 21, in which we see through the eyes of

David the picture of Christ suffering for us on the Cross.)

Psalm 21:1-12

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me,

far from my prayer,

from the words of my cry?

O my God, I cry out by day, and You answer not;

by night, and there is no relief for me.

Yet You are enthroned in the holy place,

O glory of Israel!

In You our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and You delivered them.

To You they cried, and they escaped;

in You they trusted, and they were not put to shame.

But I am a worm, not a man;

the scorn of men, despised by the people.

All who see me scoff at me;

they mock me with parted lips,

they wag their heads:

"He relied on the Lord; let him deliver him,

let him rescue him, if he loves him."

You have been my guide since I was first formed,

my security at my mother's breast.

To you I was committed at birth,

from my mother's womb you are my God.

Be not far from me, for I am in distress;

be near, for I have no one to help me.

(Source: Lent and Holy Week in the Home by Emerson and Arlene Hynes, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1977.)