Prayers (A-Z)

Lord, open our hearts: Let Your Spirit speak to us As we read Your Word.

History of this devotion 
The original Scala Santa, also known as “Holy Stairway” is the staircase which Jesus ascended during His Passion while proceeding to Pilate’s pretorium.

By the Saviour’s footsteps, that staircase which is still in existence today, was sanctified. It continues to be venerated in Rome, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

During the last century, it became the custom in many parts of the Catholic Church to erect staircases similar to the Scala Santa in Rome. The first Scala Santa to be built in America in 1891 is found at Sainte Anne de Beaupré, Québec, Canada. (26 miles East of Québec City.) Like those of Rome, the Stairs, consisting of 29 steps, are inside, starting on the second floor.

Indulgences
On November 13, 1893, Pope Leo XIII granted that the faithful who ascend the steps of the Scala Santa on their knees, with a contrite heart, praying and meditating on Our Lord’s Passion, may gain an indulgence of three hundred days for each step. This indulgence is applicable towards the souls in Purgatory.

While no special prayer is obligatory, as a convenience to pilgrims, a short prayer is given here for each of the 28 steps. These short prayers are worthy of veneration, because they were composed and published in Rome for the use of pilgrims to the original Scala Santa.
Prepatory Prayer

(Note: While this prayer is not part of the original Scala Santa devotion, it is an introduction to the Sacred Stairs which begin on the first straight step.

O merciful Jesus! For the salvation of mankind, You did submit to the suffering of the scourging and crowning with thorns; You did allow Yourself to be dragged by impious hands on these stairs to be led before Pilate. I desire to venerate with deep respect the bloodstained traces of Your Divine feet, and I humbly beg You, by the merits of Your Passion, to grant, that I may one day ascend to the Throne of Glory, where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Ghost forever and ever.

Amen.

Prayer for each of the 28 steps

(Note: A Hail Mary and an invocation to your Patron Saint may be added to each step.)

1st Step.
O My Jesus! By the anguish of heart Thou didst experience, on separating from Thy most holy mother, to go to Thy death, have mercy on me!

2nd Step.
O My Jesus! By the confusion Thou didst feel and that caused Thee to sweat blood in the Garden of Olives, have mercy on me!

3rd Step.
O My Jesus! By the intense grief that filled Thy heart on seeing Thyself betrayed by the perfidious Judas, have mercy on me!

4th Step.
O My Jesus! By the confusion Thou didst feel, when led as a malefactor through the streets of Jerusalem, have mercy on me!

5th Step.
O My Jesus! By the sweetness Thou didst show, when brought before the tribunal and struck in the face, have mercy on me!

6th Step.
O My Jesus! By the patience Thou didst exhibit amid the outrages and mockeries, of which Thou wert the object throughout the night preceding Thy death, have mercy on me!

7th Step.
O My Jesus! By the cruel insult Thou didst endure, when dragged many times on the Sacred Stairs, have mercy on me!

8th Step.
O My Jesus! By the silence Thou didst observe in the presence of those who bore false witness against Thee, and of the iniquitous Pilate who unjustly condemned Thee, have mercy on me!

9th Step.
O My Jesus! By the humiliation to which Thou didst subject Thyself amidst the derision of Herod and his court, have mercy on me!

10th Step.
O My Jesus! By the shame Thou didst feel on being stripped of Thy garments and tied to the pillar to be scourged, have mercy on me!

11th Step.
O My Jesus! By the pain Thou didst suffer on being scourged, when Thy body was all covered with wounds and bruises, have mercy on me!

12th Step.
O My Jesus! By the torture of the sharp thorns, wherewith Thy adorable head was pierced, have mercy on me!

13th Step.
O My Jesus! By the patience Thou didst exhibit when, clothed with purple rags and with a reed in Thy hand, Thou wert derided and treated as a mocking, have mercy on me!

14th Step.
O My Jesus! By the affliction Thou didst feel when Thou didst hear the people cry out against Thee, and clamor for Thy death, have mercy on me!

15th Step.
O My Jesus! By the humiliation to which Thou wert subject, on being compared with Barabbas, and on seeing that criminal preferred to Thine adorable person, have mercy on me!

16th Step.
O My Jesus! By the resignation wherewith Thou didst embrace the Cross, and proceed with it upon the road to Calvary, have mercy on me!

17th Step.
O My Jesus! By the sorrow Thou didst feel on meeting Thy most holy Mother, and on witnessing the anguish of her heawrt, have mercy on me!

18th Step.
O My Jesus! By the excessive weariness that overcame Thee, while bearing the burden of the cross on Thy shoulders, have mercy on me!

19th Step.
O My Jesus! By the bitterness Thou didst experience, when the gall and vinegar touched Thy lips, have mercy on me!

20th Step.
O My Jesus! By the agony Thou didst endure, when Thy garments were roughly torn from Thee, have mercy on me!

21st Step.
O My Jesus! By the pain Thou didst suffer, when fastened with great nails to the cross of Calvary, have mercy on me!

22nd Step.
O My Jesus! By the infinite charity that moved Thee to forgive Thine executioners and pray to Thy heavenly Father for them, have mercy on me!

23rd Step.
O My Jesus! By the goodness with which Thou didst give paradise to the penitent thief, and Mary unto John, as his Mother, have mercy on me!

24th Step.
O My Jesus! By the burning thirst with which Thou wast tortured on the gibbet of the Cross, have mercy on me!

25th Step.
O My Jesus! By the torment Thou didst suffer, on seeing Thyself abandoned by all, have mercy on me!

26th Step.
O My Jesus! By the great love for me with which Thy Divine Heart was inflamed, on breathing forth Thy last sigh, have mercy on me!

27th Step.
O My Jesus! By the boundless kindness Thou didst manifest, in permitting Thy side to be opened with a spear, have mercy on me!

28th Step.
O My Jesus! By the tender condescension with which Thou didst permit Thy most sacred body to be placed in the arms of Thy mother, and afterwards in the sepulcher, have mercy on me!

Peace between neighbours, Peace between kindred, Peace between lovers… Peace between person and person, Peace between wife and husband, Peace between woman and children, The peace of Christ above all peace.

Heavenly Father: we pray to You for those on the perilous ocean that You will embrace them with your mighty protection and grant them success in all their rightful undertakings. Grant them in all hours of need to see that they have a God who remembers them, and grant them grace in the hour of danger to commit their souls into Your hands. 0 Lord Jesus Christ, Who can rebuke the storm and bring it to silence, and lay the roaring waves to rest, show them who call to You out of the deep that You hear their prayer and will save them. And finally bring us all to the only safe port.

Amen.

[This prayer is designed to be said within the family before a Crucifix during the second week of Lent] 

Mother or a child:
From the words of St. Paul [Hebrews 12:14]. 

Dearly beloved, let us, having such a cloud of witnesses over us, put away every encumbrance and sin entangling us, and run with patience to the fight set before us; looking towards the author and finisher of faith, Jesus, who for the joy set before him, endured a cross, despising shame, and sit at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him… that you may not grow weary and lose heart. For you have not yet resisted unto blood in the struggle with sin.
Father:

We ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
Family: 
in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection. 
Father: 

Let us pray. 
Grant us, O God, that through the spiritual renewal of Lent, we may grow in our understanding of the mystery of Christ. This we ask of you through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. 
Family: 

Amen.

Favor this dwelling, Lord, with your presence. Far from it repulse all the wiles of Satan. Your holy angels, let them live here, to keep us in peace. And may your blessing remain always upon us. This we ask of you through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. 
Father: 

Let us bless the Lord. 
Family: 

Thanks be to God. 
Father: 

May the almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless and keep us. 
Family: 

Amen.

O Lord my God, I believe in you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Insofar as I can, Insofar as you have given me the power, I have sought you. I became weary and I laboured. O Lord my God, My sole hope, help me to believe And never to cease seeking you. Grant that I may always and ardently Seek out your countenance. Give me the strength to seek you, For you help me to find you And you have more and more given me the hope of finding you. Here I am before you With my firmness and my infirmity. Preserve the first and heal the second.. Here I am before you With my strength and my ignorance. Where you have opened the door to me, Welcome me at the entrance; Where you have closed the door to me, Open to my cry; Enable me to remember you, To understand you, And to love you.

Amen.

O My God, in order that I may be a living act of perfect love, I offer myself as a whole burnt offering to your tender love. Consume me continually, letting my soul overflow with the floods of infinite tenderness that are found in you, so that I may become a martyr of your love.

Let this martyrdom make me ready to appear before you and at last cause me to expire. Let my soul cast itself without delay into the everlasting arms of your merciful love. O my beloved, with every beat of my heart I desire to renew this offering an infinite number of times, until that day when the shadows shall vanish and I shall be able to retell my love in an internal face-to-face with you.

Amen.

O Dearly beloved Word of God, teach me to be generous, to serve Thee as Thou dost deserve, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fretting at my wounds, to labor without seeking rest, to spend myself without looking for any reward other than that of knowing that I do Thy holy will.

Amen.

Father, I belong to you.
I place myself anew in your hands 
and acknowledge you as Master and Lord of my life.
Grant me the gift of a forgiving heart 
and cleanse me of any anger,
hostility or revenge.
Heal my hurts and wounds and teach me to rely on your love.
Grant me wisdom of heart 
and strengthen me by your grace to move on in faith,
in trust and in love.
Thank you Lord for you love in my life.

Amen.

O God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time. Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Taking, as he did, the sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that he will make all things right if I surrender to His will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever.