Jesus, I will ponder now
   On Your holy passion;
With Your Spirit me endow
   For such meditation.

Grant that I in love and faith
   May the image cherish
Of Your suff’ring, pain, and death
   That I may not perish (LSB 440:1)

A Lenten prayer by Johann Friedrich Starck (1680-1756) to guide us as we enter into Holy Week:

Thus, O faithful Savior, I beg Your gracious assistance, when in spirit I behold You journeying to that city in which the sentence of death already awaits You, where Your enemies who hate You rejoice without cause at Your coming.

This present season, which Your infinite goodness has again permitted me to reach, reminds me of the bitter suffering that You willingly submitted to in accordance with the counsel of Your heavenly Father. You did it as the Lamb of God that You might take away the sins of the entire world and render satisfaction for them. No man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their souls is costly, and it never ends. And so You took pity on those whose flesh and blood You assumed in the fulness of time. By Your bloody atonement You have regained for them the peace that they had broken and lost by their sins.

Make me able to ponder these important matters in a fruitful manner by Your power, for without You I can do nothing. Enlighten my understanding that in Your light I may behold the greatness of Your love and compassion, and may be prompted to render You due thanks. Sanctify also my will that I may accept and apply to my benefit the blessings that You acquired by Your death. You loved me before I knew You. You gave Yourself for me at a time when I knew nothing of You. You suffered shame, scorn, disgrace, and manifold afflictions to gain happiness for me. All this You have done for me, for my benefit. Ought I not then to sing Your praises? Ought I not laud and magnify You on account of Your passion? Yes, thousand, thousand thanks shall be, dearest Jesus unto Thee (LSB 420). A thousand times, dearest Jesus, shall praise and glory be given to You, O conqueror of hell and death!

I am now Your own, and You are my joy and my delight. May I soon behold You, most beautiful Sun, in Your glory, now that Your suffering is ended! Come to me, faithful friend of my soul, and unite Yourself with me. You died for all, hence also for me, in order that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who dies and rose again. And so enter my soul and give it life. Let me ever contemplate how much my redemption has cost You. Let me ever bear in mind that You chose to endure the most shameful death, in order to deliver me from eternal death. Let that fact ever be before my eyes as a solemn reminder that You chose to lose Your life because I chose to live for myself and for the world; and let me also be moved by it, to live for You and to follow You. Pluck me as a brand from the fire, that Your suffering for me may not have been in vain.

Let me become Your disciple, whom nothing shall be able to separate from You. And grant me Your Spirit, that during this holy Lententide, He may bring home to me all that I hear and perceive of Your bitter suffering and death. Give me grace to be constantly occupied with You in these days, and to find my delight in You, and thus to secure for myself a blessing that abides forever. If the world tries to tempt me to depravity and ease, if Satan tries to disquiet and distract me by all kinds of disturbances, if my corrupt flesh and blood draws me away and entices me to evil, let me think of Your suffering, and with firm faith resist all these temptations, that they may not overcome and vanquish me. Help me to keep You in remembrance at all times, that I may be kept from sin, and finally enter into that glory to which You have provided me access by Your suffering and death.

 - Starck’s Prayer Book: Revised Concordia Edition (CPH, 2009)


Should some lust or sharp temptation
   Fascinate my sinful mind,
Draw me to your cross and passion,
   And new courage I shall find.

Or should Satan press me hard,
   Let me then be on my guard,
Saying, “Christ for me was wounded,”
   That the tempter flee confounded. Amen. (LSB 421:2)