Officiant: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
People: Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Officiant: I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. He has besieged me and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes. "Remember, O Lord, my affliction and bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!"
Officiant: He was led like a lamb to the slaughter:
People: And like a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he opened not his mouth.
Officiant: Let us pray. O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.
People: Amen.
All: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.
