I'll keep this short because I know that this week is the busiest of the year for you:

The #1 thing you can do for people this week is to pray for them.

I know you know that. I know that's why you got into this work in the first place.

But it can be so easy to forget in the chaos that is Holy Week.

So instead of teaching you something this week, I wondered if you'd join me in just a few minutes of prayer, right now.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit.

As we begin this most holy of weeks — that for those of us who work for you is also the most chaotic of weeks — we start by praising you.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Jesus, for the gift of your life on the cross. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for loving us so much to suffer so much for us.

And thank you for the great honor and privilege it is to get to work for you this week, to bring these remembrances to your people so that they can draw closer to you.

In the busyness of this week, remind us of the great privilege it is to get to do this work for you.

Thank you for allowing us to get to walk with you intimately through this week, being like Simon of Cyrene and bearing a small bit of your cross with you by doing this work.

Please help us to glorify you this week, Lord. Provide us with your strength and the energy to do all that is ahead of us, and even to do it in such a way that radiates your love.

Help us to give ourselves some grace when things go wrong, to be patient with each other and with the parishioners we serve, and to always, always remember the real reason we do what we do: To follow your call, glorify you, and bring others to you.

Lord, we know that this week will bring so many through the doors of our church who don't really know you, who don't have a relationship with you. We know they are hurting, and that they are bringing such deep sufferings with them, and trying to bear them alone.

We ask that you bless them, Lord. Powerfully stir something in their hearts this week, something so clear and undeniable that it breaks and changes them.

Help us to be a vehicle of your love and mercy this week. Work through us, allowing us to be your hands and feet bringing your love to everyone we encounter this week.

Give us the strength to pour ourselves out in love this week, working through us in ways we may never even know.

Instead of seeing the chaos and annoyances, help us to see the people packing our pews with the love with which you love them.

We will do all we can to make room for your Holy Spirit to move in them this week, Lord.

Those who haven't been to Church in years, but feel compelled to step inside for reasons they can't explain — draw them in and transform them.

Those who are carrying such heavy burdens that we cannot even imagine — shoulder their burdens with them and lead them to the rest and peace and joy that only comes from you.

Those who need your mercy — crack their hearts of stone wide open and pour in your life-changing love.

Those who will receive their sacraments and be welcomed fully into the Church — pour down your Spirit upon them and help them to retain that fiery love they have for you right now.

Those who don't know you — introduce yourself in the way only you can.

Touch them. Heal them. Change them.

The only reward we ask for our labors this week is you, for ourselves and those we serve.

All glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Know as always of my prayers for you, especially as you go through this week.

And since I won't be sending an email next week on Easter Monday, prayers for a blessed Easter Octave as well!

For His greater glory,

Emily

P.S. Things are going to go wrong this week. It's just how Holy Week goes. The sooner we accept it, the better the week will go.

If you need a laugh this week, last year, I rounded up some of the greatest Holy Week mishaps I experienced over my years in church work, including the time we accidentally almost set an altar server on fire during the Easter Vigil.