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Week 24 of Ordinary Time

Midday Prayer · The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Monday, September 14, 2026

Prayer Reading Mode: Prayer Space

Hours Depth: Medium

About today

The Church lifts up the Cross on 14 September, recalling both the instrument of shame and the sign of victory. What the world used to kill, God used to save. The feast is older than any one shrine: it is the Gospel in wood. Ask today not for a cross of our own inventing, but for the grace to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to us, and we to the world.

Original – Prayer on Fire.

The Exaltation of the Holy CrossChoose how you want to pray this hour:

Opening

God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me.

Hymn

Between the tasks, return me, Lord, To presence and to charity. The day pulls thin; my heart grows hurried. Call me back to what should be. You neither slumber nor abandon. Watch the work I cannot see. Let this noonday be an offering — Our rest, our aim, our peace in you.

Original – Prayer on Fire

Psalm I

Antiphon

By this holy wood, teach us to love as we have been loved.

Psalm 121 (120):1–2

Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)

Psalm

I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help will come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Glory Be

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.

Antiphon

By this holy wood, teach us to love as we have been loved.

Psalm II

Antiphon

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you — by your Cross you redeem the world.

Psalm 122 (121):1–2, 6–7

Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)

Psalm

I rejoiced in the things that were said to me: “We shall go into the house of the Lord.” Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem. Petition for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem, and for abundance for those who love you. Let peace be in your virtue, and abundance in your towers.

Glory Be

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.

Antiphon

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you — by your Cross you redeem the world.

Silence

A moment of silence

Reading of the feast

1 Corinthians 1:23–24

Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)

But we are preaching Christ crucified. Certainly, to the Jews, this is a scandal, and to the Gentiles, this is foolishness. But to those who have been called, Jews as well as Greeks, the Christ is the virtue of God and the wisdom of God.

Responsory

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Intercessions

On this feast, keep us faithful in the ordinary hour, and let the joy of your saints remain with us.

R. Speak, Lord, we are listening.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Closing prayer

God our Father, you give the Church this day of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Let the grace of this Hour stay with us in work and rest. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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An original Prayer on Fire offering for the hours of the day