Monday of Holy Week is an opportunity to slow down and reflect on the humanity of Jesus. The primary event of Holy Monday recorded in all four gospels is Jesus’ clearing the temple and chastising the moneychangers.
On this day, Jesus entered the temple, made a whip out of chords, flipped the tables of money changers, and drove them out of the sacred space. Monday of Holy Week is a great time to consider a few key questions: What anger and resentment are you carrying around in your daily life? How do you process your anger-in a healthy or unhealthy way? What would your life look like if you could channel your anger into productive and decisive action?
A Prayer for Monday of Holy Week
Jesus, Thank you for the vast array of feelings and emotions that you allow me to experience. Teach me to release any resentment that is lingering in my heart and help me to express my anger in a healthy way.
When I notice injustice, give me the courage and boldness to do something about it. Amen.
Morning Prayer for Holy Monday
Father God, Jesus declared that Your house would be a house of prayer. We are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house. Remind us today to pray without ceasing.
This morning we confess our need for you and bring all our cares and concerns before Your throne. May we bring You honor and glory today with our thoughts, words, and actions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Evening Prayer for Holy Monday
Father God, we remember Jesus’ prayer from the cross for forgiveness for those who placed Him there. Thank you for bearing our sins and forgiving us every day.
Tonight, we forgive the people who have sinned against us. Fill our hearts with the love, mercy, and grace that held You on that cross for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Understanding the Meaning of Holy Monday
Holy Week is the most important week in Catholicism. This week of great reverence and reflection spans the final eight days of Jesus’ life-from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.
Every day of Holy Week is one step on a spiritual pilgrimage. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, while Monday of Holy Week turns our attention toward the cleansing of the temple and the holiness of prayer.
As you continue your pilgrimage through Holy Week, Monday is an opportunity to slow down and reflect on the humanity of Jesus. Many people relate to this moment in Jesus’ life because it reveals that he too felt the very human emotion of anger.
Jesus, Anger, and the Cleansing of the Temple
Anger is a natural and normal part of our human makeup. There are times when anger should be expressed and expressed powerfully. But they are rare.
Like any passion, for anger to be useful it has to be harnessed, controlled, and directed at will. The account of Jesus clearing the temple invites Christians to distinguish between destructive resentment and courageous action in response to injustice.
One great way to observe the Monday of Holy Week is to go to Confession. Allow God’s forgiveness to wash over you so that you can let go of any anger or resentment that is lingering in your heart.
Scripture for Monday of Holy Week
The primary event of Holy Monday recorded in all four gospels is Jesus’ clearing the temple and chastising the moneychangers. Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19, and John 2:13-17 record this event.
You can reflect further on Monday of Holy Week by reading John 2:13-22.
Questions for Prayer and Reflection
- What anger and resentment are you carrying around in your daily life?
- How do you process your anger-in a healthy or unhealthy way?
- What would your life look like if you could channel your anger into productive and decisive action?
- What areas of your life need to be cleansed and returned to prayer?
- What forgiveness do you need to receive from God?
- Whom do you need to forgive?
- How can your thoughts, words, and actions bring God honor and glory today?
A Prayer for Forgiveness and Inner Cleansing
Dear Lord, your disciple Peter wanted to know who would betray you. You pointed to Judas but a little later also to him. Judas betrayed, Peter denied you. Judas hanged himself, Peter became the apostle whom you made the first among equals.
Lord, give me faith, faith in your endless mercy, your boundless forgiveness, your unfathomable goodness. Let me not be tempted to think that my sins are too great to be forgiven, too abominable to be touched by your mercy.
Let me never run away from you but return to you again and again, asking you to be my Lord, my Shepherd, my Stronghold, and my Refuge. Take me under your wing, O Lord, and let me know that you do not reject me as long as I keep asking you to forgive me.
Perhaps my doubt in your forgiveness is a greater sin than the sins I consider too great to be forgiven. Perhaps I make myself too important, too great when I think that I cannot be embraced by you anymore.
Lord, look at me, accept my prayer as you accepted Peter’s prayer, and let me not run away from you in the night as Judas did. Bless me, Lord, in this Holy Week, and give me the grace to know your loving presence more intimately. Amen.
Praying Through Holy Week
Holy week prayer is a practice Christians find helpful to focus our thoughts and prepare our hearts during the time we mark the most pivotal events of our faith.
With so many demands on our time and attention, opening and closing each day of Holy Week with prayer can quiet our hearts. It’s an important time to remember that the cross isn’t simply a piece of jewelry we wear or an icon we embrace, but it was a beautiful agony undertaken by our God, who loved us so much He sent His only Son to die so that we might have eternal life.
Jesus’ actions during Holy Week are the culmination of generations of longing for the coming Messiah-God’s promised Redeemer. As we prepare to celebrate His resurrection, we are reminded that our forgiveness was bought with a price.
We humble ourselves and recommit our lives to Jesus and to proclaiming His kingdom come to our generation and the next. Prayer positions us to be open to the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives and to revive our hearts in Christ.
A Prayer for Humility and Patience
Almighty and everlasting God, You sent Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross. Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
We pray in this prayer that God would mercifully give us to follow Jesus’ example of humility and patience so we can partake in the resurrection.
Jesus is living our lives, and he is dying our death. Our only hope is to be joined to him. We do not get to pick our connection to Christ. We do not automatically plug into the Christ of powerful miracles and massive crowds. We all join him in this cross and in His dying.
We pray today for the requisite patience and humility which he showed, and which we need. God answers prayers. Pray this one with confidence and perhaps a little trepidation.
A Simple Holy Monday Practice
- Read John 2:13-22 or one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus clearing the temple.
- Spend a period of silence examining the anger and resentment you are carrying.
- Confess your need for God and bring all your cares and concerns before Your throne.
- Ask God to help you express anger in a healthy way.
- Forgive the people who have sinned against you.
- Look for a faithful and courageous response to injustice.
- End the day by asking that your thoughts, words, and actions bring God honor and glory.
Father God, Jesus declared that Your house would be a house of prayer. Remind us today to pray without ceasing. Teach us to release any resentment that is lingering in our hearts, and help us to express our anger in a healthy way.
When we notice injustice, give us the courage and boldness to do something about it. Fill our hearts with love, mercy, and grace. May we bring You honor and glory today with our thoughts, words, and actions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.