Prayer for Saturday

Lord Jesus Christ, my righteous Judge, I know that my sins are without number, therefore I pray to You on this day when Joseph and Nicodemus placed You in the tomb and You descended to hades with Your holy and divine soul.  There, the light of Your divinity drove away the darkness and You brought unspeakable joy to our first parents, saving them from terrible slavery, and raising them up to paradise.  Bury my wicked and evil sins and deeds; erase them from my mind, that they may no longer war against my soul.  Illumine the dark hell of my heart, driving off the blackness of my sins, and raise my mind to heaven so that I may delight in Your face.  Yea, O Lord, accept my humble prayer as sweet-smelling incense, through the prayers of Your beloved Mother who was wounded in her heart by piercing pain when she beheld Your crucified upon the cross between two thieves.  Together with Your apostles and the myrrh-bearing women, she saw You placed in the tomb, and then beheld You risen from the dead on the third day and also ascending, together with Your holy angels, from earth to heaven.  Have compassion O Lord, on the living and the departed, through the prayers of Your saints, to whom I the unworthy one cry out:  O blessed servants of God, do not cease to intercede with Him day and night for us unworthy ones who ever transgress with innumerable sins.  Intercede for us that God will send us His grace and help for we do not know how to rightly petition Him.  Do not cease to intercede, that through your prayers sinners may obtain forgiveness, the poor find help, the sorrowful be comforted, the troubled be quieted, the oppressed find shelter and that God’s grace may descend upon all for whatever is needful for their souls, to the glory of God Who is extolled in the Trinity, and to Whom is due honor and worship forever.  Amen.