A Prayer for Enthroning Our Lord Jesus Christ

Advent draws to a close, and in the stillness of this holy night, we await with great expectation the coming of our Savior. Like the shepherds, we kneel before our Lord, enthralled by His beauty, His glory, His love for us. As a community—a family on earth—we pray to Jesus, born simply in a manger, enthroned forever in Heaven where He awaits us with the same expectation we have awaited Him throughout our Advent.


Glory and praise to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Forever and Ever!

A prayer for Enthroning the Christ Child, to be offered on Christmas Eve (From the Roman Martyrology):

In the twenty-fourth day of the month of December;


In the year five-thousand one-hundred and ninety-nine from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;


In the year two-thousand nine-hundred and fifty-seven from the flood;


In the year two-thousand and fifty-one from the birth of Abraham;


In the year one-thousand five-hundred and ten from the going forth of the people of Israel out of Egypt under Moses;


In the year one-thousand and thirty-two from the anointing of David as king;


In the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;

In the one-hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;


In the year seven-hundred and fifty-two from the foundation of the city of Rome;


In the forty-second year of the reign of the Emperor Octavian Augustus;


In the sixth age of the world, while the whole earth was at peace—Jesus Christ-- eternal God and the Son of the eternal Father, willing to consecrate the world by His gracious coming, having been conceived of the Holy Ghost, and the nine months of His conception being now accomplished, (all kneel) was born in Bethlehem of Judah of the Virgin Mary, made man. The birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh.

Thanks be to God.

This day Christ is born; this day the Savior hath appeared; this day angels are singing on earth, archangels are rejoicing. This day the just are glad and say, Glory to God in high heaven, alleluia.


1 My God, whom I praise,
do not remain silent,
2 for people who are wicked and deceitful
have opened their mouths against me;
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 With words of hatred they surround me;
they attack me without cause.
4 In return for my friendship they accuse me,
but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my friendship.
6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.

9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the LORD,
that he may blot out their name from the earth.

16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor
and the needy and the brokenhearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse—
may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water,
into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
like a belt tied forever around him.
20 May this be the LORD’s payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil of me.
21 But you, Sovereign LORD,
help me for your name’s sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, LORD my God;
save me according to your unfailing love.
27 Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, LORD, have done it.
28 While they curse, may you bless;
may those who attack me be put to shame,
but may your servant rejoice.
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD;
in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save their lives from those who would condemn them. (Psalm 109)

The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool."


The scepter of your power the Lord will stretch forth from Sion:  "Rule in the midst of your enemies.


Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;  before the day-star, like the dew, I have begotten you."


The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedech."


The Lord is at your right hand;  he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

He will do judgment on the nations, heaping up corpses;  he will crush heads over the wide earth.


From the brook by the wayside he will drink;  therefore will he lift up his head.


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.

This day Christ is born; this day the Savior hath appeared; this day angels are singing on earth, archangels are rejoicing: This day the just are glad and say, Glory to God in high heaven, alleluia.


Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will. We praise Thee. We bless Thee. We adore Thee. We glorify Thee. We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.

O Lord, the Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Thou who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Thou who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For Thou only are holy. Thou only art the Lord. Thou only Jesus Christ, art most high. With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

O Lord, hear my prayer.

And let my cry come to You.

Let us pray. O God, who made this most holy night to shine forth with the brightness of the true Light, grant we beseech Thee, that we who have known the mystery of His light on earth, may attain the enjoyment of His happiness in heaven. Who lives and reigns with Thee forever and ever.


Bless, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, this crib which we have prepared in honor of the new birth in the flesh of Thine only begotten Son, that all who devoutly contemplate in this image the mystery of His Incarnation, may be filled with the light of His glory. Who lives and reigns with Thee forever and ever.

Amen.