11 Best Lent Prayers for 2024 

Before we get down to the Lent prayers for 2024, let’s understand the history and importance of Lent in Christianity.

Although there are no mentions of Lent in the Bible, the religious festival of Lent commemorates the 40-days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert in accordance with the accounts recorded in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke.

While the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus being tempted by Satan, it is in the Gospels of Luke and Mathew that the details of the temptation are fleshed out. In each of these accounts, Jesus spent 40 days without food.

Historically, the main focus of observing Lent was on self-examination and self-denial in preparation for Easter. Christians usually abstained from eating food in the earliest demonstrations of this process.

However, over the years the rules governing fasting have been relaxed significantly. Fasting is integral to the spirit of fasting as it teaches us an important lesson in spiritual discipline.

By fasting we exercise our spiritual muscles as we refrain from indulging in a basic physical desire such as eating, we are refusing to be dominated or controlled by the needs of our bodies.

When we are fasting, we have to be alert and in control of our instincts, and this reminds us to think about God and the sacrifices he made for us. It is also looked at as a form of offering that shows our devotion to our beliefs.

On the other hand, prayer is an action that helps a person turn their attention towards God, contemplate, listen and talk to him, read his words, and meditate on them.

Catholic Lent Prayers

During Lent, praying helps celebrate the joyful redemption of the mysteries and helps you get closer to getting. There are several prayers that help us reflect and express our devotion to God during the Lenten season.

1) First Sunday in Lent – Book of Common Prayer

“Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan: Make speed to help thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and, as thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one find thee mighty to save; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

2) Second Sunday in Lent – Book of Common Prayer

“O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from thy ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of thy Word, Jesus Christ thy Son; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

Read more: Lent Frequently Asked Questions

3) Let us Fast From Byzantine Vespers

While fasting with the body,
brothers and sisters,
let us also fast in spirit.
Let us lose every bond of iniquity;
let us undo the knots of every contact made by violence;
let us tear up all unjust agreements;
let us give bread to the hungry
and welcome to our house
the poor who have no roof to cover them,
that we may receive mercy from Christ our God.

4) Come, My Light By Dimitrii of Rostov

Come, my Light,
and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life,
and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician,
and heal my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love,
and burn up the thorns of my sins,
kindling my heart
with the flame of thy love.

5) The Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Million-fuelèd,
nature’s bonfire burns on.
But quench her bonniest, dearest
to her, her clearest-selvèd spark
Man, how fast his firedint,
his mark on mind, is gone!
Both are in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous dark
Drowned. O pity and indig nation!
Manshape, that shone
Sheer off, disseveral, a star,
death blots black out; nor mark
Is any of him at all so stark

But vastness blurs and time beats level.
Enough! the Resurrection,
A heart’s-clarion! Away grief’s gasping,
joyless days, dejection.
Across my foundering deck shone
A beacon, an eternal beam.
Flesh fade, and mortal trash
Fall to the residuary worm;
world’s wildfire, leave but ash:
In a flash, at a trumpet crash,
I am all at once what Christ is,
since he was what I am, and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd,
patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,
Is immortal diamond.

6) Lent Prayer for God to bring beauty from ashes By Anonymous

In this season of Lent, we’re reminded of our own difficulties and struggles. Sometimes the way has seemed too dark. Sometimes we feel like our lives have been marked by such grief and pain, we don’t see how our circumstances can ever change. But in the midst of our weakness, we ask that you would be strong on our behalf. Lord, rise up within us, let your Spirit shine out of every broken place we’ve walked through. Allow your power to be manifest through our own weakness, so that others will recognize it is You who is at work on our behalf. We ask that you would trade the ashes of our lives for the beauty of your Presence. Trade our mourning and grief for the oil of joy and gladness from your Spirit. Trade our despair for hope and praise. We choose to give you thanks today and believe that this season of darkness will fade away. Thank you that you are with us in whatever we face and that you are greater than this trial. We know and recognize that you are Sovereign, we thank you for the victory that is ours because of Christ Jesus, and we are confident that you have good still in store for our future. We thank you that you are at work right now, trading our ashes for greater beauty. We praise you, for you make all things new. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

7) Invite us deeper- Anonymous

Almighty and ever living God,
you invite us deeper into your world, your people, your Lent.
May this time be one of outward focus;
seeking you in those we often ignore.
Help us live a Lent focused on freedom, generosity, and encounter.
Give us hearts hungry to serve you
and those who need what we have to give.

8) Prayer for Defence From Historic Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, look on the humble desires of your servants. Stretch forth the right hand of your majesty and be our sure defence; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

9) Lord God Almighty from Alfred the Great, 9th century

Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, we pray for your great mercy, that you guide us towards you, for we cannot find our way.

And guide us to your will, to the need of our soul, for we cannot do it ourselves. And make our mind steadfast in your will and aware of our soul’s need.

Strengthen us against the temptations of the devil, and remove from us all lust and every unrighteousness, and shield us against our foes, seen and unseen.

Teach us to do your will, that we may inwardly love you before all things with a pure mind.

For you are our maker and our redeemer, our help, our comfort, our trust, our hope; praise and glory be to you now and forever.

10) Prayer for Complete Surrender to the Lord from James 4: 7-10

So submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds. 9 Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

11) Prayer to Protect from Temptations

O Christ, Son of God, for our sake you fasted forty days and allowed yourself to be tempted.
Protect us so that we may not be led astray by any temptation. Since man does not live by bread
alone, nourish our souls with the heavenly food of your Word; through your mercy, O our God,
you are blessed and live and govern all things, now and forever. Amen.

Read more: The Three Pillars of Lent: Almsgiving, Fasting, and Prayer