This page is for that room, and for anyone praying alone on a Wednesday evening, halfway through the week with the hardest part either behind or still ahead.
Historical Context
Christians have kept an evening hour of prayer since the Temple’s evening sacrifice, and the Church still prays Vespers at sunset every day. Catholics give each weekday a devotion, and Wednesday’s is St Joseph, a quiet worker who never speaks a word in the Gospels. That suits a midweek evening well.
A Prayer to Open a Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
Lord, we are here on a Wednesday night
because we need you before Sunday.
You promised that where two or three are gathered,
you are in the middle of them.
Be in the middle of us now.
Quiet the day we brought in with us.
Teach us to listen before we ask,
and to ask for each other before ourselves.
Amen.
A Prayer to Close a Prayer Meeting
Father, we have named the people on our hearts.
We leave them with you, and we do not take them back.
Answer in your way and your time.
Send us home to be part of the answer where we can,
and keep us faithful until Sunday.
Amen.
A Midweek Evening Prayer at Home
Lord, the week is half done.
Thank you for what went right since Sunday.
Forgive me for what I said and should not have,
and for what I should have said and did not.
Give me rest tonight and steadiness tomorrow.
St Joseph, who worked without being noticed,
pray for me through the rest of this week.
Amen.
A Wednesday Night Blessing
May the Lord carry you through Thursday,
lighten your Friday,
rest you on Saturday,
and bring you back to his house on Sunday.
Amen.
Best Times for This Prayer
- At the start and end of a church prayer meeting or Bible study.
- For a home group or a family praying together midweek.
- Alone, before bed, as a midweek examen.
- On Ash Wednesday, to begin Lent.
- On 19 March and 1 May, the feasts of St Joseph.
Scripture Connection
“Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” — Psalm 141:2
The evening sacrifice was offered every day at the Temple as the light went. The psalmist, away from the Temple, offers his prayer in its place. A Wednesday night meeting in a church hall is the same move: ordinary people, an ordinary room, and prayer offered as if it were the altar.
Related prayers
For Wednesday’s saint, see the Saint Joseph Prayer. Groups that pray the Rosary midweek can begin with the Prayer Before the Rosary.