A Blessing to Each Other, Part II

Here is the prayer for Good Friday from Daily Prayer, Daily Bread, published 2003 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, which is the office book we use at our house:

Today, with love we remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, from which was born new life for all peoples. With open hearts, we pray:
Give to your Church a new heart; bring healing and unity in the Spirit;
hear us, tender God.
Make your people holy; renew the Body of Christ in your love;
hear us, tender God.
Increase faith, understanding, wisdom in those preparing for the Easter sacraments;
hear us, tender God.
Gather all Christians in unity; increase our openness and deepen our respect for each other;
hear us, tender God.
Keep our brothers and sisters of the First Covenant faithful to you;
hear us, tender God.
Enlighten those seeking the truth; accompany them on their journey;
hear us, tender God.
Guide the minds and hearts of all who govern our nation and the nations of the world;
hear us, tender God.
Console the troubled, comfort the sorrowing, lift up those without hope;
hear us, tender God.

Our brothers and sisters of the First Covenant: the Jewish people, of course. I'm glad that we pray for them, and also glad that we are doing it in a way that is respectful. This is a new development in the Church, and one not fully developed, as can be seen by the continuing controversy over the new translation of the Good Friday prayers in the Latin mass. It's better than it was before Vatican II, which was: Let us pray also for the perfidious Jews: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from thy mercy even Jewish faithlessness: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness.

Do Protestants pray for the Jews on Good Friday? I don't remember it, but maybe some do. What I remember about those services is that the focus was often on the seven last words of Christ. Anyway, last year I went to Good Friday services at a Catholic church in northern Wisconsin with a Protestant friend who was appalled at the prayer for the Jews that is prayed on this day, as I have been since I converted and first learned about it. Here's what it is now: Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men. Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant that even as the fulness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Better than before, but not there yet.

Let us pray: that the Church and all its followers may be healed of the sins of prejudice, ignorance, uncharity and disrespect towards the Jewish people, and that we may, with them and in our own unique ways, come to know and to live secure in your great love and care for all of your people. Amen.