Forgiveness
My husband and I went to Forgivness Vespers at our church tonight. In the Eastern churches Lent begins today. We begin by asking forgiveness from each other. The prayer is as follows:
"Good brothers and sisters! Grant me your blessing and pardon me all the wrongs I have done, in word or deed or thought, with all my faculties, with reflection, or out of uncontrolled emotion."
the response " May God Himself forgive you and have mercy on you! "
The Prayer of St. Ephrem is a prayer said during lent. There is a profound bow after each stanza. It is as follows:
"O Lord, Master of my life, grant that I may not be infected with the spirit of slothfulness and aquisitivness, with the spirit of ambition and vain talking. (bow)
Grant instead to me your servant the spirit of purity and humility, the spirit of patience and neighborly love. (bow)
O Lord and King, bestow upon me the grace of being aware of my sins and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren. For You are blessed for ever and ever. Amen. " (bow)
Here is another segment of the vesper service. This jumped out at me tonight:
"Hide not your face from Your servant; for I am in distress; answer quickly, answer quickly, come close to my soul and redeem me. I am poor and in pain, O God; let your power save me. "
And another part :
"Let us enter the season of Lent in the spirit of joy, giving ourselves to spritual strife, cleansing our soul and body, controlling our passions, as we limit our food, living on the virtues of the Spirit; Let us persevere in our longing for Him, so as to be worthy to behold the most solemn Passion of Christ, and the most holy Passover, Rejoicing the while with spiritual joy."
And finally:
"Let us remember our most holy, pure, blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, together with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and each other, and our entire lives to Christ our God."
Please keep our family in your prayers, that we will be able to have a good, productive Lent, that while subduing our passions we may grow in love for each other, and be drawn closer to Our Lord. We will be praying for you, as well.
"Good brothers and sisters! Grant me your blessing and pardon me all the wrongs I have done, in word or deed or thought, with all my faculties, with reflection, or out of uncontrolled emotion."
the response " May God Himself forgive you and have mercy on you! "
The Prayer of St. Ephrem is a prayer said during lent. There is a profound bow after each stanza. It is as follows:
"O Lord, Master of my life, grant that I may not be infected with the spirit of slothfulness and aquisitivness, with the spirit of ambition and vain talking. (bow)
Grant instead to me your servant the spirit of purity and humility, the spirit of patience and neighborly love. (bow)
O Lord and King, bestow upon me the grace of being aware of my sins and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren. For You are blessed for ever and ever. Amen. " (bow)
Here is another segment of the vesper service. This jumped out at me tonight:
"Hide not your face from Your servant; for I am in distress; answer quickly, answer quickly, come close to my soul and redeem me. I am poor and in pain, O God; let your power save me. "
And another part :
"Let us enter the season of Lent in the spirit of joy, giving ourselves to spritual strife, cleansing our soul and body, controlling our passions, as we limit our food, living on the virtues of the Spirit; Let us persevere in our longing for Him, so as to be worthy to behold the most solemn Passion of Christ, and the most holy Passover, Rejoicing the while with spiritual joy."
And finally:
"Let us remember our most holy, pure, blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, together with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and each other, and our entire lives to Christ our God."
Please keep our family in your prayers, that we will be able to have a good, productive Lent, that while subduing our passions we may grow in love for each other, and be drawn closer to Our Lord. We will be praying for you, as well.
posted by Renee at Tuesday, February 08, 2005
3 Comments:
that is really powerful, especially:
"Hide not your face from Your servant; for I am in distress; answer quickly, answer quickly, come close to my soul and redeem me. I am poor and in pain, O God; let your power save me. "
that reminds me of psalm 6, one of the (many) psalms i prayed when i was going through my desert for two years...so happy to be at the oasis.
Hey there sis, good to hear from you. Beautiful vespers, would be helpfull daily. You all will be in my prayers. Good luck with the sock thing. PAX
That was very beautiful. Thank you.
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