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Text Box: me? R. O put thy trust in God; for I will yet give Him thanks, which is the help of my countenance and my God. There are a multitude of concerns in today’s world. But there are no new concerns, no concerns of a nature intrinsically different from those which have existed throughout the entire history of humankind. Every concern with which humankind is faced is addressed in the Divine Liturgy. If the Divine Liturgy is prayed and not said; if it is prayed with intent, with awareness, with devotion; every moral concern will will be satisfactorily resolved. But once resolved the Divine Liturgy must be continued for resolution is temporary because this world is temporary. The Blessing of God Almighty + The Father, + the Son and the + Holy Spirit, be amongst you and remain with you, now and unto all ages of ages. +

Text Box: ages. (R.) Amen. THE SECRET (PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS) Graciously accept the prayers and offerings of Thy servants, O Lord, and, for the honor of Thy name, safeguard the rulers of our country. May all governments serve Thee, and all governments that serve Thee be secure, and their security bring Thy peace to all Thy people: (V.) Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, throughout all ages of ages. (R.) Amen. POST-COMMUNION COLLECT (PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION) O Lord, guide our rulers and governors; nourish them with spiritual and bodily food; and preserve them from the evil foe. (V.) Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, throughout all ages of ages. (R.) Amen. Just imagine the potential if these prayers were regularly made part of Divine Liturgy throughout the world. LITURGY OF THE CATECHUMENS At the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, when you, the Priest, pray: V. Give sentence with me O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people, O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man, do you ever think you are asking God to deliver you from yourself? Each of us knows to some level the extent of our own ungodliness. Even though we may have some level of confidence we are on the correct path to eternal salvation, only a fool considers himself to be safely ensconced in God. The wise person acknowledges at the very least an occasional inclination to ungodliness in himself and fights the inclination. But even an occasional inclination is sufficient to seek assistance in one’s own cause against one’s own

Text Box: ungodly inclinations, and especially against one’s own ungodliness. If one thinks one is without ungodliness, one need but remember that Our Saviour said even the just man sins seven times a day. At the least this means we all sin every day, and therefore we all are ungodly every day. One who does not accept this is deceiving themselves, and therefore is one of the deceitful from whom we pray to be delivered. If we acknowledge our own deceit, then we will be intentionally praying for deliverance from our selves, and this is good. It is good because we are the source of much of our own temptation. In a very real sense each of us is the most wicked and deceitful person we know, for we not only know ourselves better than we know anyone else, but we also continually tempt ourselves. If we acknowledge this then when we pray asking God to: defend my cause against the ungodly people, and ask Him: O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man, we are seeking assistance against our most constant source of sin, ourselves. This is a form of assistance which God readily grants. With the constant diminishment of the most consistent bad influence comes he ability to replace the bad influence with good influence. The evil inclinations must be replaced with something for our very nature abhors an un-utilized portion of our internal structure. It is possible the placed of the diminished evil inclinations will be replaced with even more evil inclinations, but if we constantly pray that the evil inclinations be diminished we just possibly may begin to seek to replenish the place of abandoned evil with refreshed godliness. Here, at the very beginning of the Divine Liturgy, we also remind ourselves to trust in God, in His assistance, in the eventual victory over evil, for what other belief and truth could we be expressing when we pray: V. Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? and why are thou so disquieted within

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