How to Benefit from the Holy Liturgy - Pope Kirillos Scientific Family

Here the Lord teaches us to ask for His blessings by casting
our eyes towards heaven, the throne of God, and beseeching
that He may bless whatever our hands behold, for as the
Psalmist prayed : "Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who
dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look
to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the
hands of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our
God until He has mercy on us" (Psalm 123:1,2). The Lord
delights when our eyes seek and long for Him, and so He
says, "Look at Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth,
for I am God, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:22). The
Lord Jesus Christ did this so many times to teach us this
good habit. He looked toward heaven before starting any
important mission. Like raising Lazarus up from the dead
(John 11:41), when He prayed before the crucifixion (John
17:1), and when He blessed the five loaves and two fish
(Luke 9:16).
Then the priest makes the sign of the cross over the Bread
three times saying, "And when He had given thanks, He
blessed it, He sanctified it." Each time the deacons and
congregation respond by saying, "Amen." (There is a
common mistake done in some churches, that only the
deacons serving inside the altar, or even only one deacon,
responds with "Amen," although it is written in the Liturgy
book that the congregation are to respond. Let us hope that
everyone in the church responds with, "Amen," together
with the deacons, and hence confirming their belief in the
consecration and signings of the cross by the priest. This
"Amen," then, would be a very strong prayer.
The congregation then respond, "We believe, confess and
glorify You," believing and confessing the sanctification and
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