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

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

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will immediately feel <strong>the</strong> love and help of <strong>the</strong> Lord, making<br />

you vic<strong>to</strong>rious.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> TROPARIA we kneel in contriteness and humility<br />

asking for <strong>the</strong> forgiveness of our sins.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> absolution we thank God for allowing us <strong>to</strong> stand in<br />

prayer before Him at <strong>the</strong> time of commemorating His<br />

crucifixion for our sake, and we ask Him <strong>to</strong> give us an<br />

unblemished life of peace and goodness in order <strong>to</strong> please<br />

His holy and glorified name forever. Amen.<br />

Fa<strong>the</strong>r An<strong>to</strong>nious Ragheb parallels <strong>the</strong> Canonical hours <strong>to</strong> a<br />

wedding feast by saying, "The introduction of <strong>the</strong> prayer is<br />

<strong>the</strong> wedding garment that leads our thoughts and emotions <strong>to</strong><br />

enjoy <strong>the</strong> delicacies of this feast. This garment is composed<br />

of a tunic, belt and shoes."<br />

The tunic is <strong>the</strong> Lord’s prayers granted <strong>to</strong> us <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lord<br />

of <strong>the</strong> feast who advised us <strong>to</strong> pray saying, "When you pray<br />

say 'Our fa<strong>the</strong>r in heaven'". A tunic covering us <strong>from</strong> head<br />

<strong>to</strong> <strong>to</strong>e covers all our supplications <strong>to</strong> God, ourselves and<br />

o<strong>the</strong>rs around us, a complete tunic that comforts <strong>the</strong><br />

righteous soul <strong>to</strong> wear it in peace and joy.<br />

The belt, or girdle is <strong>the</strong> prayer of thanksgiving which must<br />

surround <strong>the</strong> Christian completely in all <strong>the</strong>ir prayers; giving<br />

thanks always for everything in <strong>the</strong> name of Christ. Through<br />

it we declare God's favours <strong>to</strong> us in everything, and we deny<br />

ourselves and confess that all help and support comes <strong>from</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> Almighty God.<br />

The shoes are <strong>the</strong> Psalm of repentance (Psalm 51); it is a<br />

psalm of humility and repentance, asking forgiveness for<br />

76

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