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Please note the epiclesis ('Hear us, O merciful Father') within the following excerpt from the Eucharistic Prayer of The Madagascar Liturgy 1945 of the Anglican Diocese of Madagascar (Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean) in the translation of the Revd Alan D. Rogers from the Malagasy language:
Wherefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy servants offer this thy holy gift and make before thee the memorial which thy Son hath ordained to be made by us, and we remember his holy Passion and his precious Death, his mighty Resurrection and his glorious Ascension; and we give thee true thanks for the innumerable gifts which he procured for us thereby.
Hear us, O merciful Father, we humbly beseech thee, and of thy goodness vouchsafe by thy Word and Holy Spirit to bless and consecrate these thy gifts, the Bread and Wine, that they may be the Body and Blood of thy dearly beloved Son.
And we thy servants desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. And we humbly beseech thee to grant that by the merits and Death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through our trust in his Blood, we and the Church may receive forgiveness of our sins, and all the grace that comes from his Passion.
And we beseech thee that all who receive this Holy Communion may worthily receive the Body and precious Blood of Christ, and may be filled with thy grace and heavenly blessing, and be made one body with Christ.
And here we offer and present, O Lord, our minds and souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice. And although through our manifold sins we are unworthy to offer any sacrifice to thee, yet we beseech thee graciously to accept this our duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our sins;
The translator of the above, the Revd Alan D. Rogers, was until 1966 the Diocesan Secretary of the Anglican Diocese of Madagascar.
Please pray for the people of Madagascar and for God's blessings upon His Church and all Christian people on the island nation and throughout the nations of and around the Indian Ocean.
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