Memorial

Who can tell thy lofty and eternal magnificence, O Word of God;

and who may comprehend thy voluntary self-emptying for us?

Who can narrate thy wonderful nativity from the Virgin, and who may weigh thy undeserved and voluntary sufferings, which thou didst endure and suffer for our salvation?

And who is sufficient to adore and celebrate the whole of this thy ministry of salvaiont for us?—

from The Liturgy of the Syrian Jacobites

Beginning of The India Liturgy (Anglican)

adapted from the Divine Liturgy of St. James of Jerusalem

THE DIVINE LITURGY:

The India Liturgy

of

The Church of India,
Burma, and Ceylon ~ Anglican


THE PRAYERS BEFORE THE LITURGY

Before the service, there shall be set in readiness upon the altar so much bread upon the Paten, and so much wine, mixed with a little pure water, in the Chalice, as shall be sufficient; and the Priest shall bless them, saying the prayer following:


O Lord our God, who didst send forth thy heavenly Bread, the food of the whole world (all bow) even Jesus Christ thine only Son (all rise), to save us and to redeem us, to bless us and to sanctify us: Vouchsafe now to ble+ss this our oblation, and to accept it on thine altar in Heaven. Do thou remember, O Lover of Man, both them that offer it and them for whom it is offered; and do thou preserve us thy servants uncondemned in the ministration of the divine mysteries: for hallowed and blessed is thy glorious name, (all bow and make the Sign of the Cross whilst saying) O + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, (all rise) now and ever, and world without end. Amen.


And, at the time appointed, being duly vested, the Celebrant and all those who are to share in the service of the sanctuary, shall say the prayers following:

Celebrant: Peace be with you.
Answer: And with thy spirit.

All bow and make the Sign of the Cross as the Celebrant says:

Celebrant: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

All rise.

Answer: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
world without end. Amen.

Celebrant: Let us pray.

Almighty and all-holy Father, we thine unworthy servants humbly entreat thy Majesty so to prepare us for this sacred service, that entering with a pure heart into thy sanctuary, we may offer to thee the Sacrifice of this Holy Eucharist for thy honour and glory: in remembrance of thy manifold mercies vouchsafed to us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; for the well-being of thy whole Church; and to the remission of our own manifold sins and offenses. Vouchsafe, O Fountain of Mercy, to accept this our pure sacrifice through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.


LITURGY OF THE CATECHUMENS

While a hymn is sung, the Celebrant, having set on incense and blessed it, shall solemnly cense the altar and sanctuary therewith, after which he shall cense the other ministers and persons in the sanctuary, as also the choir, congregation, and the whole church, the people standing.

And at the time when he censes the altar, the Celebrant shall say:


May the incense of the merits of Christ our Saviour which we plead before thee, O Lord our God, avail unto us for the remission of our sins and for the reward of eternal life; and do thou, O life-giving Son, who by thy Cross hast saved us, set us on thy right hand in the day when thy mercy dawneth; who livest and reignest God for ever and ever. Amen.


Celebrant: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.

Answer: Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.

O Lord, the only begotten Son (solemn bow) Jesu Christ (rise); O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.

For thou only art holy; thou only art the Lord; thou only, (bow) O Christ (rise), with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the + glory of God the Father. Amen.


Clergy and People in English, Greek, or other local language:

Holy God,
Holy and mighty,
Holy and immortal,
Have mercy upon us.

Holy God,
Holy and mighty,
Holy and immortal,
Have mercy upon us.

Holy God,
Holy and mighty,
Holy and immortal,
Have mercy upon us.

Celebrant: Peace be with you.
Answer: And with thy spirit.
Celebrant: Let us pray.

Then shall be said the Collect of the Day

The Liturgy forms man in wakefulness

Dietrich von Hildebrand:

The man formed by the Liturgy is the man who is awake in the highest sense of the word. He is not only inwardly open to hearing the voice of God; he is not only aware of the ultimate Truth, but he also looks on all earthly goods in their true light. Far removed from all bluntness, indifference, stoic insensibility, and passiveness, his awakened ear is open to every created thing in its mysterious message from above and in its God-given meaning. His heart is open to the precious and noble character of created things such as water, for instance, as disclosed in the blessing of the baptismal water.

What a contrast to the blunt, obvious conceptions of earthly goods received from God's paternal hand is found int he liturgical "Benedicite!" What constantly awakened gratitude! "The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them their meat in due season (Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine, et tu das escam illorum in tempore opportuno )." "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty (Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona, quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi )." "We give Thee thanks, O almighty God, for all Thy mercies (Agimus tibi gratias omnipotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis )." At the same time, everything is organically placed into relation with the supernatural so that our spirit can rejoin again and again the unique and eternal, the goal of our hope: "May the King of eternal glory make us participate in the divine banquet (Mensae caelestis participes faciat nos Rex aeternae gloriae )."

The man formed by the Liturgy watches, so to speak, with a "burning lamp in his hand," and "with girt loins," for the advent of the Lord. His life is a life of longing, hope, gratitude, solemn emotion, and openness to the mysteries of being. We see how deeply wakefulness is linked with reverence, with the consciousness that an adequate response is due to value, and with the sense of the right gradation of values. The awakened man is also conscious of the ultimate tie which binds him to all men before God; he sees Christ in his neighbor; he lives in the truth of the Mystical Body of Christ. To the extent that a man is awakened in this sense, he exists fully as a person; he genuinely lives; his life is true; he is a personality in the original sense of the word.

Today it is particularly important to stress this point. In a legitimate reaction against an analytical, self-reflective consciousness, many have fallen into the cult of a naive unconsciousness, a childish unwakefulness. This is a falling into Charybdis in order to avoid Scylla. A wrong self-consciousness is, of course, disastrous, whether it takes the form of a squinting at the accomplishment of our life (in a curious looking backward at our actions and attitudes just in the living moment instead of focusing on the object) or whether it takes the form of an intellectual analysis and dissection of the world and ourselves in which we no longer see the woods for the trees. In either case, it is a hypertrophy of the analytical attitude which leaves no room for a contemplative possession of an obejct. But the unconscious man also is incomplete; he is an inauthentic half-man.

True consciousness, an indispensable element of personality and an essential part of transformation in Christ, is nothing but wakefulness. It means emerging from all the mists of the vital and the unconscious into the brightness of the logos; it means being irradiated by the lumen Christi. It also means the ripening toward that full wakefulness which we shall actually possess only in eternity when we shall be flooded by the lumen gloriae, when we no longer see through a glass in an obscure manner but face to face, and when we no longer know in part but know as we have been known.

The great motto of this earthly life must be, "Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour!"

Dietrich von Hildebrand
1943
Liturgy and Personality:
The Healing Power of Formal Prayer
Sophia Institute Press, 1993
pp. 101-103

Save the Liturgy! Save the World!

With thanks to Father Z. for sharing this!

As for me and my house,
We pray for a Motu Proprio for the Sarum Use!

The Prayer of Humble Access

The Prayer of Humble Access in the Book of Common Prayer, 1549, read as follows:

We do not presume to come to this thy table (o mercifull lord) trusting in our owne righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies: we be not woorthie so much as to gather up the cromes under thy table: but thou art the same lorde whose propertie is alwayes to haue mercie: Graunt us therefore (gracious lorde) so to eate the flesh of thy dere sonne Jesus Christ, and to drynke his bloud in these holy Misteries that we may continuallye dwell in hym, and he in us, that our synfull bodyes may bee made cleane by his body, and our soules washed through hys most precious bloud. Amen.

The prayer was docked by degree (putting "Holy Mysteries" to the axe) until in the American Episcopalian Prayer Book of 1979 it was finally shorn of some very important phrases involving the Body and Precious Blood of Our Lord -- and sadly it is that version that finds its way into the current Book of Divine Worship. HOWEVER, there will come a day for The Book of Divine Worship 2.0, and when it comes I hope The Prayer of Humble Access will look a great deal more like the 1549 Prayer or my suggested revision which follows:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord,
trusting in our own righteousness
but in thy manifold and great mercies.
We are not worthy
so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table,
but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.
Grant us therefore, gracious Lord,
in these Holy Mysteries,
so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ
and to drink his Blood
that, made clean by his Body
and washed through by his most Precious Blood,
we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

From ancient texts

From the Strasbourg Papyrus

Over this sacrifice and offering we pray and beseech thee, remember thy holy and only Catholic Church, all thy peoples and all thy flocks. Provide the peace which is from heaven in all our hearts, and grant us also peace in this life.

From the Divine Liturgy of St. Mark

Through his wisdom, the Lord created the world, the heavens, and the choirs of stars. Through his loving-kindness he made us in his image and likeness. He saved us through his mercy and blessed our mortal frames with grace upon grace.

A beautiful section from a version of the Divine Liturgy of Sts. Addai and Mari

Worthy of glory from every mouth
and thanksgiving from every tongue
and praise from every heart
is the Name above all names,
the Name worthy of all worship,
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.