Fr Peter Helman

"Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting." (Psalm 25:5)

Dear beloved of Christ,

This portion of the Psalm set for the office of Morning Prayer today have me thinking about the words we say at the outset of the office.

After an opening sentence of scripture and the Confession of Sin, the office begins with the Invitatory and Psalter. All stand, and the Officiant and People continue with the familiar versicle and response drawn from Psalm 51, the Miserere:

Officiant O Lord, open thou our lips.
People And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

The Officiant and People then say together the Gloria Patri, what is known as the Lesser Doxology:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

This doxology, an invocation of the majesty and glory of the Holy Trinity, is the very heart of our prayers, as the Opening Acclamation of the Eucharistic rite is (i.e., “Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy. And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever. Amen.”).

We bring to mind from the outset of the office the nature of God, who stands beyond every desire not merely to know but to comprehend the cause and ground of our being, the mystery of reality itself, who calls and gathers us and establishes our prayers upon the sure foundation of divine charity. Prayer is participate in the life of God, for it is the Spirit of God that prays within us. “O Lord, open thou our lips. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.” God is the doer, and God must surely "give to tongues the gift of speech."

This is the theme, then, of our worship: awestruck adoration; the creature's encounter with the Creator, who authors and sustains life; honest confrontation with our fundamental insufficiency, dependence, and even unworthiness before God. We lift up our souls to God, throw ourselves upon the radiant splendor and perfection of God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and whose lovingkindness is from everlasting to everlasting.

As so we join our voices with the Psalmist this morning: "To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you" (Psalm 25:1).

May God bless and keep you today, and fill you with every joy for the promise of divine love.

In Christ,
Fr. Peter