The Litany of Completion of the Divine Liturgy
Our Daily Lives
Time, according to the teaching of our Fathers, is connected to "space", since God created space together with time. Time is the movement that exists in all beings. But we understand time by the rising and setting of the sun, by the rotation-motion of the earth around it, from which motion the days, weeks, months, time and years are created.
However, we all have a sense of the beginning and the end of each day, which we identify with the sunrise and sunset. For each day we feel the need to pray to God. The Priest entreats: "That the whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful, and sinless, let us ask the Lord," that is, we supplicate the Lord and God, so that our whole day is perfect, holy, peaceful and sinless. This is an important prayer, because in every day and hour there may be many temptations, difficulties may arise, problems may arise. Of course, with this prayer we are not interested in the day itself, but in how we will spend our day. We are not so much interested in the problems that present themselves, as in the way in which we deal with them. All days are the same, but we differ, we change, since sometimes we are happy and sometimes sad, sometimes we feel good and sometimes bad. The problem is not outside us, but within us.
Let's see how the Church wants us to spend our day, as Christians and as her members, as children of God.
First of all, our day must be "perfect". But what is meant by the perfect day? We can see this in the spiritual sense, that we must behave as perfectly as possible as Christians, but also in the temporal sense, that we must reach toward the end of it unless something unexpected happens, such as death, and we suddenly leave this world. However, since Christ told us to constantly become perfect, "Be ye perfect, for your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 6:48), perfection shows that we must constantly improve as Christians and to complete ourselves spiritually.
Then, we pray that our day will be "holy", that we will live constantly with Christ who is holy. As Christians we have Christ as our model, since He is the model of our creation and He rebirthed us with His Incarnation, the Cross, His Resurrection and Ascension, as well as with the sending of the Holy Spirit. This means that we must constantly observe the commandments of Christ and live in Christ.
Our day must even be "peaceful". It is about external, but above all about internal peace, our freedom from the tyranny of intrusive thoughts. Peace is a great good when we live in constant turmoil, in war, in various disorders.
In addition, we pray to God to grant that our day is "sinless", that we do not commit sins that separate us from God. These are sins committed through desires and actions.
But the question that arises is whether it is possible to live our day according to what we are asking for. Since the Church, through the Holy Fathers, set forth this prayer, it means that it is possible to fulfill this prayer. The Church does not pray for impossible things. However, God's help and our own response are required, because nothing is done by God alone or by us alone. And when we don't succeed, then we repent and ask for God's mercy.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
However, we all have a sense of the beginning and the end of each day, which we identify with the sunrise and sunset. For each day we feel the need to pray to God. The Priest entreats: "That the whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful, and sinless, let us ask the Lord," that is, we supplicate the Lord and God, so that our whole day is perfect, holy, peaceful and sinless. This is an important prayer, because in every day and hour there may be many temptations, difficulties may arise, problems may arise. Of course, with this prayer we are not interested in the day itself, but in how we will spend our day. We are not so much interested in the problems that present themselves, as in the way in which we deal with them. All days are the same, but we differ, we change, since sometimes we are happy and sometimes sad, sometimes we feel good and sometimes bad. The problem is not outside us, but within us.
Let's see how the Church wants us to spend our day, as Christians and as her members, as children of God.
First of all, our day must be "perfect". But what is meant by the perfect day? We can see this in the spiritual sense, that we must behave as perfectly as possible as Christians, but also in the temporal sense, that we must reach toward the end of it unless something unexpected happens, such as death, and we suddenly leave this world. However, since Christ told us to constantly become perfect, "Be ye perfect, for your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 6:48), perfection shows that we must constantly improve as Christians and to complete ourselves spiritually.
Then, we pray that our day will be "holy", that we will live constantly with Christ who is holy. As Christians we have Christ as our model, since He is the model of our creation and He rebirthed us with His Incarnation, the Cross, His Resurrection and Ascension, as well as with the sending of the Holy Spirit. This means that we must constantly observe the commandments of Christ and live in Christ.
Our day must even be "peaceful". It is about external, but above all about internal peace, our freedom from the tyranny of intrusive thoughts. Peace is a great good when we live in constant turmoil, in war, in various disorders.
In addition, we pray to God to grant that our day is "sinless", that we do not commit sins that separate us from God. These are sins committed through desires and actions.
But the question that arises is whether it is possible to live our day according to what we are asking for. Since the Church, through the Holy Fathers, set forth this prayer, it means that it is possible to fulfill this prayer. The Church does not pray for impossible things. However, God's help and our own response are required, because nothing is done by God alone or by us alone. And when we don't succeed, then we repent and ask for God's mercy.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
