Great Lent: The Prayer of St. Ephrem
During Great Lent, Orthodox Christians spend more time attending services. One of the most beautiful services is the Presanctified Liturgy which is served on Wednesday and Friday evenings.
During the service we say this prayer:
The Prayer of St. Ephrem
O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages.
This is a prayer that I need to pray daily, not just during Lent but throughout the year. I need chastity, humility, patience and love. And boy do I need the Lord to take from laziness, depression, and idle talk. (I bet I need to have lust of power removed as well but I’m in denial about that one right now <grin>)
I’ll be linking this post up to Trish’s blog A House Upon the Rock but just so ya’ll know Laura over at Day by Day in our World is also hosting 40 Days of Seeking Him.
We all need more of those things.
ReplyDeleteMay He continue to give us grace and mercy as we seek Him.
Blessings,
Trish
PS...It was great to see your name on the list! Love the look of your blog.