Let us be careful in our communications with our neighbors. Seventh Discourse on Liturgytranslated

We continue to analyze the text of the Divine Liturgy with you. Last time we looked at the petition of the peaceful litany “For those floating, traveling, sick, suffering, captives...”.

Next, the deacon proclaims: “Let us pray to the Lord that we may be delivered from all sorrow, anger and need.” In other words, let us ask the Lord to deliver us from all sorrow, anger, danger and difficult circumstances. This petition, being one of the last in the litany, seems to summarize our needs in general terms: we pray to God to deliver us from all sorrow. Someone will ask: but don’t sorrows bring us spiritual benefit? Yes, indeed, they are good for the soul. There is not a single person in this world who has not had sorrows in their life. As Scripture says, “the whole head is in pain and the whole heart is in sorrow” (Is. 1, 5 (translated by P. Yungerov)). The point is how each of us relates to the sorrows that befall him. If you endure them with patience and perseverance, and try to extract spiritual benefit from them for yourself, then, even if you yourself turned out to be the culprit of sorrows, you brought them upon yourself, they become a blessed phenomenon in your life. And if you treat sorrows incorrectly: you grumble,...