Tell me, children, the prayer with which it is established to begin praying in the morning (In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) What do we express to the Triune God in this prayer? Do we always keep our promise to do what God commands us? What should we do if, with all our desire, we cannot live as God commanded? We need to ask the Triune God to have mercy on us. What prayers do we know in which we ask God for mercy? In the Jesus Prayer they asked the Savior for mercy; in Trisagion they also asked for pardon. There is, children, another special prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy, which is said immediately after the full doxology. Cross yourself and say it with me: Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Master, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.
In this prayer, almost all the words are understandable, the same ones that we use in conversations with each other, but the meaning of these words is not immediately clear, so we will try to find it. So let us examine carefully what exactly we ask ourselves from the Triune God in the prayer for mercy.
Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. This is how prayer begins. With these words, as you already know, we ask the Triune God to be merciful to us, sinners, and not to punish us for our bad deeds. Next, we say separately to God the Father: Lord, cleanse our sins. Do you remember, children, that we asked the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from all filthiness, that is, from sins, which in a person’s soul are like a dirty stain on a clean dress? And the Holy Spirit cleanses us from sins when it dwells in us and helps us do good, saving deeds instead of bad, destructive deeds. God the Father cleanses us from sins when He forgives us for them, does not punish us for them, but only when He sees that we, asking God to cleanse us from sins, are at the same time trying to get rid of them ourselves. Repetition with children.
What did we ask the Most Holy Trinity? To whom do the words of the prayer refer: Lord, cleanse our sins? Haven't we asked the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from our sins? How does God the Father cleanse our sins? Do we need to worry about cleansing our sins ourselves?
To the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity we say: Master, forgive our iniquities. And who, children, is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity? Son of God. What was the other name for the Son of God when he was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Jesus, or the Savior. What did He save us from? From sins that can destroy a person forever. How did He save us from sins? He saved us by suffering the punishment for sins in our place and, while living on earth, showed us how to do good deeds, and left us His law, in which he indicated how people should live so as not to be subjected to new punishments. When people do something that is not specified in His law, some bad deeds or sins, this means that they do not live according to the law of Christ, in other words, they commit lawlessness, commit lawlessness. Here we are, like slaves, now always fulfilling the will of our Master and Lord, and we cry to Him: Master, forgive our iniquities!
What do we ask of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity? What is lawlessness? Why do we ask the Savior to forgive our iniquities? What do we call Him in this prayer? Why do we call Him Lord?
We say to the Holy Spirit: Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities. And what, children, did we ask the Holy Spirit for in prayer, in which we called Him the King of Heaven, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth? They asked to come and live with us. Here too, when we say: Holy One, visit, we also ask the Holy Spirit to visit us, that is, to visit our soul, to live with us. Why do we ask the Holy Spirit for this? And so that He heals our infirmities. You know, when a person gets sick, a doctor comes to him and treats him, and close people look after the patient, help him get up and lie down. So we, when we sin and sin, we become like a sick, weak person, because without God’s help we cannot do good deeds. Then we have only one salvation - to ask with all our hearts the Holy Spirit to visit us and heal our infirmities, that is, our weakness and powerlessness to do good deeds. And only, children, the Holy Spirit, this Heavenly Physician and Healer, can completely heal our soul from sins and make it capable of fulfilling the law of Christ.
What do we ask of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity? Have you asked the Holy Spirit about this earlier in prayer? How is this prayer read? What are our weaknesses? Who can heal the infirmities of our soul?
We end our prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy with the words: for Thy name's sake. What name are we talking about here, children? Here the name of the Triune God is spoken of, and it is said so that we firmly remember, addressing separately each Person of the Holy Trinity, that we do not have three Gods, but one God in the Holy Trinity, and that the Triune God will give us what we ask for, not because we have earned it in any way, but because of His infinite love for us, for which we must always glorify Him.
How does a prayer for mercy end? What name is being talked about here and why? Will God give us what we ask if we ask not in the name of God? Repeat the opening prayer. What does it mean to do in the name of God. Repeat the prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy.
After the prayer to the Most Holy Trinity for mercy, another short prayer is said: Lord, have mercy and full doxology.
Lord, have mercy is said three times as a sign that all three Persons of the Holy Trinity have equal power to forgive us sins, because by doing bad deeds we equally anger all three Persons of the Divine. A full doxology is said after this because the one who has received pardon from the Lord can and should thank Him by glorifying His holy name.
Why, after the prayer for mercy, is it still said, Lord, have mercy three times? Why is praise said?