The Litany Keeps Things in Perspective

o Bless and keep all thy people.

o Give to all nations unity, peace, and concord.

o Give us an heart to love and fear thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments.

o Give to all thy people increase of grace to hear meekly thy Word, and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.

o Bring into the way of truth all such as have erred, and are deceived.

o Strengthen such as do stand.

o Comfort and help the weak-hearted.

o Raise up them that fall.

o Beat down Satan under our feet.

o Succour, help, and comfort, all that are in danger, necessity, and tribulation.

o Preserve all that travel by land, by water, or by air, all women labouring of child, all sick persons, and young children.

o Shew thy pity upon all prisoners and captives.

o Defend, and provide for, the fatherless children, and widows, and all that are desolate and oppressed.

o Have mercy upon all men.

o Forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and turn their hearts.

o Give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth, so as in due time we may enjoy them.

o Give us true repentance.

o Forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances.

o Endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word.

In terms of church doctrine, this passage in the litany presupposes and affirms our belief, as Irish Anglicans, in God’s providence. There are three main themes here which illustrate how God’s mediation helps us: (1) He sends virtues of peace, love, and meekness, amongst others; (2) He shows mercy to mankind in general, and to certain vulnerable groups – women in labour, the sick, widows, and others – in particular; (3) He restores us to His grace whenever we stumble.

The liturgy concludes with a series of traditional prayers: (1) the Agnus Dei, (2) the Kyrie, (3) the Our Father, (4) ‘A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom,’ and (5) the benediction from 2 Corinthians 13. Far from filling out empty space after the liturgist ran out of original prayers – which is what a more cynical soul than I might say – these time-honoured orisons mark our veneration for the faith of our spiritual fathers.

There is a time and a place for innovation, where prayer is concerned. Otherwise, intercessions on a Sunday morning would ignore current events that we should undoubtedly remember before God.

In October, for example, churches across Ireland were united in prayer for the families of ten tragically deceased people, killed in a petrol station explosion in County Donegal. It would’ve been callous had we not included our petitions for them.

Ultimately, the litany keeps things in perspective because it articulates: (1) the troubles we face; (2) the path to salvation in Christ; (3) the needs of those around us. It seems to me less probable that we should wander into the ruts of life if we take regular stock of all these things. Wide-ranging meditation, whether a particular litany figures in it or not, enlarges our outlook. Science!

Whatever your denomination, can I humbly recommend our Anglican litany? Keep it on standby for the times when you feel hemmed in. I pray that it will help you, like it has helped me, to recapture some sense of a bigger picture – and with it a little perspective. It’s worth a try!