Pastoral Reflection: Sunday, July 19, 2026
After the opening proclamation of, "Blessed is the Kingdom...," the first major prayer of the Divine Liturgy is the Great Litany—those repeated petitions that begin, “In peace, let us pray to the Lord.” The petitions move from the most basic gift—peace with God and neighbor—to the needs of the Church, the world, civil authorities, travelers, the sick, and the departed. Nothing is too great or too small to bring into the Liturgy.
The repeated response, “Lord, have mercy,” is not meant to be mechanical. Mercy is God’s active, healing love—not just pity, but power to save and transform. When the people answer “Lord, have mercy,” they are asking God to step into every circumstance named in the petitions, to heal, strengthen, and guide. The Great Litany trains the heart to see the world itself as something offered up to God in prayer.
The Great Litany also reminds us that peace is not merely the absence of conflict. In the Scriptures, peace is a gift that comes from communion with God and the right ordering of the soul. The Church begins here because peace is the soil in which every other spiritual virtue grows. "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)
With love in Christ,
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