Libby H., who has run the Psalter Prayer Group for many years, is inviting you to join in the quest to pray the Psalter together through the course of the Nativity Fast. Libby says the following:
We are about 6 weeks away from the Nativity fast! It is time again for the sign-ups if you want to join the Psalter Prayer Group.
For those of you who have never participated, I will assign a particular Kathisma for you to begin with on 15 November. Each day you will pray the succeeding Kathisma until you reach #20, at which point you go to the beginning and continue until you reach your starting place. You will repeat the entire process. By doing this, during the 40-day Nativity fast, you will pray through the Psalter twice. If we have a minimum of 20 people signed up, as a group we will pray the entire Psalter each day for 40 days. You can do this at any time – there is no Zoom, no set time to pray. Just incorporate this into your daily prayers. When I send out the listings, you will see the names of everyone else who has committed to this. We pray for each other by name every day at the end of our prayers.
Because we have group members who are not members of St. Mary's, I will send everything to an email address rather than posting on Realm. If you wish to join, please send a message to me on Realm (search for Libby H.) with your name for the list and the email address you wish to use. I will send a confirmation that I have your name on the list, but not assign a number until I have all the names in.
It would be most helpful if I could have all sign-ups no later than 10 November so I have time to prepare the mailing for everyone.
I will assign a Kathisma for you begin with. I will send out the list no later than 12 November so you will have it in time to begin on 15 November.
In addition to our Nativity fast Psalter readings, I would like to encourage you to begin on 16 October to pray through the Psalter once ending on 4 November. (For those of you who are uncertain you want to join us, this is good trial run!)
That, I’m sure you all realize, is a very important date for our country. No matter what your political views, I’m sure you realize that we desperately need prayer for our country. Many are still suffering from the coronavirus – whether physically, emotionally, or financially. We have seen unrest in various cities; we have seen natural disasters. We have heard predictions of more unrest, no matter who might win the election. I cannot tell you who are the proper people to lead this country because I do not know the answer to that. But I can ask you all to pray together for our nation and our leaders, whoever they might be.
The prayer below came from the Orthodox Diocese of the Midwest. If you would, perhaps you could make this prayer a part of our daily prayers at least now through the election.
Our Father, great and glorious God who art in heaven, yet who dost look upon the earth with pity and compassion, meeting out thy justice and thy mercy upon nations and peoples and ages: look down upon our earthly and temporal homeland, the United States of America, which is now riven by strife, and send thy Spirit, the Spirit of Peace, upon us like a heavenly Breeze, to restore peace to our cities, our countrysides, and our hearts. May He, the Spirit of Truth, who leads the saints into all truth, teach us the truth, that we may abide in it, repenting of our error and ignorance. May He, the Spirit of Righteousness, lead us in the way of righteousness, that we might cast aside and reject forever all bigotry and wickedness. O Father Almighty, adorn our rulers with a spirit of wisdom; adorn our civil authorities and the police and all who enforce the law with a spirit of justice and clemency; and adorn all who dwell in our land with a spirit of love for one another. O Father without beginning, Who at the breathing of Thy Spirit didst cause dry land to appear out of the churning waters of chaos when the world was founded: deliver our earthly homeland from disorder, and grant us all to stand firmly on the ground of Thy justice and Thy mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is due all worship, together with Thee, the God and Father, and the All-holy Spirit, the Comforter. Amen.
— Libby H., Coordinator of the Psalter Prayer Group
