His Holiness Pope Tawadros II prayed the Divine Liturgy this morning in the Church of Saint Paul at Saint Paul’s residence in the Red Sea.
Eight Bishops and priests of the Canal and Red Sea Governorates, and a number of priests from some dioceses of the See of St. Mark in Egypt, with a total of about 200 priests, participated in the prayers.

His Holiness delivered a sermon , during which H.H. explained two phrases, one from the sayings of the Liturgy and the other from the Agpeya prayers, which are: “Bow your heads to the Lord“, and “sanctify my soul and enlighten my understanding, and allow me to be a partaker of the grace of Your life-giving mysteries; that when I taste of Your benevolences, I offer You praise without lukewarmness, longing for Your splendor above all things, O Christ our Lord, and deliver us.”
His Holiness reflected on the phrase, “Bow your heads to the Lord“, which represents a daily training for the l priest, as follows:
1- “Before You, O Lord”, it gives a person special feelings, as all worship, prayers, and all life is before God.
2- “bow” : It means obedience to God, and that man with all his senses and life is in a state of positive submission.
3- “Shy”: we stand before God shy of our sins, weaknesses, as if prayer is training for the day when man will stand before God, and this is one of God’s blessings upon man to protect him from falling into sin in all its forms.
4- “Rejoicing”: Man is rejoicing before God because he is in the presence of God.
5- “Exposed”: Nothing is hidden before God. He knows the secrets of hearts.

His Holiness pointed out that before God, man does not find a word to utter except “Have mercy on me.”
“God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” ‭‭(Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭13‬) ‭

Therefore, during prayer, a person must pour himself out and enter into the depths of the meaning and feeling of the divine presence, and the phrase “Before You, O Lord, we bow” is prayed by the priest for himself first and for all his flock second, and he must live it with his feelings, his life and his heart.
His Holiness also reflected on one of the parts of the ninth hour prayer in Agpeya, as a gradual spiritual program for the life of a person who walks longing for heaven, through:
1-“sanctify my soul”: It is prayer from the heart that sanctifies a person’s soul and life.
2- “enlighten my understanding”: That the priest must have an enlightened mind and an enlightened heart, in order to teach integrity to those he shepherds.
3- “allow me to be a partaker of the grace of Your life-giving mysteries”: Especially the sacraments of repentance and confession and the sacrament of Communion, because in the sacrament of repentance and confession a person receives a special grace, and in the sacrament of Communion we share in this grace, and thus grace is always present and active.
4- “that when I taste of Your benevolences”: It represents a life of thanksgiving for all God’s benevolence and God’s work in the souls of the flock.
5-“ I offer You praise without lukewarmness” : It represents a life of joy, and that the priest should be a reason for joy before God, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””
‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬)
6-“longing for Your splendor above all things”: It represents the state of spiritual longing to be with God.

A seminar for the priests of the dioceses of Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, and the Red Sea began on November 5th, under the title: “The psychological structure of the mind and heart of the priest”.
It included ten lectures whose topics varied between spiritual, biblical and psychological topics, in which His Holiness lectured yesterday evening, where H.H. spoke about “the image of the priest as it should be.”
The seminar concluded the day with the prayers of the Divine Liturgy.

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