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The people answer: O Lord, pardon the sins of your servants, and. . .

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The people answer: O Lord, pardon the sins of your servants, and purify our conscience from doubts and from Strifes. O Lord, pardon the offences of them that are praising You, and make clear our soul from hatred and slander. O Lord, pardon the sins of Your servants who have confessed Your name, and make us worthy to receive this Sacrament with faith. O Lord, pardon Your servants who call upon Your name daily; and grant us, Lord, to be Yours, even as You desire; and may these divine Mysteries, Lord, be to us for the confidence and courage before Your Majesty.

-St. Narsai Harp of the Spirit

Blessed is he that believes Him and. . .

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Blessed is he that believes Him and assents to His word; for if he be dead he shall live, and if he be alive he shall not die in his offenses.

-St. Narsai Harp of the Spirit

Then he prepares the people with. . .

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Then he prepares the people with an exhortation, and says: Let your minds be aloft in this hour where King Messiah is sitting on the right hand. Be not taken up with vain thoughts of earthly things: Look upon Him that is now mystically slain upon the alter, who sits in the heights and ask mercy for sinners.

-St. Narsai Harp of the Spirit (An Exposition of the Mysteries)

Unless the grace of God comes to. . .

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Unless the grace of God comes to the help of our frailty, to protect and defend it, no man can withstand the insidious onslaughts of the enemy nor can he damp down or hold in check the fevers which burn in our flesh with nature’s fire.

— John Cassian

The thief who received the kingdom. . .

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of heaven, though not as the reward of virtue, is a true witness to the fact that salvation is ours through the grace and mercy of God.

— John Cassian

when we gaze in. . .

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When we gaze in unbounded admiration on that ineffable mercy of His, which with unwearied patience endures countless sins which are every moment being committed under His very eyes, or the call with which from no antecedent merits of ours, but by the free grace of His pity He receives us;”

― John Cassian, Conferences of John Cassian

 

As a handful of sand thrown into. . .

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“As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with the mind of God.”

— St. Isaac of Nineveh

Be a herald of God’s goodness, for God rules over. . .

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“Be a herald of God’s goodness, for God rules over you, unworthy though you are; for although your debt to Him is so great, yet He is not seen exacting payment from you, and from the small works you do, He bestows great rewards upon you.”

— St. Isaac of Nineveh, Homily 60

Conquer men by your. . .

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Conquer men by your gentle kindness, and make zealous men wonder at your goodness. Put the lover of justice to shame by your compassion. With the afflicted be afflicted in mind. Love all men, but keep distant from all men.”

+ St. Isaac of Nineveh , The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 64, “On Prayer, Prostrations, Tears, Reading, Silence, and Hymnody”

Do not fall into despair because of. . .

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“Do not fall into despair because of stumbling. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for them, but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the man who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murders while He hung on the Cross. ‘All manner of sin,’ He said, ‘and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,’ that is, through repentance.”

+ St. Isaac of Nineveh , The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 64, “On Prayer, Prostrations, Tears, Reading, Silence, and Hymnody”