Exaudiat te Dominus. A prayer for the king.
“The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. For thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a great reward.” (Psalm 19:9-11)
God deceiveth no one and his judgments are true and just. Those who have a right fear of God seek to do his will, which is sweet to those who are not chained by the sins of this world.
“The judgments of the Lord are true, justified together.” The judgments of Him, who “judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” are justified in truth unchangeably. For neither in His threatenings nor His promises doth God deceive any man, nor can any withdraw either from the ungodly His punishment, or from the godly His reward. “To be desired more than gold, and much precious stone” (ver. 10). Whether it be “gold and stone itself much,” or “much precious,” or “much to be desired;” still, the judgments of God are to be desired more than the pomp of this world; by desire of which it is brought to pass that the judgments of God are not desired, but feared, or despised, or not believed. But if any be himself gold and precious stone, that he may not be consumed by fire, but received into the treasury of God, more than himself does he desire the judgments of God, whose will he preferreth to his own. “And sweeter than honey and the honey comb.” And whether one be even now honey, who, disenthralled already from the chains of this life, is awaiting the day when he may come up to God’s feast; or whether he be yet as the honey comb, wrapped about with this life as it were with wax, not mixed and become one with it, but filling it, needing some pressure of God’s hand, not oppressing but expressing it, whereby from life temporal it may be strained out into life eternal: to such an one the judgments of God are sweeter than he himself is to himself, for that they are “sweeter than honey and the honey comb.”(4) -St. Augustine
Temperance keeps one from sin; however, excess can cause one to sin.
“Perhaps, on the other hand, someone might say, ‘Why was vine dressing, source of such terrible wickedness, introduced into life?’ Do not idly blurt out what comes into your head, O man: vine dressing is not wicked nor is wine evil—rather, it is use of them in excess. You see, dreadful sins arise not from wine as such but from intemperate attitudes of human depravity that undermine the benefit that should naturally come from it. The reason that now after the deluge he shows you the use of wine is that you may learn that before using wine the human race had to come to grief from it. Before wine had even appeared, human history gave evidence of the extremity of sinfulness and unbridled licentiousness. This was intended to teach you that when you see the way wine is used, you will not attribute it all to wine as such but to depraved human intention bent on evil. Consider especially where wine has proved useful, and tremble, O man. For wine is used in good things by which our salvation is made real. Those who have an insight into spiritual realities understand this saying.”(4) -St. John Chrysostom
God gives parents the ability to bless or curse their children. Therefore, children should honor and respect their parents and parents should take their children’s natural and spiritual upbringing as of utmost importance.
“When we read that he was blessed who was blessed by his father and that he was cursed who was cursed by his father, we learn above all else what great reverence to show our parents. And God gave this privilege to parents so as to arouse respect in the children. The formation of the children is, then, the prerogative of the parents. Therefore honor your father that he may bless you.”(4) -St. Ambrose
Women's Prayer Group In Christ 