The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 16

Jesus, purity of Virgins, have mercy on us.

Since the earliest days of Christianity, some men and women have decided to give up marriage and family to devote themselves entirely to serving God in whatever way He calls them to do so. Some have remained in the world, yet separated from it in many ways, while others have chosen to join a religious community. 

Jesus gives these virgins the grace they need to retain their purity in thought, word, and action. Of course, purity isn’t just for those who have committed themselves to virginity for the sake of God’s kingdom. Married people and single people with a possible vocation to marriage are also called to purity and must rely on God’s grace to hold fast to His will for their lives. 

Jesus, Crown of all Saints, have mercy on us.

Jesus is our King and our crown. He rules us and gives us the power to rule under Him. When we are baptized, we become priests, prophets, and kings.  As part of the priesthood of the faithful (distinct from the ordained priesthood), we participate in divine worship and offer God the sacrifices of our lives, all that we have and all that we are. As prophets, we speak God’s truth whether that makes us popular and well-liked or not. As kings, we rule over ourselves, conforming our wills to God’s perfect will for us. In all three offices, Jesus’ crowns us with His grace, His wisdom, and His love.

Be merciful, spare us, O Jesus. Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Jesus.

As the litany transitions into a new section, we once again call on Jesus to be merciful to us, sparing us and graciously hearing and responding to our pleas. This should be a constant refrain for us, but we must pray these verses with confidence, knowing that our Lord longs to pour out His mercy on us, trusting that He wants to save us, and believing that He always hears us and answers us.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 15

Jesus, teacher of Evangelists, have mercy on us.

Evangelists are those who preach the Gospel, those who spread the Good News that God became Man in Jesus Christ, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and that He loves us and desires our love in return. We might think of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who wrote the Gospels, or perhaps we might think of Paul and his missionary companions or the great preachers, theologians, and saints of times past or even of today.

Yet we are all called to be evangelists. We are all called to preach the Gospel in our words and actions. Perhaps we may protest that we don’t know how to do this. It’s a good thing, then, that we have the very best Teacher to inspire us with what to say and do. Our job is to listen and obey.  

Jesus, strength of Martyrs, have mercy on us.

What would we do if we faced the choice between death and compromise with regard to our Christian faith? Most of us will likely never know, but many people throughout the centuries have experienced the dilemma, and those who drew their strength from Jesus went to their deaths willingly, even joyfully, knowing that God would sustain them and reward them.  

Martyrdom does not always have to be about death, however. We are all called to little martyrdoms, little self-sacrifices, every day. While they don’t involve the ultimate choice, they can still be difficult moments when we have to decide between what is right and what is sin, between God’s will and our own will. Jesus gives us the strength to make the correct choices even in these smaller, non-bloody instances of martyrdom, so we must turn to Him constantly that we may be His witnesses at all times.

Jesus, light of Confessors, have mercy on us.

The word “confessors” here does not mean priests who hear and absolve sins in the sacrament of Confession. Rather, a confessor, in this sense, is a person who confesses the Christian faith, a person who speaks the truth whether it is easy or difficult, welcome or unwelcome. When we are willing to do that, Jesus enlightens us. He tells us what to say and shows us what to do. We must allow Him to work and cooperate as He does so that His light can shine through us.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 14

Jesus, joy of the Angels, have mercy on us.

In the dark of the first Christmas midnight, the shepherds watched over their flocks. Then suddenly, the sky exploded with the light of rejoicing angels, proclaiming that the Savior has been born. “Glory to God in the highest,” they exult, “and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!” (Luke2:14). 

The angels surrounded Jesus all during His life. They served Him after He resisted temptation in the wilderness. An angel comforted Him in the garden the night before He died. The angels would have descended in legions upon legions to assist Jesus during His Passion if He had only said the word. But He did not, so they watched in silence and sorrow. But we can be sure that the angels were the first to rejoice at Jesus’ resurrection, and they were clearly eager to spread the news that the Lord had risen, conquering death and bringing new life to all those who accept Him in faith and love.

Jesus, King of Patriarchs, have mercy on us.

The Patriarchs (people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses) may have lived long before Jesus, but they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. They understood that God had a plan for His people and that He ruled over them in a special way to prepare them to bring Him to the whole world. Jesus is now the King of Patriarchs because, as He explained to the disbelieving Sadducees, God is the God of the living. Jesus is the God of the living. The Patriarchs are alive, far more alive than we sometimes are, and they know their God and King in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus, master of Apostles, have mercy on us.

Apostles are those who are sent. They do not act on their own authority but on the authority of the Sender. When we think of “Apostles,” we usually think of the Twelve, but all of us are called to participate in the Church’s “apostolate.” We are all sent out on a particular mission, and God gives us the skills and graces we need to do it well. While we may not always feel like we are successful, our job is to cooperate and leave the results to the Master.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 13

Jesus, eternal Wisdom, have mercy on us.

Proverbs 8 offers an intriguing reflection on wisdom. Personified as a woman (because the word for “wisdom” is feminine in gender), wisdom is mysteriously described as both eternal, existing before creation, and somehow also created. This points toward the Incarnation when the eternal Son of God took on a created human body and human soul.  

In Proverbs, wisdom is a “master workman,” intimately involved in the creation of the world, delighting and rejoicing in all its wonder and especially in human beings. Wisdom also teaches those human beings how to please God, and these instructions are far better than gold or silver because they lead to true wealth: to righteousness and justice and life with God.  

We can see how wisdom, as portrayed here, is a type of Christ, the Word of God, the Logos, through Whom the world was made and Who became incarnate to lead us to true wealth, eternal life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus, infinite Goodness, have mercy on us.

Infinite goodness. Just reflect on that for a moment. Because Jesus is God, His is all-good, perfectly good, infinitely good. In Luke 18:18, an official asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus immediately pounces on the adjective “good.” He asks the man, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone.” Exactly. Jesus is nudging the man (and us) to identify Him correctly. We call Him good because recognize His deep, flawless goodness, but when we do so, we are implicitly recognizing something else as well: Jesus is God.

Jesus, our way and our life, have mercy on us.

In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.” Jesus is our goal and our way to our goal. He is true life and the path that gets us to true life. He is our home and our way home. He is the destination and the journey. He is our all in all.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 12

Jesus, Good Shepherd, have mercy on us.

Sheep aren’t the world’s brightest creatures and, often, neither are human beings. We stray away from our shepherd, getting ourselves into all kinds of trouble. We take in things we should not, things that make us sick. We become tangled up in the bramble and briers of this world, hurting ourselves in the process. 

Yet we have a good Shepherd, the very best Shepherd, to rescue us and protect us. Think about what a shepherd does for his sheep. He feeds and waters them and makes sure they are safe from predators and from their own stupidity. He cleans them up, sheers them, and comforts them. He searches for them when they are lost and leads them home when he finds them. Our Shepherd does all this and more. So may we not be stupid sheep but rather stay close to our good Shepherd, Jesus.

Jesus, true light, have mercy on us.

In the prologue of his Gospel, St. John writes that “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (1:9). This true light is the Word of God Who was “with God” and “was God” (1:1).  “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:4-5). 

This Word, this light, this life “became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). Yet the world did not know Him or accept Him. Many people wanted to remain in the darkness, for the light shows them the truth, and the truth makes demands. But the light also fills us with the “power to become children of God,” to behold God’s glory, to know God in a wonderful new way, to experience His grace, to be filled with light ourselves.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 11

Jesus, Father of the poor, have mercy on us.

We noted earlier that it seems odd to identify Jesus as a Father. We are used to thinking of Him as the Son of the God the Father. Yet in some cases, Jesus actually can legitimately and quite elegantly be described as a Father. Here, for instance, we address Him as Father of the poor. He cares tenderly for people who are poor. He protects them and nourishes them, defends them and supports them, teaches them and encourages them. This is exactly what a father does.

We would do well to think, too, of who the “poor” are. We can certainly refer to the materially poor who must rely on Jesus because they lack the resources necessary to live. Many poor people find themselves closer to God as they come to trust Him more and more for their basic survival.

Yet we might also identify the spiritually poor, those whom Jesus refers to as the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). These are the anawim, God’s poor, those who know that no matter what their material status in the world, they are totally dependent upon God. These are the ones who place themselves in Jesus’ hands, trusting fully in Him, realizing that without Him they are nothing at all.

Jesus, treasure of the faithful, have mercy on us.

Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Our ultimate treasure in Heaven is Jesus Himself. He is the One we should be seeking always. He is where our hearts should be. For only in Him do we have true life, true happiness, and true wealth.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 10

Jesus, zealous for souls, have mercy on us.

The word “zealous” comes from the Greek zēlos, which means ardor or noble passion or even jealousy. If we trace the etymology (word history) back even further, we find the Proto-Indo-European root *ya-, which means to seek or desire. So considering all this, when we say that Jesus is zealous for souls, we can say that He has an ardor, a passion, for souls. He wants to save us, eagerly, thoroughly. He seeks us. He desires us. He is even jealous for us, wanting us for Himself because belonging to Him is what is truly best for us. 

Jesus, our God, have mercy on us.

In 2 Peter 1, Peter writes that we have obtained our faith in “the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The original Greek construction indicates that both “God” and “Savior” apply to Jesus. This clear statement of Jesus’ divinity echoes throughout the New Testament. Jesus claims to be God (remember all those “I Am” statements in which He applies the divine Name to Himself) and shows Himself to be God by His miracles of physical and especially spiritual healing. 

Jesus is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, the Son of God, fully human and fully divine. Jesus is truly God. This is our Christian faith. 

Jesus, our refuge, have mercy on us.

We have all felt the world closing in on us, oppressing us, even attacking us. Many people clamor for safety, for security, but they’ll never find it in this fallen world. So where do we turn? We flee to Jesus and hide ourselves, immerse ourselves, in Him. For He is our refuge, our only safe place. 

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 9

Jesus, God of peace, have mercy on us.

The Scriptural concept of peace is much deeper and more intricate than the idea we usually have of peace. While we might think of the absence of conflict or of a sort of calm in which nothing really happens, in God’s definition, peace is so much more. It is a wholeness, a completeness within a person and among people. Peace also means that everything within a person or among people is in the right order, the way in which God intends it to be.

This is why Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Jesus’ peace goes far beyond the worldly definition. This is also why Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Our broken world needs to be put back in proper order. It needs to be made whole again. This can be a painful process that looks like anything but peace. But in the end, Jesus’ peace will prevail for those who choose to immerse themselves in it.

Jesus, author of life, have mercy on us.

God created all things by His Word. “In Him was life: and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

Jesus, the Word of God, was the author of life at creation. And He is the author of life in our re-creation, our redemption from sin and death. He died for us on the cross that we might live with the Blessed Trinity forever in Heaven, the eternal life, the abundant life, that has no end.

Jesus, model of virtues, have mercy on us.

If we want to know how to live our lives according to the will of God, then we must study the life of Jesus. He entered fully into our human existence, but since He was fully God as well as fully man, He never sinned. So He shows us how to live human life to the fullest, perfect in all virtues, obedient to the Father’s will, deep in true love.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 8

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, have mercy on us.

The Divine Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-7). 

Jesus, fully God, became fully Man to save us from sin. He humbled Himself in a way we can hardly even imagine. As God, He remained omnipotent, but He became meek for our sake. Meekness, though, does not mean being wimpy or passive or tame or boring. Meekness, in the Scriptural sense of the word, means strength under control. It is the result of self-discipline and humility.  It arises because of a deliberate choice to follow the path of self-giving love.  

Jesus, lover of chastity, have mercy on us.

Chastity gets a back rap in the modern world, for many people view it as repressive or prudish or simply unattainable. Yet none of this is true. Chastity is actually all about conforming our minds, our hearts, and our lives to God’s will for us. With the virtue of chastity, we put our sexuality in its proper place and use it only according to God’s moral law and His plan for our lives. 

Jesus loves chastity in us because when we are chaste, we are pure. We are rightly ordered. We put God first and control our passions so that they conform to His design for human beings, and that design allows sex only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. 

Jesus, our lover, have mercy on us.

Jesus loves us. Perhaps that sounds cliche. Perhaps some people reading this do no truly believe it or at least do not seem to experience it in their lives. But it is perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully true: Jesus loves us. He loves us so much that He died on the cross for us. He would not have had to. One drop of His blood would have been enough to save the world. But He chose to go all the way, to pour out every drop of His blood for us so that no matter how far we run from Him, He will be right there waiting with arms stretched out to embrace us. Now that’s love. 

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 7

Jesus, most powerful, have mercy on us.

Since Jesus is fully God, He is indeed most powerful. He is omnipotent. Yet our Lord’s infinite power is always directed toward our good. He loves us; He made us; and He knows exactly what we need to flourish as human beings and as children of God. Our Lord’s power, then, works in perfect union with His perfect love.

Jesus, most patient, have mercy on us.

In his second letter, Peter tells us that we must “consider the patience of our Lord as salvation” (3:15, NAB). Jesus is perfectly patient with us. He gives us chance after chance, grace after grace. Why? Because He died for us and wants us to live with Him forever in Heaven. Paul adds that “God our Savior...desires all men to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:3, RSV-CE). We never have to worry about Jesus giving up on us; we just have to remain faithful to Him.

Jesus, most obedient, have mercy on us.

It may seem kind of strange to us that Jesus, fully God as well as fully Man, would be obedient. Yet He obeyed, accepted, and even embraced His Father’s will all the way to death on the Cross. Jesus’ obedience was not servile. He was not a slave to His Father. His obedience arose from the total, perfect self-giving love that flows between the Father and the Son. That love is the Holy Spirit. There is no opposition in the Family that is the Blessed Trinity. 

This shows us something important about where our own obedience should flow from. We, too, are called to obey out of love. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us after all, so He knows what is best for us. He know what should be our highest goal (eternal life with Him!) and how we can best get there. So why would we not hear and obey, imitating Jesus, Who gave Himself completely to His Father?

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 6

Jesus, Father of the world to come, have mercy on us.

It seems rather strange to think of Jesus as “Father.” We are used to addressing the First Person of the Blessed Trinity as “God the Father,” just as Jesus Himself did. Yet we can think of a “father” as a source or an origin, and that can help us clarify this reference. Jesus is the source or the origin of the world to come. He died for us that we might enter into Heaven, into eternal beatitude, face to face with God Himself. 

What’s more, Jesus’ death and resurrection have brought into being a new covenant, a new family relationship between God and humanity. This new covenant is the last one, for it is the highest one, mediated by the God-Man Himself. The new covenant has ushered in a new era, and we are beginning to live eternity right now even as we await its fulfillment. 

Jesus, angel of great counsel, have mercy on us.

Again, it seems strange to think of Jesus as an “angel,” yet the word “angel” actually only means a messenger. Jesus does indeed bring us the message of great counsel. Counsel here refers to good judgment, the ability to make right decisions based on God’s will. So part of counsel is knowing God’s will, and Jesus certainly teaches us that. He is, in fact, the perfect messenger of God’s will, for He obeyed His Father perfectly all the way to the cross

The other part of counsel, however, is acting on what we know. When we have determined what God wants of us, the gift of counsel helps us choose that and carry it out. Jesus gives us the ability to do that through His great grace and love.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 5

Jesus, most amiable, have mercy on us.

We don’t use the word “amiable” must these days, and when we do, we tend to mean that a person is friendly and pleasant, good-natured and easy to be around. But the word’s history runs much deeper than that. If we look back into the development of “amiable,” we see that it comes from the Latin verb amare, to love. So someone who is amiable is loving and lovable, and that, of course, describes Jesus perfectly.

Jesus, most admirable, have mercy on us.

“Admirable” is another word that has lost some of its force of meaning over the years. When we think of someone admirable, we might consider that person a good example, a role-model, someone we look up to and try to imitate. Jesus is certainly all of those, but if we look at the older meaning of the word, we, again, get a broader picture. In its foundational sense, something that is admirable is awe-inspiring, marvelous, amazing, truly wonderful, as in jaw-dropping, delightful beauty. Now that’s Jesus!

Jesus, mighty God, have mercy on us.

Our modern world tends to downplay Jesus’ divinity. It’s easier, after all, to see Jesus as a good man or a wise teacher or some kind of guru. That makes fewer demands on us. It lets us off the hook.  

But it simply isn’t true. Jesus is fully human, but He is also fully God, completely and totally divine. And because He is God, Jesus is omnipotent, all-powerful. Yet He uses that power to love us more than we can even imagine.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 4

Jesus, King of glory, have mercy on us.

Jesus, fully God and fully man, is the true King of the universe. His Father has given Him dominion over all peoples and all things, over the entire cosmos, and Jesus rules at His Father’s right hand in the kingdom of Heaven, in the brightness of divine glory. 

But do we allow Jesus to be King over our lives? Do we surrender to Him as our sovereign? Do we let Him governor us and obediently submit? Or do we rebel? It is important to remember, especially for people who are not especially familiar with or favorable toward a monarchy, that Jesus’ reign is not like those of human kings and queens. Jesus’ rule is perfect. He knows exactly what we need and exactly what is best for us at all times, and when He commands us to do or not do something, it is only and always for our own good. Only our stubborn minds and hearts prevent us from seeing that and embracing our King’s loving will.

Jesus, sun of justice, have mercy on us.

This petition associates justice with the light of the sun. We, on the other hand, might think of justice as something harsh and demanding. We who are sinners may be afraid of the idea of justice because, quite justly, we deserve punishment.

Yet Jesus is the sun of justice, the bright, shining warmth of perfect justice, which, in God, is always balanced by perfect mercy. How this can be is a mystery to us, but Jesus is perfectly just in His mercy and perfectly merciful in His justice. 

Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us.

Here we remember that Jesus is fully human, that He is the son of a human mother who was beautifully prepared to miraculously conceive her Son. Our Lady was conceived without sin, perfectly imbued with God’s indwelling presence from the moment of her conception. She herself conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to Jesus Christ, truly Son of God and truly Son of the Virgin Mary.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 3

Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

Jesus is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, begotten by the Father from all eternity. This Divine Son took on our humanity in the Incarnation and became like us in all things except sin, yet He did not cease to be truly and completely God. 

Notice how Jesus is called the Son of the living God. This adjective distinguishes between the one true God and the many idols we human beings create for ourselves. We give ourselves to those idols, but they are not alive. Rather, they are dead, and they draw us into death, whether they be material objects of stone or metal or the lures of wealth, sex, fame, or whatever else we put before God and worship instead of God. Rather, we must turn to the living God, the God Who wants to give us eternal life.

Jesus, splendor of the Father, have mercy on us.

When Philip told Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied,” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:8-9). Jesus shows us the Father. He radiates the Father, for He is perfectly united to the Father in a way we cannot grasp. But we must believe because Jesus commands us to: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in me” (John 14:11). From that unity of Father and Son, Jesus reveals the beauty, the magnificence, the splendor, and the love of God, His Father and ours.

Jesus, brightness of eternal light, have mercy on us.

“I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus is the light of the world because He is the brightness of eternal light. His divine glory shines upon us and shines out of us when we are in a state of grace because of the divine indwelling we received at Baptism. The Fathers of the Church called Baptism “illumination” or “enlightenment,” for when we are baptized, we receive the light of Christ, really Christ Himself. We are united to Him, and we must let His light shine through us to a world wrapped in darkness.

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 2

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.

As with most litanies, this one invokes all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, praying for mercy from each One. We begin by reaching up in love to God the Father of heaven. Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, to refer to Him even as “Abba,” an intimate name that emphasizes God’s love and care for us. It should also express our devotion to Him in love and obedience. 

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.

Next, we pray to God the Son, the Redeemer of the world. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became incarnate for us in Jesus Christ, God and Man. He went to the cross for us, taking the covenant curses upon Himself for all the times when we broke our covenant with God. He bought us back from slavery to sin and death and opened the gates of Heaven. He made it possible for us to partake in the divine life, to bask in the indwelling presence of God Himself in our very souls.  

God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.

The Holy Spirit is the very love between the Father and the Son. The First and Second Persons of the Blessed Trinity pour themselves out in love for one another, and that Love is so powerful, so vivid, so alive, so perfect, so infinite, that He is another Person. 

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.

Our God, then, is three and one, Trinity and Unity. This is a great, beautiful mystery, and it surpasses our human ability to understand. We cannot grasp it, but we must believe it, for God has revealed it.  We should stand amazed that our God, Who is so perfect in and of Himself, needing nothing, created us out of love, holds us in existence out of love, redeems us out of love, and allows us to share in His own love. 

The Litany Project: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, Part 1

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Most litanies begin with a plea for God’s mercy in the three-part formula we use at Mass. In this, we recognize our sinfulness and our need for God’s forgiveness. As we pray these words, we should experience true repentance for our sins as well as an assurance that God always holds out His mercy to those who desire it.

Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

Jesus always hears us when we pray to Him, so why do we beg Him to do so here, especially in such emphatic language? First, at times, our Lord may seem distant, and we wonder, in our pain and grief, if He is listening at all or even cares. He does hear us, of course, but we must remind ourselves of that truth.

Second, as we ask Jesus to hear us, we should remember that we need to hear Jesus, too. Jesus does hear us, and He does respond to us, but sometimes we’re so distracted that we failed to notice His gentle replies to our prayers. We have to open our hearts, trusting that our Lord always hears and answers our prayers.