Introductory Rites: ‘Lord Have Mercy

This week we will focus on the ‘Lord Have Mercy,’ also known as the ‘Kyrie Eleison’ in Greek. While the Kyrie is primarily an expression of repentance, it also can be seen as a petition, a prayer representing the cry of God’s people for assistance in their lives. As early as the fourth century the ‘Lord Have Mercy’ was recited in the liturgy in response by Greek Christians for petitions recited in their liturgy. In the New Testament gospels, many people approached Jesus asking for his mercy in the sense of pleading for healing and help in their lives or the life of a loved one. Similarly, during the ‘Lord Have Mercy,’ we join the countless afflicted souls from the time of Jesus to today, who have found comfort and strength when they cried out, “Lord Have Mercy.” This threefold petition for God’s mercy is an invocation for the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. One theologian says, “we may hear the cry of the whole race of man ascending to heaven from the depths...somehow we stand before the Lord on behalf of his whole groaning creation.” So today, let all of us come into God’s presence in this mass, together with angels and saints, as we ask him to

show us his mercy and grant us this salvation as we recite: Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy, Lord Have Mercy.