Priest: Having remembered all the saints, let us again and again in peace pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: For the precious gifts offered and consecrated, let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: That our loving God who has received them at His holy, heavenly, and spiritual altar as an offering of spiritual fragrance, may in return send us divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit, let us pray.
People: Lord, have mercy.

Priest: Having prayed for the unity of the faith and for the communion of the Holy Spirit, let us commit ourselves, and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.
People: To You, O Lord.

Priest: (in a low voice) We entrust to You, loving Master, our whole life and hope, and we ask, pray, and entreat: make us worthy to partake of Your heavenly and awesome mysteries from this holy and spiritual table with a clear conscience; for the remission of sins, forgiveness of transgressions, communion of the Holy Spirit, inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, confidence before You, and not in judgment or condemnation.

(The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom - pp 25-26)

The Holy Anaphora is now completed, the gifts have been consecrated, and we need to get ready to partake of the Most Holy Body and Most precious Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is where this small set of petitions comes in. Since it follows the commemoration of the saints in the Anaphora, it is introduced by, “Having remembered all saints…”

We start our prayer by bringing to mind the consecrated gifts. We recall that God has received them as an acceptable offering, “an offering of spiritual fragrance,” (as opposed to the bloody animal offerings). We ask God to send us in return His divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the Divine Liturgy is not merely to sanctify the gifts, but—through receiving the gifts—to sanctify the faithful.

This great gift that we are about to receive—the renewed gift of the Holy Spirit—presupposes a firm commitment to Christ. We encourage each other to make this commitment both individually and as a community. We do not commit to Christ just a few minutes of the week when we are in church, but our whole life. This includes our family, our job, our hobbies, our friendships, our enmities (that must be therefore relinquished in the name of Love), our present and our future. Only those who are ready to make such a commitment in their heart should approach “with the fear of God, faith and love” and receive the Holy Gifts.

This being said, we know that despite our best and sincere intentions, we always fall short of fulfilling this commitment - all the more reason to renew it every week, to make it stronger every time. Our weakness is part of who we are; as such, we offer it to God, and ask Him to supply what is lacking. When we approach God with this mindset, then He remits our sins, pardons our transgressions, sends down the Holy Spirit upon us, and grants to us the inheritance of the Kingdom!

Amen—so be it!