Seventh Sunday after Whitsun

Deus, cuius providéntia in sui dispositióne non fállitur: te súpplices exorámus; ut nóxia cuncta submóveas, et ómnia nobis profutúra concédas. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.

O God, whoſe never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; We humbly beſeech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us tho ſe things which be profitable for us, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.

Keynote: The Choice of the Soul

Desire is prayer. When we desire a thing, we are invoking it as far as lies in our power, and a great deal more lies in our power than we realise, though its manifestations are not always seen in the immediate future.

How many souls would dare to pray, "Put away from us all hurtful things and give us those things which be profitable for us," is they thought that their prayer was going to have an immediate answer! Is not our prayer all too often, "O Lord, save us from the consequences of our actions and make the things we like profitable for us"? How many souls are prepared to found their house of life on the rock of truth? How many try to drive piles into the shifting sands of fantasy and evasion in order to secure a firm foundation? Such a pile-driving is an expensive process, and a house erected on insecure foundations is an insecure dwelling at the best of times, and in constant need of repair.

We shall never know security, or freedom, or happiness, or health until we determine that our lives shall be founded upon truth in their every aspect, and that we will fearlessly and without counting the cost, "turn and overturn, till He whose right it is shall reign," for whatever the cost may be, it is less than the price of keeping a house built upon sand in a state of repair.

If we could only dare to pray that great prayer in sincerity how different our lives would be, and how much more we should have to show for them at the final accounting. If we are willing to part with whatever is hurtful to us, however sweet it may be, and to welcome whatever is profitable to us, however hard it is, our house of life will be of sound workmanship, founded on the rock, and will stand fast in the day of tempest, sheltering us and our loved ones in security when "the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall."

The higher life can only be lived in proportion to our courage, honesty, and staying-power. Even though there may be vision, the people will perish without this holy but humble trinity, for they are the hidden foundations of the higher life.

Edward Burne-Jones, The Merciful Knight (1863)

Sixth Sunday after Whitsun

Deus virtútum, cuius est totum quod est óptimum: ínsere pectóribus nostris amórem tui nóminis, et præsta in nobis religiónis augméntum; ut, quæ sunt bona, nútrias, ac pietátis stúdio, quæ sunt nutríta, custódias. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.

Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increaſe in us true religion, nouriſh us with all goodneſs, and of thy great mercy keep us in the ſame, through Jeſus Chri ſt our Lord. Amen. 

Keynote: The Power of God

There are many different aspects under which God can be worshipped, aspects corresponding to the different forms of the divine essence in manifestation, for we know God only in His functions. We may adore God as love, or worship His as wisdom, but there is another aspect that is sometimes forgotten in these days of a refined culture which abhors pain - the aspect of God as power.

It is because this is so often forgotten that religion is apt to be "feeble, mawkish, and unmanly". It is only when the power aspect reinforces the wisdom and the love that the great chord of God is struck, the chord that can overthrow the walls of all the fortified cities of materialism.

We must train ourselves to reverence the great sweeping power aspect of God, but not to fear it. We have no need to fear it so long as we keep God's law. If we dare to trust ourselves to its tremendous current, we open a channel whereby it can flow through us into the world. But that channel, once opened, cannot be closed by our hands. There must be no faltering or turning back if we push out from the shore and give ourselves to be borne along by the rushing river of the power of God. That way lies destruction, for the great forces we have invoked, though pure as fire, will shatter the frail bark of our wilfulness if we turn it against the stream of their force. We can only touch the great things of life if we dare to invoke the power of God to come upon us.

But the wisdom and the love come equally with the power, and so we have no need to fear anything save our own weaknesses and impurity. If the power of God came alone, it would overwhelm us, but if by our lives, we have brought into manifestation first the love and then the wisdom of God, we may safely invoke the power, though not otherwise. Power, following upon love and wisdom, renders them potent. Without that power, they are negative, inert. Love may will and wisdom may design, but it is the power of God which it "the author and giver of all good things".

Fifth Sunday after Whitsun

Deus, qui diligéntibus te bona invisibília præparásti: infúnde córdibus nostris tui amóris afféctum; ut te in ómnibus et super ómnia diligéntes, promissiónes tuas, quæ omne desidérium súperant, consequámur. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.

God, who haſt prepared for them that love thee, ſuch good things as paſs man’s under ſtanding; Pour into our hearts ſuch love toward thee, that we loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promiſes, which exceed all that we can deſire, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen. 

Keynote: The Love of God

The outer Church teaches the power of the love of God towards us, but the hidden Church teaches the power of our love of God.

Little do we realize the tremendous potency of the yearning of the soul for the divine reality. When the whole soul goes forth seeking God out of an instinctive longing for the bread of life, it contacts the things of the Spirit at a far higher level than when it cries out for God's love to comfort it or His power to save it from its enemies.

When we seek to know God by the power of the understanding, we can rise no higher than a knowledge of the manner in which the Divine Light shines through the prism of forms. The understanding is of value to us after we have known God as He is, but not before; such studies will not take us to God; in fact, if we have no realization of the true nature of that which we seek, they may darken our vision by holding the mind fast to the bondage of form.

The knowledge of God begins when the operations of the mind end. It is by a form of consciousness which transcends thought that we apprehend spiritual realities. There is but one thing which will draw the soul across the great gulf which is fixed between matter and spirit, and that is an outgoing of strong love towards That which is on the farther side of the gulf.

Then, as we so love, in silence and in stillness, asking nothing of the love of God save that when we may love more and more, the whisper from the silence comes across the great gulf, for consciousness has "tuned in" to the keynote of God.

Of all the trees that grow so fair,

   Old England to adorn,

Greater are none beneath the Sun,

   Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs,

   (All of a Midsummer morn!)

Surely we sing no little thing,

   In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Oak of the Clay lived many a day,

   Or ever AEneas began.

Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,

   When Brut was an outlaw man.

Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town

   (From which was London born);

Witness hereby the ancientry

    Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Yew that is old in churchyard-mould,

   He breedeth a mighty bow.

Alder for shoes do wise men choose,

   And beech for cups also.

But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,

   And your shoes are clean outworn,

Back ye must speed for all that ye need,

   To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth

   Till every gust be laid,

To drop a limb on the head of him

   That anyway trusts her shade:

But whether a lad be sober or sad,

   Or mellow with ale from the horn,

He will take no wrong when he lieth along

   'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,

   Or he would call it a sin;

But - we have been out in the woods all night,

   A-conjuring Summer in!

And we bring you news by word of mouth-

   Good news for cattle and corn-

Now is the Sun come up from the South,

   With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs

   (All of a Midsummer morn!)

England shall bide till Judgment Tide,

   By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

ᚪ ᚫ ᚦ

Fourth Sunday after Whitsun

Da nobis, quǽsumus, Dómine: ut et mundi cursus pacífice nobis tuo órdine dirigátur; et Ecclésia tua tranquílla devotióne lætétur. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.

Grant, O Lord, we beſeech thee, that the courſe of this world may be ſo peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully ſerve thee in all godly quietneſs, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.

Keynote: "Thy Kingdom Come"

The true lover of God desires to see the coming of the kingdom on earth among men. The prayer, "Thy kingdom come" is not an idle form of words for him. Do all of us, who repeat these words mechanically as part of the Lord's Prayer, realise their significance in relation to the world's affairs? The next words of the prayer give us the clue - "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

God's will is the cosmic law, and the cosmic law is not an arbitrary enactment, but the expression of God's nature. That nature was shown forth to us in the life of Christ Jesus. There, then, we have our model. God's will is done when we live Christ-like lives. If everybody did this, His kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is not a place, or yet a form of government, but the state of consciousness which has become habituated to the Christ-ideal and dwells constantly in it. [Generally speaking, the Kingdom of Heaven is understood as the spiritual potestas of the Church, as opposed to the mere human authority of kings, princes, politicians, etc. - Ed]

The kingdom comes first in our own hearts; and in so far as we realize its nature we can bring it into being in the world of men, in spite of all difficulty and opposition, by consistently and determinedly bringing each one our actions into line with that ideal.

It is only through a change of individual  consciousness that the kingdom of heaven will come on earth. No form of government can bring it, because it is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. It proceeds spontaneously from an attitude of mind and state of feeling; it cannot be enforced from without by laws and magistrates. Outward force may produce civil order, but it can never produce "peace and joy and godly quietness," and these are the signs by which we know that "the Lord keeps the city".

The ale-wife who gave short measure dragged to hell, misericord, Ludlow, combining #woodensday & #NaughtyThingsInChurches as I’ll be missing
#AnimalsInChurchesHour pic.twitter.com/6c7dUt3ZUL

— Posy Hill (@PosyHill1) July 22, 2020

Third Sunday after Whitsun

Protéctor in te sperántium, Deus, sine quo nihil est válidum, nihil sanctum: multíplica super nos misericórdiam tuam; ut, te rectóre, te duce, sic transeámus per bona temporália, ut non amittámus ætérna. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
℟. Amen.

God, the protector of all that truſt in thee, without whom nothing is ſtrong, nothing is holy: Increaſe and multiply upon us thy mercy; that thou being our ruler and guide, we may ſo paſs through things temporal, that we finally loſe not the things eternal: Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jeſus Chriſt’s ſake our Lord. Amen.

Keynote: The Two Standpoints

There are two standpoints from which we can look at life: the standpoint of the lower self, with its background of Spirit. The higher self is developed and awakened by means of the experiences which fall to the lot of the lower self in its struggles with life in the flesh. When the struggle is painful and unavailing, when the denial of the pleasures of the senses and the gratification of human desires forces us to seek a higher aid, when the barrenness of external things forces us to look within, we are in little danger of becoming enmeshed by matter. But when the lower self is on a flowing tide of prosperity, or when it is spurred by a fear for the loss of its accustomed flesh-pots, we are all too apt to live exclusively in things temporal and lose sight of the eternal values by which the soul's account must ultimately be balanced.

Even more in prosperity than in loss do we need the contact of the spiritual forces, or, to use the old phraseology, the blessing of God, to rest upon our lives, lest we forget the purpose of life, which is the evolution of the soul, not the gratification of the senses. Let us measure all things against a background of infinity, and life itself will become for us the way of enlightenment.

Political Magic

This blog was never supposed to be about politics per se, but my eye was drawn to this in the online edition of The European Conservative.

The ever acerbic and cantankerous David Starkey is in fact completely correct to condemn "magical thinking". And for what it's worth, I think our own polity currently needs "re-enchantment" like a hole in the head. His problem of course is his mad libel that the Christian religion is "magical". It's a claim derived, although he himself is an atheist, from his native Protestantism, and before that from mediaeval English Lollardy. For this Sebastian Morello rightly takes him to task.

What Catholics mean by "magic" (in the sense of "black" magic) is the use of any manifestly inadequate means to achieve a specific end - which necessarily implies either a test of divine providence or a deal with the Devil. In either case a mortal sin against the First Commandment. The two worst sorts of magical thinking in politics at the moment are domestically that we as a nation can live permanently beyond our means and internationally that we can somehow retire from the world's stage and become a private but prosperous backwater state, safe and secure without our own island borders.

The former delusion can be summed up as a simple denial by the political Left of economic reality. There is, for example, no reason at all to think that the bond market will "fall into line" with an ever more spendthrift HMG. On the Right, meanwhile, there is still a vague idea that some sort of "social" conservatism can somehow just happen without a radical change to our established economic assumptions. To paraphrase Mrs Thatcher though, there can be no conservatism unless there is economic conservatism. In Starkey's case, this would be "cultural" or perhaps even "constitutional" conservatism, and in Morello's case it would be some sort of esoteric traditionalism - although to be fair to him in practice that would include actual "moral" and "religious" conservatism as well.

The tragic results of magical thinking in foreign policy, on the other hand, which ultimately come from the West's collect decision to "decolonise" the rest of world, have by now become only too apparent for those who have eyes to see, as the enemies of our country and of our allies have only become ever bolder. As Kipling put it

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

The return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the resurgence of Arab terrorism in Israel were all easily foreseeable and avoidable. Perhaps it's not quite fair to attribute wishful thinking, magical thinking, or any sort of thinking at all to someone like Joe Biden. But all it took for evil men to succeed was for those who just imagined it could never happen to do nothing.

Than with a glad chere our Lord loked into His syde and beheld, enjoyand; and with His swete lokyng He led forth the understondyng of His creture be the same wound into Hys syde withinne. And than He shewid a faire, delectabil place and large enow for al mankynd that shal be save to resten in pece and in love. 

[The Tenth Revelation]

 St Margaret of Scotland and her siblings, showing their descent from King Edmund Ironside of England
(BL Royal 14 B VI; H/T: Eleanor Parker)

Second Sunday after Whitsun

Sancti nóminis tui, Dómine, timórem páriter et amórem fac nos habére perpétuum: quia numquam tua gubernatióne destítuis, quos in soliditáte tuæ dilectiónis instítuis. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.

O Lord, who never faileſt to help and govern them whom thou doſt bring up in thy ſtedfaſt fear and love; Keep us, we beſeech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.

Keynote: The Good Law

When we are beset with the difficulties of daily life, when its tragedies overshadow us, we ask ourselves whether there is indeed a divine law ordering all things, and, if there be such a law, is it responsible for all the misery and useless suffering we see about us.

One thing is self-evident - if no law ordered the universe it must long ago have shaken itself to pieces from sheer friction. Why should we conclude that natural law stops short with the lower animals?

When we come to consider man, with his intelligence and a will sufficiently free to be a determining factor in his fate, we have to expand our conception of natural law to include those higher aspect of his nature, latent in many, subconscious in most, but conscious in a few, which, for lack of a better term, we call spiritual. Surely the spiritual aspect of man's nature is just as natural as the emotional. It is neither a pathology nor a miracle, but a higher stage of evolution. It may be having a hard struggle for survival in the present age, but nevertheless, we can see that it is going to inherit the earth in due course of evolutionary time.

May we not believe that there are natural laws of the spiritual plane of existence which govern this aspect of man's nature, and are vital, though disregarded factors in the polity of nations, which, when broken, are responsible for the mass of human misery we see about us, just as the laws of hygiene, when broken, are to us the administrators of disease? Should we attribute to divine wrath the results of man's ignorant wilfulness? Can we plead ignorance as an excuse after God has given us a standard of manhood in Christ Jesus our Lord? We all know better than we do. It is the cumulative effect of human shortcomings that piles up the sum of human misery.

If every single human being were pure, and diligent in his Father's business, and compassionate, the world's misery would be wiped out in one generation. For think what it would mean: sensuality would no longer bring into the world weakly bodies and depraved minds, and spread the racial poisons; selfishness would no longer ignore human needs and cause the poverty diseases; self-indulgence and sloth would no longer produce their inevitable results. Death would come to us in the calm sleep of old age or the swift extinction of accident, even as it comes to the animal kingdom under natural law.

We must keep God's law, not cry out against it; and being our brother's keeper, must suffer with him when all creation groans and travails together. But if in all our ways we love God's law and fear to break it, then will He never fail to help and govern us, and the first earnest of the fulfilling of His law will be the inner peace that comes to us, even amidst the human confusion that still overspreads the earth.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]

Well Dressing

Wendy Greatorex's design at Hands Well depicted Jesus offering fellowship, a celebration of 100 years of Winnie the Pooh, and a nod to the 75th anniversary of the Peak District National Park

['I have been dressing Peak District wells for 40 years' - BBC News]

Trinity Sunday

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui dedísti fámulis tuis in confessióne veræ fídei, ætérnæ Trinitátis glóriam agnóscere, et in poténtia maiestátis adoráre Unitátem: quǽsumus; ut, eiúsdem fídei firmitáte, ab ómnibus semper muniámur advérsis. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity; keep us steadfast in this faith, that we may be evermore defended from all adversities, through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Keynote: Mystical Understanding

The collect for this Sunday, together with the Epistle and Gospel, are so profoundly metaphysical in their significance that at first sight they would appear to be mere words idly strung together. To those, however, who understand the connotation of the symbolism employed, this is far from being the case. Every word in the profoundly mystical passages chosen for this day had its significance, and the collect itself prays that understanding may be given us to penetrate this significance.

The wording of the collect is very pregnant. We are told that "by the confession of a true faith" we are able to "acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity."

Faith we may define as an opinion which is based on intuition rather than upon logical grounds. It is by intuition, not reason, that we gain a realization of the supreme mystery of manifestations the triune nature and functioning of the Logos. [This isn't actually what faith is: most people, including the Church, implicitly understand faith to be belief based not on one's own experience but on the testimony of others. If that belief is true and justified then it may be called knowledge. Our knowledge of the Trinity comes not from experience - since no one can have direct experience of the Trinity - nor from reason - since no one can comprehend the Trinity either - but from our faith in Jesus Christ. Knowledge that comes only from faith is what we call "mystery". - Ed] But, this intuitive realization being gained, we are not left dependent upon blind faith, "in the power of the divine majesty", are able "to worship the Unity."

What is this "power of the divine majesty" which is thus conveyed to us? The collect does not specify, but should we be beyond the range of legitimate speculation if we held that it was the Christ within?

The spirit of man, enabled to function by a faith which dares to trust, and to experiment with an open mind in the things of the Spirit, is not left long without evidence in support of what was originally a working hypothesis; the wakened Christ within is able to worship, to establish contact with the Unity - with the great unmanifest, the source of all existence, the inexaustible fountainhead of power, and this realization enables us to overcome in the name of God all opposition when about our Father's business.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]

Notes for Sundays after Whitsun in the Sarum Mass

1st after Whitsun: Epistle — 1 John 4:7–21 (God's love commands us to love one another). Gospel — Luke 16:19–31 (Rich man and Lazarus). Connection: Contrast between worldly self-love/neglect and divine/charitable love; warning against loving the world over God.

2nd: Epistle — 1 John 3:13–24 (Do not marvel at worldly hatred; love in deed). Gospel — Luke 14:16–24 (Parable of the Great Banquet). Connection: God's inviting love vs. human excuses/rejection; call to respond with true commitment.

3rd: Epistle — 1 Peter 5:5–11 (Humility, resist the devil, God restores). Gospel — Luke 15:1–10 (Lost Sheep and Coin). Connection: God's seeking mercy for the humble/repentant "lost"; pastoral care and restoration.

4th: Epistle — Romans 8:18–23 (Sufferings vs. future glory; creation groans). Gospel — Luke 6:36–42 (Be merciful, judge not, remove plank). Connection: Mercy over judgment amid present sufferings; patient hope in God's kingdom.

5th: Epistle — 1 Peter 3:8–15 (Unity, blessing persecutors, sanctify Christ). Gospel — Luke 5:1–11 (Miraculous catch; "fishers of men"). Connection: Call to witness and discipleship despite opposition.

6th: Epistle — Romans 6:3–11 (Baptized into death/life). Gospel — Matthew 5:20–26 (Surpassing righteousness; reconciliation). Connection: New life in Christ demands ethical transformation (e.g., anger/reconciliation).

13th: Epistle — Galatians 3:16–22 (Law as tutor to Christ). Gospel — Luke 10:23–37 (Good Samaritan). Connection: Love fulfills the law; mercy to neighbor as true righteousness.

16th: Epistle — Ephesians 3:13–21 (Strengthened in love; comprehend Christ's love). Gospel — Luke 7:11–17 (Raising widow's son). Connection: Christ's compassionate power manifesting divine love.

21st: Epistle — Ephesians 6:10–20 (Armor of God against evil). Gospel — John 4:46–54 (Healing official's son). Connection: Faith as shield; spiritual warfare overcome by trusting Christ's word/power.

Later Sundays (e.g., 22nd–25th): Often parables of readiness/judgment (e.g., Talents, Wise/Foolish Virgins). Epistles from Corinthians/Romans on faithfulness, unity. Connection: Growing eschatological focus—stewardship, perseverance, preparation for Christ's return—as Advent approaches.

Brent Knoll, Somerset

I filmed church volunteers putting up crosses on Brent Knoll in Somerset this afternoon. It’s the 40th year of this tradition. pic.twitter.com/vH4tOLdC5a

— Anthony Ward (@Anth0ny_Ward) March 28, 2026

From Cambridgeshire Live:

The unusual religious tradition is being enacted at St Ives parish church in 1979, and it’s called bible dicing. It’s nothing to do with slicing up the Good Book with a sharp knife, it’s all about gambling, not something generally encouraged in church. Every Whit Tuesday, children from local schools go to the church and roll a dice on a table to win a copy of the Bible. Remarkably, the custom dates back to 1765, when a parishioner, Dr Robert Wilde, left money in his will to fund copies of the holy writings.

Legend has it he had been lost in a fog, and was guided to safety by the church bells, so decided to bequeath money to the church to buy an orchard – which itself would provide an income the vicar could use to buy Bibles. The orchard, appropriately called Bible Orchard, is still there.

Richard Hook, 'Fealty is Sworn'

King Arthur stands upon a sacred stone and accepts the oaths of fealty from Celtic, Pictish and Saxon chiefs. Britain is at peace.

Whitsun

And let us do it with no show of fear;
No, with no more than if we heard that England
Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance

All down the line

Fresh couples climbed aboard: the rest stood round;

The last confetti and advice were thrown,

And, as we moved, each face seemed to define   

Just what it saw departing: children frowned   

At something dull; fathers had never known

Success so huge and wholly farcical;

    The women shared

The secret like a happy funeral;

While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, stared   

At a religious wounding.