Concéde, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut, qui hodiérna die Unigénitum tuum, Redemptórem nostrum, ad cœlos ascendísse crédimus; ipsi quoque mente in cœléstibus habitémus. Per eúndem Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christu Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.
"Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens, so we in heart and mind may also ascend and with him contnually dell, who is alive and reigns with you, in unity with the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. Amen."
Keynote: The Vision Beautiful
This collect contains a profound doctrine concerning the nature of the enlightenment which comes to souls in search of spiritual illumination. Our Lord no longer walks and talks with us as He did with the people of His day in Galilee; He has ascended to the right hand of God, and there functions as a great force in the cosmic polity. If we think we are directly taught of Him, as a child of its tutor, we err in our vanity. It may well be possible for the greatest of human souls, in supreme moments, to so [sic] rise up and contact Him; but those of us, aspirants after the way of the cross, to whom is vouchsafed the wonderful vision of Our Lord, are not meeting Him face to face, but are, in reality, contacting His force and translating it through the imagination as a meeting with His personality. Let us not flatter ourselves with vanities. The things of God are greater than psychic phenomena, and this collect gives us a truer interpretation of our experiences. It is the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth that abides with us and never leaves us comfortless, and that at last brings us to the state of consciousness where we can meet the Master face to face, that is to say, where we can comprehend Him, and know even as we are known. Let us take for our discipline this week the task of rising above the concepts that help the young soul to lay hold on the things of the kingdom, and, foregoing the milk of the word which is for babes, try to assimilate those spiritual verities which, though a hard doctrine, are the strong meat on which souls which have reached their manhood in the spiritual life are enabled to run the race that is set before them. The still small voice of realization, brought through to consciousness by discipline, purification, and sacrifice, can teach us more of the innermost nature of things than any spectacular psychic experience. Let us never forget that the big things are simple and natural, and be content with wholesome spiritual good rather than seek in exotic cults and abnormal manifestations the satisfaction of a depraved spiritual appetite, which seeks after marvels and sees not the Master sitting quietly at the well-head of truth, whence the village women have always drawn their water.
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