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".