Ninth Sunday after Whitsun

Páteant aures misericórdiæ tuæ, Dómine, précibus supplicántium: et, ut peténtibus desideráta concédas; fac eos quæ tibi sunt plácita, postuláre. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.

Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble ſervants; and, that they may obtain their petitions make them to aſk ſuch things as ſhall pleaſe thee, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen. 

Keynote: Right Praying

Prayer is a very great power, and it is but very little understood. God does not give us things because we ask for them, and withhold them because we do not ask for them. The divine life forever flows forth as from an unfailing spring, and we live and move and have our being within it as fish swim in the waters of the ocean. It is not God's giving which fails, but our receiving.

What do we seek in prayer? The gratification of our desires? We ask our Divine Father for that which we want, just as unthinkingly as children ask for a penny. But we have been given minds with which to think and will with which to act; we are no longer children and must put away childish things when we approach our Divine Father with petitions.

If the child, grown to manhood, goes to the father and asks for pounds instead of pennies to spend on idle pleasures, will he get them? No. But if he asks for the means to an honourable career, will not his father strain every effort to give it to him?

So it is when we approach God with our prayers. Do we ask things worthy of spiritual adults? Do we ask to be relieved from suffering, to be spared the fulfilment of our fears, to be saved from the consequences of our errors? If so, we ask amiss. We are children asking for pennies. But do we ask for courage and understanding, love and patience, and God's light to illumine our darkness, God's love to comfort our sorrow? Then we ask as souls grown to spiritual manhood, and we shall not be denied.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]

The Dancers of Stanton Drew

William Stukeley (1687–1765), an English antiquarian, physician, and pioneering archaeologist (best known for his studies of Stonehenge and Avebury), is connected to Stanton Drew through his visit to the site's famous prehistoric stone circles in 1723.

Stanton Drew, in Somerset, England, features one of Britain's largest stone circle complexes (including the Great Circle—the second-largest after Avebury—plus smaller circles, avenues, and a cove). Stukeley visited on July 23, 1723, during a tour that took him from London through sites like Newbury and Marlborough, then to Stanton Drew, before continuing to Bath, Exeter, and elsewhere.

During this brief visit, he:

• Produced the first detailed plan/map and accurate drawings/sketches of the stone circles and the cove (a three-stone arrangement possibly from a chambered tomb).
• Described the site, sometimes referring to the stones as "The Weddings" (a local folk name) and interpreting them in his characteristic Druidic/Celtic temple framework.
• His illustrations appeared in works like Itinerarium Curiosum (published posthumously in parts), and they remain valuable records because the site's layout has changed little since his time.

His work built on earlier mentions (e.g., by John Aubrey in 1664) but provided the most comprehensive early documentation. In 2023, the village of Stanton Drew held events (including the "Stukeley 300" festival and guided tours) to mark the exact 300th anniversary of his visit on July 23.

This makes Stukeley one of the key early antiquarians to document and popularize the Stanton Drew stone circles, contributing to their recognition as a major Neolithic monument.

Eighth Sunday after Whitsun

Largíre nobis, quǽsumus, Dómine, semper spíritum cogitándi quæ recta sunt, propítius et agéndi: ut, qui sine te esse non póssumus, secúndum te vívere valeámus. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. ℟. Amen.

Grant to us, Lord, we beſeech thee, the Spirit to think and do always ſuch things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.

Keynote: Right Understanding

Life seldom presents to us a clear-cut issue, and it is not always easy to know what is the right thing to do. We may earnestly desire to do the right thing, and yet, by an error of judgement, do untold harm. Again, out own subconscious desires may mislead us until we "rationalize" our actions so that our judgement concerning right and wrong fits in with our desires.

How are we to know what is "God's will" - the spiritual principle which governs the situation? Only by putting aside all personal feelings in the matter, and attuning ourselves to the Spirit of God.

In order to do this, let us first read awhile in the inspired writings of those who themselves were in tune with God. Their outlook will guide us and their spirit will influence us. By their companionship and counsel out hearts will insensibly be brought into that spirit which is in tune with God and we shall "judge righteous judgement".

Then, laying on the altar all our personal desires and prejudices in order that at whatever cost we shall do the right thing, we may pray to God to "Grant us the spirit to think and to do always such things as are rightful, and that you will enable us, who cannot do anything that is good without you, to live according to your will." Then, if we have "kept back no part of the price," we shall find the wisdom of God speaking in the still small voice of the higher self and our path will become clear and our souls will be at peace.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]

The Alfred Jewel

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.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]

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".

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]

St Mary's Church, Lastingham