Thirteenth Sunday after Whitsun

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, da nobis fídei, spei et caritátis augméntum: et, ut mereámur asséqui quod promíttis, fac nos amáre quod prǽcipis. 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, give unto us the increaſe of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou do ſt promiſe, make us to love that which thou doſt command, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.

Keynote: The Love of God's Law

It is not enough that we should obey God's law from fear of the consequences of disobedience. Unless we realise the beauty of its harmony we do not obey it with the inward man. Only when we realise that God's law is the music of the spheres, that it sweetly rules and governs all things, bringing forth the Mazzaroth in his season and guiding Arcturus with his sons — only when we realise that harmony is its basis and perfection its design can we joyfully give ourselves up with perfect security to its governing. Then do we know why the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

It is our finite separateness and selfishness which keeps us from this realisation. Because we wish to keep back part of the price, to retain something for our private use, we fear to leap into the ocean of the cosmic life where we can swim freely and where there is an abundant sufficiency for all our needs.

It is only as we develop the vision of the higher self — the faith which perceives the substance of things unseen, the hope which in confidence awaits the manifestation of the hidden laws, and the love which fails not is kind to all things, which seeks not its own, and therefore possesses all things — that we can rise into realisation of the oneness of all existence and love God's law because it maintains infinite unity in eternal harmony.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]