Seventeenth Sunday after Whitsun

Da, quǽsumus, Dómine, pópulo tuo diabólica vitáre contágia: et te solum Deum pura mente sectári. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. R. Amen.

Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil, and with pure minds to follow Thee the only God. Through.

Keynote: The Saving Power of Grace

Anyone who has had to struggle, whether in himself or in others, with the powers of the three great instincts gone astray, knows the difficulty of finding any force to oppose the downwards drag of the animal nature that is reverting to type. The only argument that is of any avail is to plead the danger of the course and appeal to the instinct of self-preservation. But when we do this we are still moving in the vicious circle of the instincts and have not lifted the soul above its slough. The man who refrains from sin for fear of disease can hardly be said to have escaped from the bondage of sin. His impulse, restrained from manifesting in one form, will soon find an outlet in another. He will not seek to overcome sin, but to make it safe, and will soon succeed in doing so.

There is only one way to save ourselves from reversion to a lower type when once the undertow of nature sets in, and that is to bring ourselves into touch with a spiritual influence. Let us never forget that there is just as definite an uprush as there is an undertow, and that if we come within the sphere of a spiritual influence, we shall have to use force to resist it, just as much as if we came within the sphere of debasing influence.

How can we bring spiritual influences to bear on those we wish to help? By ourselves living the life of the spirit, in touch with God. Far more potent than words is the invisible force that emanates from the man or woman who is in touch with God.

How can we, if we ourselves are in danger of the spiritual undertow, bring ourselves into the sphere of spiritual influence? By putting ourselves into touch with those who themselves are in touch with God, the greatest of whom is our Lord. If we turn aside for the few moments each day from our obsessing problems to read His life and words, we shall find that we have insensibly been drawn in the sphere of spiritual influence where the current sets Godward.

[Dion Fortune, Mystical Meditations on the Christian Collects]