Lex Credendi

It is a favorite expression of many, Lex Orandi Lex Credendi. Literally, it translates "The law of prayer is the law of belief." It means, in practical terms, that as people pray, so they believe. At its best it supports the idea that the Book of Common Prayer is a Formulary, and that by liturgical prayer the Church passes on its teaching through practice. This is why our service of Holy Communion is one of the best evangelistic and catechetical tools we have. It teaches the whole Gospel every time it is celebrated. Every part of it, the Creed, the Canon of Consecration, etc., is at one time prayer, worship, evangelism and catechesis. The offices of Daily Morning and Evening Prayer also instruct as they are practiced.

Nonetheless, it is not wise for clergy to depend so heavily on this concept that they fail to teach diligently. The Canon Law of the ACC requires, in full consistency with the practice of the Church from earliest times, that at the very least every Sunday the priest shall preach, or cause to be preached, a sermon in the church. This is the minimum standard for carrying out his work as a minister of God's word, not the maximum. A sermon is not a seven minute homily carried out as a necessary evil; it is the preaching of God's word with preparation and prayer, carried out with diligence, produced by true work of the most responsible kind. Yes, the truth is well expressed in the liturgy, but somehow the human mind cannot comprehend it without teaching and preaching. 

Repetition has both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that it enters the long term memory and stays there. Every priest who visits the elderly in nursing homes to bring Communion to them, when dealing with those who are barely able to speak and whose eyes can no longer read, sees that people raised on the Book of Common Prayer are joining in, praying from memory, moving their lips. It works. 

But, the disadvantage is that people who recite the words can shut out the meaning. One elderly woman, greeting a rector after a service in the Episcopal Church in 1980, unhappy with their 1979 book, complained: "If Jesus could hear that new book, he would roll over in his grave." She had said the words, "On the third day he rose again" thousands of times; but, somehow, she had ceased to hear those words. Lex Orandi is not enough, by itself, to produce Lex Credendi; the teaching and preaching ministry remains a chief responsibility of all priests.

Finally, at its worst, Lex Orandi Lex Credendi can be misused in theological debate. Individuals may insist that they can raise pious opinion to the level of dogma, or perhaps even argue erroneous opinion, by treating all approved or allowed prayers as if they were equal to the Canon of Scripture; though the latter may involve twisting the meaning of prayers or failing to think them through. This approach does not work, however, on orthodox theologians. 

For me, the slogan is more accurate if we reverse it: Lex Credendi Lex Orandi: As I believe, so I pray. After years of reading and studying the word of God, by which I mean the holy Scriptures, I am able to pray only according to my convictions. Eventually, for every student of theology, this must become the case. And, this too is a strength of our Book of Common Prayer tradition. Those who really know the Scriptures have no qualms about saying "amen" to the prayers in that book. C.S. Lewis pointed out that this is an advantage to having a proper liturgy instead of public prayers composed by a minister or improvised: No one fears to say "amen." Our Book of Common Prayer is so good and sound, that the more we know the Bible the more easily and readily we use our liturgy, and the more readily we say "amen" to it.

Vespers

The Vesper light is soft and golden. It is the image of this time that I have sought to write into music. The theme chants in measured tones, not hurried or even interpreted. Through the glowing colors of stained glass windows the light of the setting sun stretches eastward across the sanctuary and lands above the altar over the tabernacle. In that tabernacle is the Reserve Sacrament: Here is the Shekinah. In that presence, the fragile light of the dying sun invites our prayers, sung as chants, at once restful and intense, outwardly calm, inwardly moving. So we rest in the work of prayer, refreshment that comes only by ascending a while out of the cares of the world into the presence of God.

An Old Bishop for a New Year

"Press on the Kingdom!"

-Customary Farewell to Clergy of the Rt. Rev. C.C. Grafton

At the beginning of a New Year, it is good to reflect on the past. In particular, it is an occasion to be quiet, to reflect on the joys and sorrows of the year last past, and to contemplate what the future might hold. As an aid to such meditation, a little lectio divina is most appropriate. And so it is this New Year's Day 2010 I found myself as I frequently do-visiting the collected works of that great Anglo-Catholic Bishop Charles Grafton. He is our part of the great Anglican patrimony that is more than a song, or a style, or the speech of a bygone era. This is a small part of our substantive inheritance, a distinctive of centuries of divine thought.

Bishop Grafton’s writings, like those of so many Anglican theologians and divines, prove prescient at any number of levels. Whether the question is formation of clergy, development of religious orders, practical running of a diocese, or large theological questions, the good bishop’s words echo across the years and exhort with all charity. In my meanderings, I found a letter from January of 1906 especially germane to what the Church is likely face in the coming year.

Now, as then, there never was a greater need for united prayer among Catholics, especially Anglo-Catholics. The “mainstream” church has been secularized and not only is dividing, but also the branches of the Christian church are being opposed to each other, and those who would live the faith Catholic within Anglicanism are accosted by those who would trade it all for perceived "unity", or "safety" or "completeness". Fair warning, though. Even within that large body called the Roman Catholic Church there are numerous splits and factions, whole-scale disobedience over dogma, and the spirit of the age-the zeitgeist-abounds. You will face the very same issues you seek to escape, yet a hundred-fold and a man-made document will afford poor shelter no matter how solemn its claimed status.

It seems as if we are reverting to the times before Constantine and persecution. This state everywhere is fighting the church of Christ. Throughout the world, she is driven from the public square, her priests and followers mocked, hounded and killed at a brisk pace.

As Bishop Grafton noted, the world-spirit disbelieves in and hates catholicity. It is full of cynical unbelief in a creed. Satan has raised up a number of false religions, especially in our country and seeks to help them with supernatural gifts. For Grafton the problem was Mormonism, spiritualism, Taoism, and Christian Science. Some of these remain although packaged in new wrapping and type with more colorful ribbons. We face a world immersed in spiritualism, neo-paganism, earth worship, witchcraft, and other movements that have risen to be called “religions”.

As well, there is an un-Catholic and human spirit of philanthropy in subtle, and not so subtle, forms of socialism and other so-called “progressivism.” All of which is not based on Christ, but on notions of human-driven progress and anthrocentrism. Leaders appear as great man and great women-seemingly good, temperate, purer than the light, full of schemes for the people of advancement.

But, as Bishop Grafton warned, “they are false and counterfeit Christs.” They are signs of the latter age. Indeed, we are living in a time and a country wherein “Satan and his fallen angels are having tremendous power.” It appears to be their time-Bishop Grafton called it “the age of Satan.” He viewed America or the United States as the field of the great final conflict. If the sheer push of secularism, materialism and drift toward the lowest possible moral standards and unbridled sexuality are a measure, this surely is the case.

But the message now and for all time is that the Church cannot be crushed out of existence. The “Two Witnesses" of the Word and Sacraments will rise and stand on their feet. They are doing so even now in tens of thousands of places. Charles Grafton predicted that hidden or at least semi-hidden from the world, there will be a great spiritual movement, and souls will be drawn to Christ, and their spiritual states will be made, and, then, Christ will come. It is the kingdom of this world that will suffer complete destruction, and the wickedness of man will cease. It may well be that Continuing Anglicanism may provide a crucible in which such a movement can form-small, ignored, semi-cloaked, a mustard seed.

But all things are in turmoil, and the church at all levels and in all of her branches needs to be aroused. The prayers of the faithful can save it, and every prayer, no matter how small, helps on this grand consummation. And, for those in that part of the Church Catholic called “Continuing,” Bishop Grafton offers this thought to carry us through this next year and in the years to come:

We have our own imperfections, and are embarrassed by our temporary trials. But our church is being benefited thereby and straightened and becoming more consolidated. The fate of her children rises triumphantly in the midst of her trials. Her candle stand stands securely fixed. The storm may arise and the wave lash against the ship, but she rides in safety, because Christ is in her, the source of her invincible strength. It is only by increasing prayer to him that we evoke his saving power. Go read forth therefore, bravely, courageously, truthfully, knowing that Heaven is before us and Christ is at our side.

--Based upon The Works of the Rt. Rev. Charles C. Grafton (Volume VI), edited by B. Talbot Rogers, New York: Longmans, Green, 1914, pp. 170-171.

Shared Solitude

The following was first published in the December 2006 Touchstone, a Journal of Mere Christianity under the title

The Bonds of Silence.

Robert Hart +

An hour or so from moist and chilly Berkeley, our cars, filled to capacity with fugitives from secular turmoil, with luggage and sacramental appointments, traveled into the Napa Valley, amid mountains standing guard over the vineyards. Pine forests grow up the sides all the way to the top and clouds envelope the tallest of these, as if lending modesty to the peaks.

Our small caravan of priests, deacons and seminarians had already begun to create that informal fellowship best expressed with the good humor of jokes, the wittier the better. (Humor and meaningful conversation, rather than “male bonding,” makes friends of men).

Our cars drove uphill along the thin road that serves as an entrance to the Carmelite monastery. We were greeted inside the large main house by an elderly Irish monk. After being “signed in” we were taken to our rooms and left to prepare. In the early evening, in our cassocks, we made our way to a beautiful chapel where we sang Evening Prayer, and heard the first of several talks, meditations on the Desert Fathers.

We sat across from each other in two “choirs,” with the sound of the prayers, mostly the chanting of the old Prayer Book Psalter, echoing off the stone. Above us were great windows very high, near the ceiling, admitting the dying light of the ending day. Over the marble altar was a very stark crucifix, the Son of Man in His agonies looking down at us.

God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

TOGETHER ALONE

This was the beginning of the silence, silence broken only by the offices of prayer, the daily Mass, and the reading out loud, in turn one by one, of The Screwtape Letters during each meal. Otherwise, only a private confession would serve as a reason to speak. As the leader of our retreat pointed out, the purpose in coming together was to be alone. The shared solitude is itself a very old tradition, giving us time for prayer and meditation unlike the kind we attempt regularly during our busy lives in the world.

And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while (Mark 6:30, 31).

The silence itself teaches and refreshes. Without words, without the need to speak — without the social pressure to direct our gaze constantly on what others place before us — we find freedom. In the silence we discover that we are resting not only from the cares, the business and turmoil, of the world. We rest as well from the amusements and entertainments, learning only in this way that these things too are a burden.

They, creating their own demands upon our time, shut out prayer as much as do the cares and anxieties of life. It is only in this silence, silence that is directed towards God, solitude that is protected by a community in which to be alone, that we finally see what a burden those entertaining forms of relaxation can be, what labor in themselves. But, for now, we lay that labor down and discover peace, blessed relief, in so doing.

We cannot find this kind of solitude nearly so well if we are alone. The presence of other men contemplating God, as they pray, meditate, or read, reinforces our attention and directs gaze heavenward. The presence of our brothers, and the respect we owe to their solitude, protects us from turning our own solitude into isolation, a time in which thoughts wander all too easily back to the duties and amusements that await us.

And, should we take the opportunity to examine ourselves and prepare for confession, we direct our gaze as well into our own hearts, our thoughts, words, and deeds. This we do before God, knowing that his light must shine into whatever place we had tried to hide away even from ourselves.

Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3: 19).

A PLACE OF PRAYER

The community silence increases charity. Here you see each man, like yourself, directing his attention to God, living in prayer and in the most serious and essential of reflections. Here, with him, you stick to contemplative prayer and the rhythm of corporate daily offices, silence in which you keep to the rule and do not speak, in charitable consideration because he needs this time as much as do you. To violate it is unthinkable.

When it must end, and you will speak at last, the next communication will be all the more profound. How many words we speak are no more than wasted, having no thought in them, an invasion of another’s time, a theft of his few brief hours in this world. For now we respect his silence, and will be glad to speak later, for we shall value words in a different way, no longer as obligatory.

Our charity builds also because for a few days we have, in solitude before God, been a community of men at prayer. We have begun each day together in the chapel, at Noon have held the Mass in the chapel, and at night have ended each day once again in the chapel with the familiar words of Compline, in the lit chapel with the darkness outside. In each of the offices of prayer we have chanted the familiar Psalms and other prayers in Cranmerian English to Gregorian notation:

“Our Father, who art in Heaven . . . My soul doth magnify the Lord . . . I believe in God, the Father Almighty . . .”

Surrounded as it is by the beauty of the monastery grounds, the sweet air from the vineyards, and the pines and mountains, the chapel itself becomes the place each man wants most to be. After an office is completed several minutes pass before we depart. We simply grow to like sitting there in the place of prayer, a room designed for worship and for celebration of the Blessed Sacrament, a place where that Presence is reserved.

Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves (Luke 10: 3).

It will not be like this when we return to our homes, and the silence is driven away by business, even, as in my case, the business of pastoring a church. We know we go from rest to battle. But, we may carry back into the battle the benefits of the retreat.

I am grateful to those who live in the religious orders and keep to the Rule of Saint Benedict. We can enter into their way of life only to a small degree, and only temporarily. But they do not hide it away and keep it a secret; they do not begrudge those who want to share a bit of it.

When we leave, they let us take some of that treasure where it can be adapted to the life we must live in the world. As much as it is a treasure, it is also an armament.

Prayer to the Saints

Canon John Hollister, one of our regular readers and very active commentators, has kindly given me permission to publish the following cybernetic conversation he has had at another venue.

"Why would any Anglican Christians want to pray to anyone other than God at any time? I have been told by an ACC member that many Anglicans pray the rosary and pray to the saints for their intercession."

Here is Canon Hollister’s reply:

Have you ever asked another Christian to pray for you? Have you ever asked for the assistance of a prayer group or prayer chain, or as a member of such a group prayed for someone else? I would be very surprised if you had not, because praying for one another is both a natural human impulse and a Christian duty.

But if you have done that very natural, communal, and traditional thing, then you have "prayed to someone for their intercession". "To pray" is merely a somewhat antiquated phrase for "to ask sincerely"; thus when a lawyer drafts a Complaint or Petition to begin a lawsuit, it always ends with a "Prayer for Relief" in which the Complainant or Petitioner sets out what it is he wants the court to do for him.

Similarly, "intercession" merely means "asking on behalf of someone else".

"Saint" means "someone who has been sanctified", that is, "has been made holy", which each of us has been by our dedication to God's service that was a major result of our baptism. (That we often do not live up to this holy calling is cause for regret but it does not make our "sanctification" any less real. That is why St. Paul could write "To the Saints which are in Corinth", even though those folks were behaving in a very unholy fashion.)

When we recite the Creed and declare that "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints", we declare our belief that the Church Militant (struggling here on earth) and the Church Triumphant (those who have passed through the Gates of Larger Life to be in fellowship with God) are both one body. That is, because time is merely an aspect of the created order and God, as the Creator, is outside of and not bound by the restrictions of that created order, to God what we think of as past, present, and future are all equally accessible.

Thus all Christians who have ever lived, live now, or will ever live are all equally members of the Church which is the Communion of Saints.

Thus while you may very properly ask me, as another member of the Church Militant, to pray for you, so either or both of us may properly ask a member of the Church Triumphant to pray for us as well. The only difference is that I may well respond to you, or you to me, that "I have put you on my prayer list". The member of the Church Triumphant from whom we beg the same favor cannot respond in a way that we will hear but, as a matter of faith, and if we have chosen a responsible person to whom to address that request, we can be confident that as a good Christian he or she will do as we ask.

Many of us, knowing that Our Lady is, out of all Christians, the most perfectly obedient to God's will, feel that confidence in even greater degree with respect to her. Thus many of us choose to include her among those we ask to pray for us.

It is important to note that in all these cases, we are asking a fellow member of the Church to address his or her prayers TO GOD on our behalf. We do not ask Mary or any other named member of the Church to pray for us because she or he has any greater power than any other member of the Church; it is just another basic human instinct that when we need others' prayers, the more of them we can get the better we feel about it.


"I do not pray for the dead. I believe they are beyond my interference, and are in the hands of God. So why should I ask the dead to pray for me?"

All of us at some time get caught up in the fallacy of thinking about Heaven in the terms we have learned through our experiences here on earth. You say of those members of the Church who are, in merely earthly terms, dead that "they are beyond my interference". But you can only say that if on some level you believe they have been placed beyond the reach of prayer by some force that we cannot withstand.

Here on earth there is one such primary force: time. It is the one dimension known to us which is unidirectional: it flows in only one way and we can neither turn it to the side, and so slow it, or turn it around, and so reverse it.

Time, however, like length, breadth, height, mass, etc., is only an aspect of this created, physical world. It has no application outside of this created order. Thus to God, and we must assume to those who live in fellowship with God, what we perceive as past, present, and future are all equally capable of being known. It is a poor metaphor, as all metaphors
at bottom must be, but think for a moment what it is like to walk down a crowded street. The walker is separated from the others there by physical distances which he or she perceives as forward, backwards, or to one side or the other.

Sometimes, indeed, the effect of those distances is not just to separate us from other walkers but to conceal them from us, behind the crowd or some obstacle, around a corner, or over on the next street. To an observer posted on the top of a tall building, however, his vantage point makes those factors of distance in front, distance behind, or distance to
the side merge into the background and become largely irrelevant: he can see all the walkers on the block below him, and most for many blocks around, equally well.

So it is with God and those who have lived, live now, or will at some future time live where we live now. And since all of these persons are equally present to God, it makes perfect sense for me to pray to Him for His grace and mercy upon them, even though some of them have, from my very limited perspective, "already" died. If you prefer to think of it this way, then you can put it that God knew from the beginning of time that I
would be offering these prayers, and so has, I trust, already taken them into account.

To refuse to pray for the "dead" is a classic Protestant error, one that makes a mockery of the "Communion of Saints" to which we give our assent every time we recite one of the Creeds. It has always been a mystery to me why the Puritans took such a dislike to the departed, especially to the long-departed. After all, they could scarcely have known their forebears in person, and therefore had no principled basis on which to condemn them and to eject them from the Church.

But then Puritans have always had very little time for anyone who was not exactly like themselves, haven't they?

Just what is the Book of Common Prayer?

Anyone familiar with the Breviary and the Rule of St. Benedict has an advantage in understanding the Book of Common Prayer. Anyone who understands how English village life had been organized for centuries around the monastery, also has an advantage. Knowing these things helps enormously, because it prevents the mistake of seeing the Book of Common Prayer as no more than a book of public services. Prayer tradition that has grown out of the Rule (Regula) looks to an ideal life of seven offices with a Mass every day. The average person cannot live this way, but can live with a simplified Rule for one's own life. That Rule of life is what the Book of Common Prayer gives to us.

This is one reason why I cannot share the enthusiasm some have for the Anglican Service Book; it perpetuates one basic mistake of the revised ’79 Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church. That is the same basic reason why the ’79 book is not a proper edition of the Book of Common Prayer, but is instead a different sort of book altogether, a book, as Peter Toon has called it, “of occasional services.” Putting those occasional services into Elizabethan English does not rectify the error.

Anyone who has a copy of the 1611 Authorized Version of the Bible may notice that in the front of the book we find the schedule of daily Bible readings and the thirty-day cycle of Psalms, for daily Morning and Evening Prayer. Imagine, if you can, a Bible published in our time with the assumption that the reader is living by the Rule expected of him by his church. Imagine a Bible reader today taking care to make his reading conform to the Rule of his church.

The average working man or woman, or the average child in school or young person in college, can read daily Morning Prayer and daily Evening Prayer and at least keep up with the schedule of scripture reading. It is true that the Prayer Book contains services for the Church, sacramental rites for Baptism, for Confirmation, for marriage, and the Ordinal added in 1550. It contains a funeral rite. Yes, the book is the book for all public services. But, it is more than that. It is also a simplified Benedictine Rule for the common man, and this is the tradition of English prayer that has been made available to everyone through the Anglican Common Prayer tradition.

We have, in addition, a specific Anglican way of speaking. Among many High Church, Anglo-Catholic circles, so as not to be confused with Low churchmen, the phrase “the Mass” is used almost exclusively. But, is this really an indication of churchmanship? If so, it should not be. After all, the first Book of Common Prayer (1549) called the service “The Supper of the Lorde and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Masse.” Either name is fine, and they are interchangeable. But, in later editions it came more and more to be called “Holy Communion,” with the use of the word “Mass” being less frequent (though always brought out for Christmas “Midnight Mass”).

The first BCP added the words “Supper” and “Holy Communion” to make a point. That point is that the Christian really ought be receiving the sacrament, not simply “hearing the Mass,” communing only very occasionally, as had been the practice of most people up until that time. In fact, it may interest readers to know that it was, at first, the practice of some of the more Protestant elements in the Church of England, including Archbishop Cranmer himself, to recommend and teach the virtue of frequent communion. I suggest that using the term “Holy Communion” a bit more often is a very Catholic idea, and more in keeping with the meaning of the sixth chapter of St. John, about our need to feed on Christ’s flesh and to drink his blood, the food and drink of eternal life.

Take a look, as well, at the words that surround the General Confession. I do not agree with the practice that I have witnessed among some who shorten the invitation (and exclude the intercession as well) by violating the rubric, and saying only, “let us pray for the whole State of Christ’s Church, beginning with the words of the General Confession.” Look, instead, at the powerful words that the priest is required to say by the BCP:

“Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling.”

In this invitation conditions are laid down for an honest confession coupled with sincere repentance. This invitation cannot fail to do good for the souls in a congregation if they listen and heed the words. Likewise, notice the conditional aspect of the Absolution that follows:

“Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him; Have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” ("Hearty" would be the same as "sincere.")

The ’79 Book Rite II (and some of its other occasional services) lays down no condition of “hearty repentance and true faith.” Instead, we see only some magic wand of priest craft, and all is forgiven without the heart of the sinner turning to the Lord.

I could say more about the artificial Confirmation Rite in the ’79 Book, have done so before and will do so again. For now, I want to state the plain facts about the Rule and about the Holy Communion. Our Book of Common Prayer tradition is worth preserving and passing on because it was formed by men who believed in the serious business of saving souls.

A Pause for Reflection

The masthead of this blog speaks of welcoming robust discussion, and of that there has been no short supply in recent weeks.

However, I have noted occasionally a comment comes perilously close to losing sight of the politeness that should accompany that robustness.

For the benefit of all, I commend to you a reflection by Glory to God for All Things host Fr Stephen Freeman as an aside to the discussion about the Pope's recent statement on the nature of the Church.

In part, he says: "I see that love gets strained very quickly in learned conversations - even between people whom I know and love. Our learning crushes our patience and lays heavily on our hearts. We need not renounce it, but carry it about us like a miner carrying nitroglycerin. Useful stuff - but it will blow you up."

Read it all here.

I Bid Your Prayers

Next Saturday I shall be in London for the annual synod of the Anglican Catholic Church's Diocese of the United Kingdom, before taking a few days to catch up with old friends in Kent and Hampshire.

I shall be meeting with our episcopal visitor, the Rt Revd Rommie M. Starks, and with the diocesan board of ministry, to discuss the future of my ministry in the ACC. At the heart of our talks will be my petition to be made a postulant for Holy Orders and the eventual establishment of an ACC mission in Nicosia.

I ask you prayers for my safe travel and for all of us as we seek to know and to do God's will.

Albion Land

The Collect - Lent V

The Prayer

From the Roman Breviary

Quæsumus, omnípotens Deus, famíliam tuam propítius réspice : ut, te largiénte, regátur in córpore ; et, te servante, custodiátur in mente. Per Dóminum.

We beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy family: that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul. Through.

From the 1549 Prayer book

WE beseche thee, almyghtie God, mercifullye to looke upon thy people; that by thy greate goodnesse they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soule; through Jesus Christe our Lorde.

The Commentary

Again Cranmer, the Roman Breviary and the Sarum Missal coincide, though there is an interesting and subtle variant of the word "famíliam" being translated as "people" by Cranmer. In today's vernacular, Cranmer's collect seems to be rendered less personal than perhaps intended. Are we not a family in God?

The Reflection

Why is it that we keep asking God "mercifully to look upon" us. Doesn't He do this automatically? He's omniscient isn't He?

Indeed so, but in giving us the space to be ourselves He also opens Himself up to being pushed away, and we do this every time we sin. Just as Adam and Eve's nakedness was covered up in fur, so the shame of our deeds could act as a barrier to the loving oversight of the Lord.

It is often when we find our preservation threatened that we realise that the Lord's episcopacy -- His oversight -- is precisely what we need, so in praying for God to look upon us (especially in His mercy) we are praying for us to become transparent once more, shedding the layer of shame with which we try to shut God out. It is only by accepting both His overisght and His governance that we will find ourselves eternally preserved. What could be better for us?

Jonathan Munn

The Collect - Lent IV

The Prayer

We beseech thee, almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people, that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Commentary

This is one of the collects that Cranmer translated from the Gregorian sacramentary.

The Fourth Sunday in Lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday, from the first word of the introit for this day:

Laetare Ierusalem: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae.

(Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts. See Isaiah 66:10-11)

This, courtesy of the Catholic Encyclopaedia: "During the first six or seven centuries the season of Lent commenced on the Sunday following Quinquagesima, and thus comprised only thirty-six fasting days. To these were afterwards added the four days preceding the first Sunday, in order to make up the forty days' fast, and one of the earliest liturgical notices of these extra days occurs in the special Gospels assigned to them in a Toulon manuscript of 714. Strictly speaking, the Thursday before Laetare Sunday is the middle day of Lent, and it was at one time observed as such, but afterwards the special signs of joy permitted on this day, intended to encourage the faithful in their course through the season of penance, were transferred to the Sunday following. They consist of (like those of Gaudete Sunday in Advent) in the use of flowers on the altar, and of the organ at Mass and Vespers; rose-coloured vestments also allowed instead of purple, and the deacon and subdeacon wear dalmatics, instead of folded chasubles as on the other Sundays of Lent. The contrast between Laetare and the other Sundays is thus emphasized, and is emblematical of the joys of this life, restrained rejoicing mingled with a certain amount of sadness. Other names applied to it were Refreshment Sunday, or the Sunday of the Five Loaves, from a miracle recorded in the Gospel; Mid-Lent, mi-carême, or mediana; and Mothering Sunday, in allusion to the Epistle, which indicates our right to be called the sons of God as the source of all our joy, and also because formerly the faithful used to make their offerings in the cathedral or mother-church on this day. This latter name is still kept up in some remote parts of England, though the reason for it has ceased to exist."

The Reflection

Being one of the more terse collects in the church year, this one does not lend itself easily to profound meditation. Yet it still contains a message of which we need to be reminded: it is God in whom we live, and move and have our being. Our preservation, a gift from Him, flows out of our being governed by Him, and whenever we allow our passions to reign, we banish Him ... and His saving power.

Albion Land

The Collect: Lent III

The Prayer

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary.

This collect was translated by Cranmer from the Latin in the Sarum Missal, which had it from the Gregorian Sacramentary (6th century)

Meditation

Many are the needs of our daily lives,
strong the desires of our hearts,
many the hungers, grievous the thirsts,
empty the starving souls,
We lay down before thee our every care,
spread out upon the altar,
surrounded by forces that call us to sin,
opposed at our every turn,
and here we are kneeling, watching and waiting
for thy hand with its mercy and might,
for thy touch and thy help, thy feeding and strength,
‘gainst enemies outside and in,
‘gainst sin’s condemning dark night.

The Collect - Lent II

The Collect

ALMIGHTY God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Commentary and Meditation

This collect has remained virtually identical throughout the history of the Prayer Book and its revisions, and was originally translated from the Sarum Missal's collect. When I discovered this last fact in a very old copy of The Teacher's Prayer Book, I was surprised. You see, this is yet another collect with a strongly Augustinian theme, so I had expected it to be a basically Cranmerian composition. The discovery that it wasn't served as a useful reminder that St Augustine's strong emphasis on the priority and necessity of grace and the helplessness of the "natural" man was a common Western inheritance.

However, some may consider the first clause extreme and inaccurate -- even an example of Augustinian overkill. Are we really powerless to help ourselves? Before we rush to answer no or assume the use of hyperbole, we should note the qualifying words "of ourselves". Where does our power come from to repel temptations, the "evil thoughts" spoken of in the collect, for example? Does it not proceed first from God in his grace, his unmerited favour?

One might still question the claim of the collect because it refers to protecting the body as well. Surely, here at least we have some control, some "power of ourselves to help ourselves"? Perhaps to some extent we do, but even here we often overestimate how much say we have in what happens to us. So much of what happens to us is through circumstance, and very little of that circumstance is due to our plans or actions. So much must be left to Divine Providence in trust. More to the point, every ability we have is a gift from God. Nothing is really "of ourselves" in a radical sense.

Where does this leave our wills and works? They seem ignored by the collect. Yet the praying of the collect is itself a cooperation with God, an active request for God's grace. And our subsequent cooperation with the grace given, the goodness infused, is in fact seen as one result of that grace by theologians. God always acts first, but his work is not merely for us but in us, enabling us to be his "fellow workers" (1 Corinthians 3.9). That is why the Scriptures teach both that God is the one who keeps or protects us and that we must keep ourselves (e.g., Jude 21, 24).

Much ink has been spilt on the relationship between grace and human free will. In particular, theologians have considered the question of whether the human choice to obey God and embrace salvation is merely made possible by grace or whether it is the inevitable result of a grace that is "effectual" or irresistible. The Eastern Fathers, Molinists and Arminians have favoured the former position, St Augustine and his patristic followers, Thomists and Calvinists have favoured the latter. The best answer I have seen to this question is in a novel by C. S. Lewis, Perelandra. In it the hero, Ransom, realises God is asking him to physically defeat another man, Weston, who is possessed by the Devil. This demoniac has been attempting to deceive a Venusian Eve and his efforts at temptation have been relentless despite her gentle but persistent rebuffs. In addition, he has begun to bring the evil of physical cruelty to the innocent planet. Ransom faces a terrifying choice: risk hand-to-hand combat with the evil creature or be partly responsible for the corruption of a whole world through inaction. Here is an excerpt from the passage which describes his coming to a decision:

"[H]e knew -- almost as a historical proposition -- that it was going to be done. ... The whole struggle was over, and yet there seemed to have been no moment of victory. You might say, if you liked, that the power of choice had been simply set aside and an inflexible destiny substituted for it. On the other hand, you might say that he had been delivered from the rhetoric of his passions and had emerged into unassailable freedom. Ransom could not, for the life of him, see any difference between these two statements. Predestination and freedom were apparently identical. He could no longer see any meaning in the many arguments he had heard on this subject."

A Lenten Series (VIII and Final)

On Thy Personal Sins

Recall and go over each and every one of thy sins both mortal and venial, o my soul. See the depths of thy sin and its frequency. Yea, from the dawn of reason down to this day, whether by outward senses or inward faculties their number cannot be counted, nor their malice estimated. Thou hast sinned by thine eyes; gazing closely, unrestrainedly, and wantonly upon shows, fooleries, plays, women and their vanities, even on holy days and at divine service. Thine ears have been opened to lewd songs, backbiting words and the like. Thou hast offended by taste in eating and drinking; in many ways hast thou offended by touch. Likewise thou hast sinned with thine interior faculties, especially in thine intellect and by thy will. In many grievous ways hast thou sinned with thy tongue–swearing rashly or falsely; by detraction; in lying, cursing or threatening; by sowing discord. Lastly by making known secrets. And so on, of every member of thy body.

Look and see, how thou art guilty under each head of the seven deadly sins. Pride hath reigned in thy heart and shown itself in thy speech, thy gait, thy vesture; in self-praise and in putting thyself forward; and by a desire of honour and of the foremost places. Through pride hast thou decked thyself out with over much care and wastefully. And so mayest thou think of each of thy mortal sins. Turn over in mind and see how badly thou hast kept God's commandments and the Church's; yea rather, how shamefully thou hast broken them. What hath been the scandal thou hast given to others and how many times? Day by day the good thou shouldst perform hath gone undone: and what thou hast done for God's service or to fulfil thy duties hath been done right neglectfully.

See, how sin hath filled thee through and through. How badly thou hast done thy duty in correcting thy brother. How evilly and perversely thou hast used thy gifts and drawn aside others into sin by comforting and praising them, by not stopping or chiding them. Often thou hast shriven thee with little care and (as thou mayest fear) approached holy communion unworthily. Daily, yes, hourly thou walkest before God boldly and without reverence. See how often thou sinnest in thought and desire; how often thou dost not bear thyself manfully in temptation or resist it quickly enough. There are vain conversations: putting human respect in place of God's fear: eating and drinking choicely out of hours, and greedily: bursts of laughter and such like vanities. Thy prayers have been without devotion, thy time wasted, thou hast not kept in mind God's patience with thee.

Conclusion

Over all and each of these things now therefore, as far as thou mayest, sigh and be sorry from thy heart; and, as true contrition demandeth, much more so than over any temporal and punishable wrong. Clearly and with deep sorrow confess them and be ashamed of them. Study closely how to make satisfaction for them, and to have true amendment. For the rest, keep a guard over thyself in all things; be fearful before God and thankful to Him. Be humble, patient, of good report, chaste and sober. Do some bodily mortifications, be discreet and silent, behaving thyself in a grave, profitable and worthy manner. Go forward in all virtues and according to the demands of thy calling, so be thou in word and deed, to the glory of God Almighty, who is high over all and blessed for ever. Amen.


The end of the exercise of the purgative way.

The Collect - Lent I

The 1549 Collect

O LORD, whiche for oure sake dyddeste faste fortye dayes and fourtie nightes; Geve us grace to use suche abstinence, that, oure fleshe beyng subdued to the spirite, wee maye ever obeye thy Godlye mocions in righteousnesse, and true holinesse, to thy honoure and glorye, whiche lyveste and reigneste, &c.*

The 1662 Collect

O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

From the Roman Breviary

Deus, qui Ecclésiam tuam annua Quadragesimali observatióne purificas : præsta famíliæ tuæ ; ut, quod a te obtinére abstinéndo nititur, hoc bonis opéribus exsequátur. Per Dominum ...

(O God, who dost purify thy Church with the annual observance of Lent, grant unto thy household that what it strives to obtain from thee by abstinence it may secure with good works ...)

The Commentary

Cranmer takes his collect for the First Sunday in Lent from the Gregorian Sacramentary. The Roman Breviary is of course that of the Counter-Reformation under Pope St Pius V and its subsequent restructuring by Pope St Pius X. One might note the effect of the Counter-Reformation due to the mention of "bonis opéribus" which emphasises the Doctrine that has ever been at the heart of Catholic-Protestant differences.

The Reflection

Magnets are truly wonderful objects without which the internet would not exist. We use them daily to run our motors due to the special relationship that magnetism has with electricity. An electric current produces a magnetic field which causes another magnet to move. The quality of the motor depends mainly on one thing - the quality of the magnet.

A magnet has a habit of aligning itself to the magnetic field of a much larger body - the earth - and, when floating on a piece of cardboard in a tub of water, will always point North-South. However, this strong alignment is only the first property that a magnet possesses. Its second property is that the North seeking end of a magnet is only attracted to a South-seeking end, and vice versa. The ends of the magnet do not seek themselves, but each other, and together they form a common alignment to the greater magnetic field. These are the two properties of magnets: they have a common alignment and they are not self-seeking. Does this sound familiar?

However, a magnet can lose its magnetism through many means, especially through wear and tear of daily uses or through heavy blows. No magnet is perfect and occasionally it needs to be put into contact with either another magnet, or a strong magnetic field for some time in order for it to regain its magnetic strength.

Lent is this period in which we focus on our own magnetism to Christ. This is a magnetism which gets knocked out of us by the world, by our daily lives, by sin. In Lent we are asked to consider our alignment to Christ and the measure of our self-seeking in order to strengthen the first and nullify the second. As we deprive ourselves of things that can insulate our lives from the electrifying nature of Christ, then do we feel the strength of his presence bending our wills to fit His Divine Will. Come Easter Day, we are released from this period of contemplative realignment with renewed Christian magnetism, and replaced into the motor of the Church to work the Opus Dei.

Our Lenten self-discipline needs to be spent on that realignment. What is the fast that the Lord would choose for us? How does that realign us to Him?

Jonathan Munn

A Lenten Series (VII)

Of Our Lord's Passion

Behold and see, my soul, how much and how dearly Christ, God's only begotten Son hath loved thee. He was made man for thee; and for thee he died a most bitter death. His sufferings verily were all the sharper from the tender fashion of his making.

See how those ruthless men seized Him and held Him, Christ Jesus, the most loving Son of God! See how thy bound Him and dragged Him off. They plucked his beard and his hair, they blindfolded his lustrous eyes. They spat in his sweet face and struck his ruddy cheeks and holy lips, mocking and blaspheming as they cried: "Prophesy unto us o Christ: who is he that struck Thee". Then, see how they led Him bound like a robber before Pilate, bore false witness against Him, the Holy of Holies, God's only Son. See Him sent to Herod and how He is sent back to Pilate. They stripped Him shamefully before the whole crowd, tied Him to a pillar and scourged Him with grievous stripes till his bones showed through the flesh. He was crowned with sharp thorns which pierced into his sacred head, and they put a purple garment on him in mockery. Watch then, as they strike his thorn-crowned head with a reed, till the blood from his forehead courses down his face, fills his eyes, oozes into his mouth and ears; and then bending the knee before Him in mockery they say: "Hail, King of the Jews"!

My soul, behold how in such a plight, Jesus was led to the people, "bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment": his face all dappled in blood, as the lowest of men. Recall how the raging and maddened crowd yelled out: "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" See Him as He standeth before Pilate and Herod and saith never a word, with his head bowed, the image of a patient and most meek lamb. He is condemned to death by Pilate, and see Him as they lead Him away bearing his own cross between two thieves and raise Him aloft amongst criminals. His whole body was stretched out cruelly to the dislocation of his members, the opening of veins, the numbering of all his bones. They gave Him gall and vinegar to drink and then cruelly mocked Him saying: "Let Christ the King of Israel come down now from the cross. If He be the Son of God, let Him come down. He saved others, Himself He cannot save".

Remember how hanging in agony on the cross, Christ spoke seven words, saying: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". To the thief he said: "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise". To his most sweet mother He said: "Woman, behold thy son", and to the disciple John: "Behold thy mother". To his Father He cried: Eli, Eli lamma sabacthani? That is: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Later, He said: "I thirst"; when they had given Him vinegar, He said: "It is finished". And lastly: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"; and so "bowing his head, He gave up the ghost". Oh, what was his sorrow for his sweet mother! How lovingly and patiently did He not pray for his executioners! And though he suffered agonies of thirst in his body, He thirsted yet more after our salvation, so that He suffered more in soul by his compassion than by his bodily pains.

O my soul, be not ungrateful nor unmindful of all this. Behold who is He that suffereth for thee. See the width and depth of his sufferings. Strive to follow in his footsteps. Learn to suffer patiently and to rejoice in adversity. In every temptation have recourse to the memory of these things: grave them deep on thy heart, and time and again call them back to mind.

A Lenten Series (VI)

On the Damnation of the Lost

My soul, consider what is the unhappiness of the lost, the eternally damned. Look upon hell, as it were, upon a wide rolling plain, a trackless and blasted waste, full of deep holes and sulphurous pits. Gaze down "on the land that is dark and covered with mist of death", "the land of misery and darkness where the shadow of death and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth" (Job x, 20-21). Then, for sorry and hateful company thou hast the lowest and fiercest devils, fearful to the sight: a dwelling place from which thou wouldst flee.

There, for ever is the mind turned aside from God and filled with hate of every good purpose. The damned are fixed in their lot amidst blackest despair, raging fire, and stench-filled flames. Icy cold freezeth them there; and there is the "worm that dieth not", darkness so thick as to be felt, blind hatred of God, and torrents of violent blasphemy against his name. There is the sound of gnashing of teeth, of crying, of sobbing, of wailing and of sighing. Friendship here on earth in a merry partnership of sin shall there turn to hate: their former friendship but increasing and deepening their torments.

If thou wilt think well on all these things thou wilt the more heartily spurn this world and all its vanities. Thou wilt ever keep thyself in a holy fear lest thou should offend God, and merit his foretold chastisements. For, great fools are they, who for anything whatsoever, whether concerning mankind at large, or of things carnal, earthly or temporal, put themselves in danger of falling under so heavy a disaster and punishment.

A Lenten Series (IV)

On God's Gifts

My soul , think well on the many wonderful gifts which thy high and mighty benefactor, God, hath conferred on thine unworthy self. Thy whole being, thy life, thy senses, thy mind, are all from Him. And whatsoever thou hast of well-being in soul or in body is his gift. Were a limb or one of thy senses to be wanting thee, as for instance, thy sight; wouldst thou not love him who should restore to thee that limb or sense that was lost? Why then art thou ungrateful and disobedient towards Him who hath lavished so great things on thee: who ceaseth not to uphold thee, who maketh his sun to shine upon thee, who feedeth thee and giveth thee to drink, and looketh to thy vesture alway? He cumbereth thy soul with graces and ceaseth not to bless thee. Daily doth He call thee to repentance and waiteth on thy turning to Him. He standeth ready to fill thee with gifts of the Holy Ghost and every grace of soul, and promiseth Himself to thee as thy reward. By how much the higher and more worshipful is thy benefactor, and his gifts more precious and more freely bestowed, by so much, o my soul, measure thou thy sin's ingratitude.

Now therefore, do thou render Him due thanks for all. And whatsoever is an offence in the sight of thy benefactor, do thou with all care avoid; and whatsoever thou mayest do to his honour, do it manfully!

A Lenten Series (III)

On Death

My soul, ponder well how soon shall strike the hour in which thou must put off this mortal frame, this world and all its interests, which now thou lovest above measure, and go into an unknown land, to stand before the awful judgement-seat of Christ!

Swiftly shalt come upon thee the bitter day of death, when thou shalt not be able to call back the time thou hast frittered away. None of the things which now thou dost evilly or lovest too well shall then have power to help thee, or bring thee comfort! Both deeds and omissions shall follow after thee; then shalt thou shed tears for the life thou hast lived so carelessly, or after so worldly a fashion.

Terror shall pierce thee through, and fears shall swarm around thee: and the tooth of conscience shall rankle thee sore. Have in mind now, o my soul, how it shall then fare with this mortal body, which now thou dost pamper with choice viands, with over great care for raiment and appearance.

O think, how then the listless hand shall fall helplessly, the cheek take on the pallor of death, and the mouth close in silence. The eye shall grow dim and be cast up: the pulse and breath of life flicker out. Then shall the rending pains and sweat of death give tokens of life's defeat. Horrible demons, too, shall stand around, calling back to memory all thy past sins, to drag thee down into despair.

Do not thou, o my soul, suffer thyself to be taken unawares. Do penance now! Mend thy life; daily prepare thee for death. Consider seriously the shortness of life's passage, its false promises and uncertainties, lest too late, and fruitlessly, thou implore from God, but one hour!

A Lenten Series (II)

On the eternal joys of the heavenly kingdom

Thou shalt think of the joys of the heavenly kingdom, and speak thus within thy soul:

My soul, how great and what priceless happiness will it be for thee to see the God of infinite beauty face to face, and to be a partaker with Him in the depths of his sweetness. What will it be to possess for ever, the All-High God, our only and changeless good! In Him, happily to hold and to possess, in overflowing measure, the fulness of all beauty, and of all that can be wished: yea, and safe in eternity to have thy heart's wish; ah! think what it will be! To taste a peace that is of God and made by Him: to plumb the depths of the sweetness of his love! What will it be, o my soul, to be caught up by the love of thy Creator, to be made a partaker in the Godhead–how thrilling–how much to be longed after! And then, to be close locked in God's most loving arms, so that no one shall nor ever can tear thee away from before the glowing gaze of his joyous countenance, nor from the embrace of his love!

And consider, o my soul, what undreamt of joy it will be to gaze with lightsome and piercing eye, on the uncreated bliss of the ever blessed Trinity; to look up into its majesty, its glory and holiness; to see how it is that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost love each other with a burning flame of love: and envisage one another in a sea of light and sweetness. Then, to understand how in Christ ours and the divine nature, or Word Eternal, are united in one person: and how He is raised above all creation, with the fulness of light and glory in soul and body. What too, will it be to see the most blessed and most sweet Virgin Mary, girt about with glory and loveliness; to see the whole circle of the elect and blessed in their true home, – the choirs and orders of the angels, the holy patriarchs and prophets, the glorious company of the Apostles, the army of martyrs, confessors and virgins! Ah! think how wretched are they who for the sake of the pleasures, well-being or comforts of this passing miserable body, deprive themselves of so great felicity, or long not after it hourly.

My soul, what infinite joys lie hid in these things, and what will it be to praise God without end in Heaven with all the blessed! Deprive not thyself then, of all this glory for the sake of the world's pomps, its vanities and riches. Go not into the danger of losing such glory, but rather, do with a will whatsoever may bend thereunto; for "the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared" with such a weight of glory.

A Lenten Series

Fr Steve Petrica, an old acquaintance from various Anglican discussion groups who recently swam the Tiber, has discovered a book by a 15th century Dutch Carthusian, Denys à Ryckel , entitled A Devout Exercise of the Purgative Way.

This is what he has to say about it:

It was published by the Parkminster Press in 1918 (although my copy is presumably a later reprint). It's a brief thing, only 34 small pages, and with Lent soon to be up on us I thought others might be interested not just in reading it, but taking on the exercise for themselves.

Fr Steve is going to transcribe it over the next week, and I shall post his daily offerings, beginning today with Denys' Prologue and his explanation of the "method" of the exercise, for those who may wish to make use of it during Lent.

Introduction by the Translator

Denys à Ryckel, better known as Denys the Carthusian, was born in the year 1402 at Ryckel, a village near St. Troud, in the Bishopric of Liège. In his twenty-first year he entered the Carthusian Order at Roermond in Holland, and there died in the year 1471 at the age of sixty-nine.

By scholastic writers he has been given the title of Doctor Ecstaticus (the Ecstatic Doctor), both from his frequently having been rapt in ecstasy, as well as from the depth and sublimity of his valuable writings on the contemplative life.

He is also, probably, the most prolific of ecclesiastical authors. His entire works, as recently re-edited, fill no less than forty-two stout quarto volumes, forming in themselves an almost complete ecclesiastical library.

The following Exercise of the Purgative Way is taken from the fortieth volume. It is printed in the hope that it may prove helpful, not only to those who have been lately turned to God's service, but also to devout souls who wish to nurture their spirit of compunction, so necessary to real progress in the spiritual life, for as the Imitation says: "Give thyself to compunction of heart and thou shalt find devotion."

Prologue

"God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world," as saith the Apostle. For the world counteth as foolishness the wisdom of God. "Therefore", saith the Apostle, "whosoever would become wise let him become foolish, that he may be wise"; that is to say: whosoever would obtain wisdom from God, let him become foolish, as men count things; let him perform or embrace, do or suffer, what seemeth foolishness to the world. Hence St. Denys [the Areopagite] calleth Christian wisdom, mad or senseless, irrational or foolish: not indeed, that it is truly such; but that to men filled with this world's spirit, and not with the spirit of Christ, such seemeth it to be. And because it is above all natural reason and thought, as well. God's chosen ones, therefore, long to be disdained and to be scoffed at by the world, so to please God.

If then, thou desirest to become wise and pleasing to God, spurn the discretion of this world, nor desire to please it. No rational creature, not excepting the angels, can or could be saved, except by laying aside his own will, and by conforming it and subjecting it to the Divine Will. And the more truly shall he so do, so much the mightier grace shall he gain. Therefore, the more fully and completely, for God's love thou shalt forsake thyself, the more perfectly thou shalt subject thy will to the direction of another's, – apt for the matter – by so much shalt thou be dearer to God, and attain to loftier perfection. The proud are likened to hills, the humble to vales, and God's grace is like to rain. Now, just as rain doth not lodge nor gather on the mountain tops, but in the hollows: and the deeper the vales the greater the store of rain there: even so, the Holy Ghost with His grace, abideth not in the hearts of the proud, but of the humble; yea, in greater measure the lowlier those hearts. And because in sinning, man prefereth his self-will and fleeting good to the Divine unchangeable Will, the uncreated and supreme Good, which choice mounteth up to contempt of God; contrariwise, for such contempt, the sinner must first of all contemn himself with all his heart, and count himself worthy of all confusion and punishment. Again, since man, who should take no delight save in his Ceator, in sinning, delighteth in creatures inordinately and corruptly; so ought the sinner take to himself hearty sorrow for such delectation, and bear due punishment for his guilt.

The Method of the Exercise of the Purgative Way

Daily, morning and evening; or on rising and on going to rest, go aside into a retired and quiet place, and then turned to God in soul and body, say:

"Almighty and everlasting God, my creator, my saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, I am that sinner, of all the blackest, lowest and most detestable: wholly contemptible and wicked am I; who so oft and so deeply have dishonoured thy majesty. I have gone from the way of the commandments: thy goodness, holiness and love have I offended, turning away my face from Thee, my Lord. [Such and such] sins have I committed: I have sinned by omission in many things and oft: I have turned thine own gifts against Thee."

Then call to mind some of thy more grievous sins of which thy conscience doth accuse thee; over which too, as in deed over all in general, thou dost heartily sigh, fetching groans and striking thy breast in repentance; and (should God so give thee grace) shedding bitter tears as well.

Kneeling then, or lying prone with joined hands, or with arms outstretched in the form of a cross, pray God for full pardon of all thy sins, saying thus:

"Most merciful God, lovable all things, the goal of all holy desires and infintely sweet; out of the depths of thy bounty, thy love and thy kindness: by all Thou hast done and suffered for my salvation: at the intercession of the Blessed Mary ever virgin and the merits and prayers of all thy saints; grant thy pardon to me an unworthy great sinner. Fill me with the bounty of Thy grace, that for the future I may keep away from sin, and flee from what displeaseth Thee, nor ever again turn my thoughts away from Thee."

After this, in like manner think on the blessings, general and special, God hath conferred on thee, and say thus:

"Almighty and everlasting God, my Lord Jesus Christ, infinite and immeasurable are the benefits Thou hast conferred on me. Thou hast created me to Thine image and likeness. Not with the common herd of creation hast Thou placed me, but Thou hast endowed me with reason. Thou hast given me body and soul, mind and senses, and all the rest of nature's gifts. Thou hast not left me from childhood in the shadows of ignorance, but hast given me schooling and taught me, that I might be thy faithful servant. And when I fell into sin Thou didst pardon me, as Thou dost to this day, though many who have sinned less than I, have been lost eternally. Thou hast given me the spiritual goods of church-membership; and whatsoever good there may be in me and that I may have, I know to be thy gift. Moreover, for my sake Thou didst become man and didst dwell in this world in the deepest depths of poverty; Thou didst suffer persecution and wast tempted, didst suffer scorn: and with all patience, lowliness, obedience, meekness, and with the perfection of love and holiness. And at the end, Thou didst suffer a most cruel death for me. Thou wast weighed down and afflicted; Thou wast "sorrowful even unto death", didst sweat blood, wast taken prisoner, struck, spit upon, blindfolded and clad as a fool in a white garment and a purple cloak. They crowned The with thorns and struck with a reed. Thy blessed face was all bathed in blood: Thou wast torn with scourges and didst suffer contempt, derision and blasphemy. Thou wast condemned to an awful death and wast led forth to the place of execution with the cross on Thine own shoulders. Hands and feet they pierced with sharp nails and "reputed amongst the wicked" Thou didst hang between two thieves. They gave thee gall and vinegar to drink, pierced Thee with a lance and thus brought Thee to a bitter end. Yet more; Thou hast purchased for me the Kingdom of Heaven and promised it to me. And I, graceless and vile sinner that I am, have paid Thee back ingratitude for such favours, rendering evil for good and turning my back on Thee. Yea, so ungrateful and perverse am I become, that it were meet for the world and all that is in it to rise up against me, and wreak vengeance on me for my injuries to my Creator."

"But now, o my Lord Jesus Christ, by thy holy Incarnation, by thy most holy life amongst us, by the passion, thy cross, and thy blood; I beseech Thee, pardon me all my wrong-doing and ingratitude, and for the rest of my life make me daily to grow in devotion and gratitude towards Thee." Amen.

The foregoing belongeth to the purgative way, which must precede the illuminative and perfect ways. First of all then, the beginner should exercise himself for some months in this exercise of the purgative way.