Let us pray (in silence) [that what is good within us may flourish]
Pause
God of power and might,
source of all good;
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
and bind us more closely to you
so that you nourish the goodness you sow in us
and, by your watchful care,
you tend and guard the good you have nourished;
through Jesus Christ,
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The above ancient prayer is used by Roman Catholics and Episcopalians/Anglicans and others. It has a long, shared history which you can find here with commentary and reflection: Ordinary 22 or below. The above is my rendering in my Book of Prayers in Common.
For Aotearoa New Zealand – here are three Maori versions:
E TE Ariki, kei a koe te kaha me te mana, ko koe te kai homai o nga mea pai katoa; Whakanohoia ki o matou ngakau te aroha ki tou Ingoa; whakanuia ki roto i a matou te whakapono tika, whangainga matou ki te pai, whakapumautia mai hoki ena mea ki a matou, he nui nei hoki tou aroha; ko Ihu Karaiti hoki to matou Ariki. Amine. [Te Pukapuka o Nga Inoi – The Book of Common Prayer in Maori]
E te Atua mananui, te kaihōmai o ngā taonga pai katoa, whakatōkia ki roto i ō mātou ngākau te aroha mō tōu ingoa, ā, mā tōu whakakoi i to mātou wairua wehi ki ā koe, māu anō e whakatupu i roto i a mātou ngā mea pai, ā, i runga i tōu āta manaaki, tiakina tāu i whakatupuria ai.
Mā to mātou Ariki mā Hēhu Karaiti, tāu Tamaiti, e ora nei, e rangatira tahi nei kōrua i te kotahitanga o te Wairua Tapu, Atua kotahi, mō āke āke. [NZ Roman Missal 2010]
E te Atua o te kaha me te ngoi,
nāu ngā mea papai katoa,
whakatōngia ki roto i ō mātou ngākau te aroha mō tōu ingoa,
whakatupua te pai ki roto i a mātou,
ā, tohungia mātou kia ū tonu ai mātou i roto i tōu aroha noa.
Ko Īhu Karaiti tō mātou Ariki.
Āmine. [NZPB/HKMA 2024 p657]
Many people focus on creation during the month of September – a “creation season” concluding on the feast of St Francis on October 4.
This site is committed to the three year lectionary (RC) and its derivative, the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). Rather than departing from that lectionary, resources have been provided on this site for a “creation reading” of our shared biblical texts. This approach takes seriously the claim that our relationship with creation is a thread throughout the Bible.
Even though this coming Sunday is (just) not yet in September, here follows a taste of how this works.
A creation reading of the lectionary for the Sunday between 28 August and 3 September:
The First Testament readings and psalms speak of land, wilderness, deserts, pits, drought, darkness, a land that no one passes through, where no one lives, and a plentiful land where one can eat its fruits and its good things, God’s land that one can defile, heavens that can be shocked, and utterly desolate, places for water that hold no water. The gospel speaks of banqueting, feasting with and receiving from our prodigal, providing Creator.
Do you have suggestions and resources for this coming Sunday?
textweek resources
Preaching Resources Down Under
Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary
Commentary on the Collect
In the Gelasian sacramentary this is the collect for the second of the sixteen Sunday Masses (no. 1182). In the Gregorian (no. 1147) it takes its position equivalent to the seventh Sunday after Trinity, where the Sarum Missal, and English Prayer Books have it.
Deus virtútum, cujus est totum quod est optimum : ínsere péctóribus nostris amórem tui nóminis, et præsta in nobis religiónis augméntum ; ut, quæ sunt bona, nutrias, ac pietátis studio, quæ sunt nutrita, custódias. Per Dóminum…
Cranmer 1549:
LORDE of all power and might, whiche art the author and gever of all good thynges; graffe [graft] in our hartes the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, norishe us with all goodnes, and of thy great mercy kepe us in the same; Through Jesus Christe our Lorde.
Cranmer has changed the Sarum preamble from “God of virtue/power whose is all that is best” to a paraphrase of James 1:17. Cranmer’s insertion of “true” before “religion” may be as relevant, if not more so, in our day as in his.
The Latin “nourish what is good, … guard/preserve what you have nourished” was altered in Cranmer. The NZ Prayer Book collect is directly lifted from the CofE Liturgical Commission preparing for ASB (except NZ has restored “God” for “Lord”). With deft simplicity the CofE commission restored the original intention.
God of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things,
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish in us all goodness,
and of your great mercy
keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen
NZPB p. 610a
BCP(USA) introduced a new phrase “bring forth in us the fruit of good works” increasing the farming/gardening metaphor.
The BCP (USA) version is:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
Graft in our hearts the love of your Name;
increase in us true religion;
nourish us with all goodness;
and bring forth in us the fruit of good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.
(Proper 17; Sunday closest to August 31)
God is source of and ultimate good – “the author and giver of all good things”. God sees that all is good. May the good in us flourish – by God. And kept, guarded, and preserved – by God. May we, as salt, which enhances the good and discourages the bad, work with God in this nourishing, flourishing, keeping, guarding, and preserving of all the good, fragile though it be, wherever we might encounter it.
The Common Worship (CofE) version is:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Proper 17 (BCP USA) is the same Sunday as 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (RC and others).
ICEL’s earlier translation (1973) had:
Almighty God,
every good thing comes from you.
Fill our hearts with love for you,
increase our faith,
and by your constant care
protect the good you have given us.
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation:
God of hosts,
from whom every good gift proceeds, implant in our hearts the love of your name. Nurture within us whatever is good
by binding us more closely to you,
and in your watchful care
tend the good fruit you have nurtured.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.
Current ICEL (2011):
God of might, giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
you may nurture in us what is good
and, by your watchful care,
keep safe what you have nurtured.
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