Let us pray (in silence) [that God will make us one in mind and heart]
pause
O God,
you inspire the hearts of the faithful with a single longing,
grant your people to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
so that in all the changes and chances
of this uncertain world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
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 (on different days; the majority, RC, position is Ordinary Sunday 21). It has a long, shared history which you can find here: Ordinary 21, or below. The above is my rendering in my Book of Prayers in Common.
Lectionary Readings Introduction
This site provides something different: many sites and books provide a brief summary of the reading – so that people read out or have in their pew sheet an outline of what they are about to hear. They are told beforehand what to expect. Does this not limit what they hear the Spirit address them? This site provides something different – often one cannot appreciate what is being read because there is no context provided. This site provides the context, the frame of the reading about to be heard. It could be used as an introduction, printed on a pew sheet (acknowledged, of course), or adapted in other ways.
Exodus 1:8-2:10
Today in the continuous reading begins nine Sundays in the book of Exodus. The priests who have given this scroll its definitive form at the time of the Babylonian Exile developed stories passed down in order to interpret this past and help to make the past relevant to the present. The Exodus model thus developed has become central in our own contemporary interpretations.
Isaiah 51:1-6
Roman Catholics and those who use that version of the three year series, have a different related reading: Isaiah 22:19-23. Isaiah 51 uses the ancient story of Abraham and Sarah as a paradigm as well as “Zion” (possibly originally meaning “dry place” or “hilltop”) and the ancient story of Eden.
Romans 12:1-8
The literary style of Paul’s letters concludes with practical application. Chapter 12 begins the concrete application of Paul’s teachings presented in this letter.
Matthew 16:13-20
From last Sunday we skip the second miracle of the loaves and the Pharisees and Sadducees asking for a sign. John Pilch (The Cultural World of Jesus) writes: “Jesus’s question is not a “theology quiz” for his disciples. It reflects a normal, Mediterranean curiosity by Jesus, a dyadic personality, about what other people think. Like everyone else in this culture, Jesus needs such feedback because he does not know who he is, and he is trying to learn this from significant others in his life.” If Matthew’s Gospel reflects a reasonable chronology in Jesus’ life, we see him joining John the Baptist, taking up and extending that mission when John the Baptist is imprisoned, reflecting on his future and even leaving Hebrew territory on the execution of John the Baptist, reflecting (today) on who he is, and going on to predict that he too will suffer execution. Perceptive and flaky Simon gets a nickname “Rocky” and receives authority that will later be shared by all the apostles.
Further resources off this site:
textweek resources
Preaching Resources Down Under
Girardian Lectionary Reflections
Reflection on the Collect
The earliest we have traced this collect is to the Gelasian Sacramentary. Through the Sarum Missal and Books of Common Prayer to the 1962 RC Missal it was the collect for the (equivalent of the) Fifth Sunday of Easter. In 1975, the Vatican moved it to the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time and Monday in the fifth week of Lent. In 2002 it was removed from the latter. It is used in many Anglican revisions (TEC’s BCP has it for Lent 5):
Deus, qui fidelium mentes unius efficis voluntatis, da populis tuis id amare quod præcipis, id desiderare quod promittis, ut inter mundanas varietates ibi nostra fixa sint corda ubi vera sunt gaudia.
Literally:
O God, who make the minds of the faithful to be of one will, grant unto Your people to love that thing which You command, to desire that which You promise, so that, amidst the vicissitudes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are.
Cranmer for the 1549 BCP translated it as:
ALMIGHTIE God, whiche doest make the myndes of all faythfull men to be of one wil; graunt unto thy people, that they maye love the thyng, whiche thou commaundest, and desyre, that whiche thou doest promes [promise]; that emong the sondery [sundry] and manifold chaunges of the worlde, oure heartes maye surely there bee fixed, whereas true joyes are to be founde; through Christe our Lorde.
1662 changed the relative clause to
“O ALMIGHTY God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men”
this changes the stress from unity to a contrast with loving and desiring what God commands and promises.
I still remember vividly a conversation many years ago with someone increasingly irritated with the Christian ideas she was exploring. For her, particularly annoying was the idea that whilst the bad was due to her, the good she did was sourced in God. For many people, the goal of life is to be nice; to be good. And God might help us to achieve this goal. Pelagius taught whilst we might do this on our own we could seek some help from God (see ICEL below). This collect above can be used to reflect a quite different orientation – union with God as the goal of life; the constant work of God’s grace achieving this union through God’s commands and promises. This perspective may be quite different to believing one might find “lasting joy in this changing world” – though that too can be understood from a perspective of union with God as one’s goal.
Deus – God
Mentes – minds, hearts, souls
voluntatis – free will, desire, inclination
efficis… mentes – you bring about, you form… the hearts of the faithful may be of one desire
da populis tuis – grant to your people
id amare quod praecipis – to love that which you command
praecipis – you take beforehand; you give precepts, enjoin; this connects to mentes
id desiderare quod promittis – to desire that which you promise
desiderare connects to voluntatis – free will
promittis – you say beforehand, hold out
varietas means “difference, diversity, variety.”
mundanus – of or belonging to the world
ut … ibi nostra fixa sint corda – our hearts, our desiring, our loving is fixed, immovable
inter mundanas varietates – among worldly changes
varietates – fickleness, vicissitudes; contrasts with fixa, unius, vera.
gaudia – delights, inner joys, things that cause joy.
Efficio (formed from facio) – to make out, work out; hence, to bring to pass, to effect, execute, complete, accomplish, make, form
Voluntas – will (but it can also mean things like “freewill, wish, choice, desire, inclination” and even “disposition towards a thing or person”)
(RC) ICEL 1973
Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world. In our desire for what you promise make us one in mind and heart.
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation:
O God,
you inspire the hearts of the faithful
with a single longing.
Grant that your people
may love what you command
and desire what you promise,
so that, amid the uncertain things of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found.
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.
ICEL 2011:
O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.
See NZPB p. 640b
Almighty God, you alone can bring order
to our unruly wills and affections;
give us grace to love what you command
and desire what you promise,
that in all the changes and chances
of this uncertain world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord…
Common Worship (CofE) Third Sunday before Lent:
Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the many changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
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.
or BCP (TEC p. 219) Fifth Sunday in Lent:
Almighty God,
you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners:
Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise;
that, among the swift and varied changes of the world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Also used by Anglicans in South Africa, Australia, Ireland,…
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image source: Christ gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter – Perugino (between 1481 and 1482)
