Let us pray (in silence) [that we may love God in our hearts and in our actions]
Pause
O God,
the joy of union with you is your gift,
may your compassion direct our hearts;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
This ancient collect is not, in contemporary liturgy, fixed to any particular Sunday. You can find a reflection at Ordinary 23 or below.
Resources off this site:
Resourcing Preaching Down Under
Textweek
Girardian Reflection on the Lectionary
Vanderbilt Divinity Library (in the updating of their website, they have not – yet – put in 301 redirects, so all links to them have currently been lost!)
Creation Reading of the Lectionary
The Proverbs reading underscores that we are all creatures. Whether we claim more or less of creation, in fact none of us (but God) is over creation – we are all within it. In fact, our shared creature-hood is part of needing to treat other creatures equally, justly.
God’s mountains are a powerful metaphor for stability in Psalm 125.
The Isaiah reading has a number of images from creation, with a central focus on the importance of water.
Psalm 146 shows our connection to the earth, reinforces that it is God who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and also has a consequence on the responsibility to share.
Some of these threads are also woven into the text from the letter of James. Once again there is the acknowledgement of our duty to share and care within the creation God graciously gives.
The natural environment of Tyre, Sidon, the Sea of Galilee, and the region of the Decapolis form the frame for Mark’s story of a a Gentile woman, of Syrophoenician origin, to take on Jesus at his own craftsmanship of astute, witty repartee. Here, too, the question comes down to who can share in what of God’s natural provisions. The surprise in this text is that it is Jesus, for a change, who does not “win” this particular debate.
Many people, in the month of September, focus on creation. This month runs from the Eastern Orthodox starting the liturgical year on September 1 and prepares for 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 will be provided here that can be used to have a particular focus.
The historic 1989 encyclical letter (link off this site) of the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I urged Christians to observe September 1st as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment.
Reflection on the Collect
Dirigat corda nostra, quaesumus, Domine, tuae miserationis operatio, quia tibi sine te placere non possumus.
The collect is found in the Gelasian Sacramentary, and in the Sarum rite for Trinity 19. It is used in Anglican Churches: TEC; CofE; Ireland; Canada; Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia… by Roman Catholicism…
In my reworking (above), I thought that the common Anglican translation, “without you we are not able to please you”, makes little contemporary sense. It appears like saying, “Bob, if you didn’t exist, I couldn’t be your friend – without you, I couldn’t be with you!” Roman Catholicism’s ICEL makes it “without your grace we cannot find favour in your sight.” I think “the joy of union with you is your gift” expresses the idea in an attractive, contemporary way.
1549 Book of Common Prayer:
O GOD, for asmuche as without thee, we are not able to please thee; Graunte that the workyng of thy mercie maye in all thynges directe and rule our heartes; Through Jesus Christ our Lorde.
O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
ICEL 1973:
Lord, guide us in your gentle mercy, for left to ourselves we cannot do your will.
Current ICEL
May the working of your mercy, O Lord, we pray, direct our hearts aright, for without your grace we cannot find favor in your sight.
new translation Saturday Lent 4
Almighty God,
you have called us to serve you,
yet without your grace
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
NZPB p. 612b
O God,
because without you we are not able to please you,
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things
direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Chrsit our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
BCP (USA) p.233
O God, forasmuch as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
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.
Common Worship (CofE) Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
This collect is for the fourteenth of the sixteen Sunday masses in the Gelasian sacramentary (#1230). For the Gregorian (effectively) (#1183), Sarum and 1549-1928 Prayer Books it is the collect for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity.
Dirigat corda nostra quaesumus Domine tuae miserationis operatio, quia tibi sine te placere non possumus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus. Per omnia secula seculorum, Amen.
[Literally: Direct our hearts, Lord, we beseech you, by the working of your mercy, for without you we are not able to please you.” 1549 has:
O GOD, for asmuche as without thee, we are not able to please thee; Graunte that the workyng of thy mercie maye in all thynges directe and rule our heartes; Through Jesus Christ our Lorde.
The 1662 revisers changed the working of God’s mercy to the Holy Spirit and added the word “rule”. NZ added the concept “you have called us to serve you”.
There is much in this collect that bears reflection: the purpose of life is not to “be good” but to please God. God is the goal and the means, the destination and the journey.
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image: Peter Koenig is a Catholic artist whose goal in life is “to paint the drama, romance and poetry of the sacred book” (https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/). The Canaanite woman kneels before Jesus to beg for her daughter’s healing—her face shows her weariness and desperate plea. The disciples are visibly flustered with the woman while one tries to pull Jesus away from her. Jesus, nevertheless, stretches out his hand to help the woman and her daughter. This happens, however, only after she turns his insult to her into an opportunity to teach: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27). May we all be as humble as Jesus to admit when we are wrong and treat others with respect and compassion.
