Celebrating the Seasons. Robert Atwell
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Third Sunday before Lent
A Reading from a treatise On the Lord’s Prayer by Cyprian of Carthage
When we pray ‘Your will be done on earth as in heaven’ we are not praying that God may accomplish what he wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills. For who can prevent God from doing what he wills? The reality is that it is we who are prevented from completely obeying God in our thoughts and deeds because of the activity of the devil. That is why we pray that we may will what God wills. If this is to happen we need God’s goodwill, by which is meant his help and protection. Nobody is sufficiently strong, whatever their inner resources: it is only by the grace and mercy of God that we are saved.
Indeed, our Lord himself revealed the fragility of his own humanity when he prayed: ‘Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by.’ And then he gave his disciples an example that they should do God’s will and not their own when he went on to say: ‘Nevertheless, not what I will but what you will.’ If the Son was obedient to the Father’s will, how much more should we servants be concerned to do the will of our Master!
It was the will of God, then, that Christ exemplified both in his deeds and in his teaching. It requires humility in behaviour, constancy in faith, modesty in conversation, justice in deeds, mercy in judgements, discipline in morals. We should be incapable of doing wrong to anyone but, at the same time, able to bear patiently wrongs done to us. It requires that we live at peace with our neighbours, loving God with our whole heart: loving him as our Father, fearing him as our God. It means preferring nothing whatever to Christ who preferred nothing to us. It means holding fast to his love and never letting go; standing by his cross bravely and fearlessly when his name and honour are challenged; exhibiting in our speech a conviction that will confess our faith. It also means that even under torture we sustain a confidence that will not surrender; and that in the face of death we allow our patience to be our crown. This is what is entailed in being a co-heir with Christ. This is what it means to accomplish the commandment of God, to fulfil the will of the Father.
Monday after 3 before Lent
A Reading from the discourses of Dorotheus of Gaza
In the Book of Proverbs it says: ‘Those who have no guidance fall like leaves, but there is safety in much counsel.’ Take a good look at this saying, brothers. Look at what Scripture is teaching us. It assures us that we should not set ourselves up as guide-posts, that we should not consider ourselves sagacious, that we should not believe we can direct ourselves. We need assistance, we need guidance in addition to God’s grace. No one is more wretched, no one is more easily caught unawares, than someone who has no one to guide them along the road to God. Scripture says: ‘Those who have no guidance fall like leaves.’ Leaves are always green in the beginning, they grow vigorously and are pleasing to look at. Then after a short time they dry up and fall off the tree, and in the end they are blown about by the wind and trodden under foot. So is the person who refuses guidance. At first he has great fervour about fasting, keeping vigil, keeping silence, and obedience and other good customs. Then, after a short time, the fire is extinguished and, not having anyone to guide him and strengthen him and kindle his fire again, he shrivels up and so, becoming disobedient, he falls and finally becomes a tool in the hand of his enemies, who do what they like with him.
Concerning those who make a report about what concerns their interior life and do everything with counsel, Scripture says: ‘There is safety in much counsel.’ When it says ‘much counsel’ it does not mean taking counsel from all and sundry, but clearly from someone in whom one has full confidence. And we should not be silent about some things and speak about others, but we should report everything and take counsel about everything. To those doing this consistently there is indeed safety in much counsel. But if someone does not bring to light everything about himself, especially if he has turned away from evil habits and a bad upbringing, and if the devil finds in him one bit of self-will or self-righteousness, he will cast him down through that. For when the devil looks at a person who sincerely desires not to sin, he is not so unintelligent as to suggest to him (as he would to a hardened sinner) that he go and commit fornication or go and steal. He knows we do not want that, and he does not set out to tell us something we do not want to hear; instead he finds out that little bit of self-will or self-righteousness and through that, with the appearance of well doing, he will do us harm. For when we are masters of our own affairs and we stand in our own righteousness as if we were doing great things, we are giving ourselves counsel – and we do not know how it is we are destroyed. For how can we know the will of God or seek it completely if we believe only in ourselves and hold on to our own will?
May God shelter us from this danger of being our own guides that we may be worthy to take the road our fathers took and pleased God.
Tuesday after 3 before Lent
A Reading from The Revelations of Mechtild of Magdeburg also known as The Flowing Light of the Godhead
Lord, my sin because of which I have lost you,
Stands before my eyes like a huge mountain,
Creating between us
Darkness and distance.
O Love, above all love
Draw me to yourself again.
But Lord, the prospect of future falls
Plague my mind:
They beckon to me like the mouth of a fiery dragon
Eager to swallow me whole.
O my only Good, help me now
That I may flow sinless towards you.
Lord, my earthly being lies before me
As an acre of dust
On which little good has grown.
O sweet Jesus Christ,
Send me now the fruitful rain of your humanity,
And the gentle dew of the Holy Spirit
That I may plead my heart’s sorrow.
Your everlasting kingdom
Lies open before my eyes
Like a wedding feast,
Inviting me to your everlasting banquet.
O true lover
Never cease to draw to your side this lovesick bride.
All the gifts I have ever received from you
Stand before me as a heavy reproach
For this your highest gift humbles me to the dust.
Then God who gives us everything answered thus:
‘Your mountain of darkness shall be melted away by my love,
Your enemies shall win no victory over you,
Your acre has been scorched by the rays of the hot sun
Yet its fruit has not been destroyed.
In my kingdom you will live as a new bride,
There I will greet you with the kiss of love
And all my Godhead shall sweep through your soul;
My three-fold being shall play ceaselessly
In your two-fold heart.
What place then has mourning?
If you were to pray for a thousand years
I would never give you cause
For a single sigh.’
Wednesday after 3 before Lent
A Reading from The Scale of Perfection by Walter Hilton