O Lord, grant to Your faithful people pardon and peace that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve You with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
This venerable collect for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity in the one year lectionary has a notable past and has proven to be a voice for the faithful throughout time.
The Latin has it:
Largire, quaesumus, Domine, fidelibus tuis indulgentiam placatus et pacem: ut pariter ab omnibus mundentur offensis, et secura tibi mente deserviant.
The Lutheran (from Cranmer) version seems to miss a part of it. The premise of the prayer is to beg the Lord to relent from His anger over sin with the implicit plea for the sacrifice of Christ as the reason for Him to relent so that, cleansed from all our sins, the people of God may serve Him with a quiet mind. That is the part I think is so important. The quiet mind. How hard it is in the present age to find just that -- a mind and heart at peace. Of course, it reminds me of another similar collect that bids God to grant us peace a the last. In both cases, the troubled hearts and minds of the faithful cry out to the Lord for quietness and peace. Both of these come through faith that trusts the Lord to keep His Word, complete His work, do His bidding, and fulfill His promise. But that is the problem. How do we maintain such faith and trust in the midst of a world that practically rejoices to steal such peace and quietness from us?
Key to this is forgiveness. The absolution of the heart weighed low by sin and the mind tormented by the fear of the consequences of our sin are what we beg God to grant and it is from these gifts our troubled minds find quiet and our troubled hearts find peace. We find harmony not in some contrived sense of balance but when that which afflicts us and causes us trouble is answered. So our faults and failings find their answer not in what we do but in what Christ has done and in the means of grace that bestow upon us this saving work. Chaos shouts to us in the turmoil of many too many voices and in the still small voice God is known.
Not surprisingly, these quieting prayers tend to be prayed in the evening or at night. It is then we need to quiet our busy minds and hearts so that we may have rest. Another of the quiet prayers is this:
O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
I find myself praying for this more often than ever. I suspect you do as well. Peace and quietness are the joy of faith and the constant prayer of the faithful.
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