Prayer book
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sarum
Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and stretch forth the right hand of thy majesty to defend us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Reflection
We are such frail creatures. St Augustine would have us as a bright flash of light in the present sandwiched between the two expanses of darkness called the past and the future. C.S. Lewis in his allegory The Great Divorce would have us insubstantial but with the potential to become substantial if we accept our infirmity and allow for transformation into that which is substantial.
One of the great temptations is to think that we are untouchable, safe, secure in our lives. Yet, often the reverse consideration raises its head - the usual human propensity for self-paradox. Death is still a great taboo in modern society. There's always a latest health scare, Ebola, CJD, AIDS, et c,, causing much worry and concern. Sometimes the fear of living can prevent us from having a life. Our search for security can kill us more surely by suffocation more surely than the relative unlikelihood of drowning.
The Glory of God is the impact that He has in our lives. Only He has true weight; only He has true substance. It is this very substance that He wishes to share with us in the Holy Eucharist. In praying for help in our infirmity, we lay ourselves open to become more substantial by recognising our own very lack of substance. God says to us, "open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee." If we do, then surely our frailty will disappear, subsumed in Him.
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