Austin Farrer: 'Septuagesima'

"We are, says the collect, not what we shall be, punished for our offences: the world by boredom and fear of war, the Church by impotence and self-reproach, and we by separation from the life of God. Punished, says the collect, and justly punished; for if we are separated from God, is it not that we have cut ourselves off, by laziness in praying, and faithlessness in obeying? But, says the collect, we may yet pray with confidence to be relieved of punishment by God's mercy through Jesus Christ. Our punishment lasts no longer than our will to live without God. We throw ourselves into Christ's sacrifice, we are offered, presented by him to God along with his own flesh and blood; for we are his flesh and blood, he does not disown us."

'Septuagesima' from The Crown of the Year by Austin Farrer


LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The collect for Septuagesima from the Book of Common Prayer (1662)