THE COLLECT
Unchanging and eternal God, who reignest for ever serene above the waterfloods, grant us serenity of heart and that holy peace which passeth all understanding and which is not obscured by the shadows of this earth; O Thou great prince of peace to whom all true aspirations ever ascend.
Amen.
THE LESSON
The lesson is taken from the Song Of The Great Mother
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For He hath regarded: the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him: throughout all generations. He hath shewed strength with His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich He hath sent empty away. He remembering His mercy hath holpen His servant Israel: as He promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.
THE GOSPEL
The gospel is taken from the words of Hermes the Thrice Great Lord:
Now it is impossible to be devoted truly without the philosophy of Gnosis; he who has learnt what existing things are, and how they are ordered, and by whom, and why, will give thanks for all to the Creator as to a good Father and kindly Nurse and faithful Guardian. Feeling gratitude, he will become a devotee, and a devotee will learn also where and what the real is; then having learned this he will be even more devoted and will never again be able to fall away from the good. For when the soul has come to know her forefather she has a wondrous yearning love for him and forgets all evil things; this is the goal of devotion, and if you attain to it you will live nobly and happily, your soul not ignorant of whither she has to fly aloft.
A Homily for The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
presented by the Most Reverend Stephan A. Hoeller, bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostic