Collect taken from Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter.
Collect: O God, restorer and lover of innocence, direct the hearts of your servants towards yourself, that those you have set free from the darkness of unbelief may never stray from the light of your truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ…
“O God, restorer and lover of innocence, direct the hearts of your servants towards yourself“
– Innocence is mocked and treated as something that only immature children can have, but it is not so for the Lord. He not only loves innocence, but, by grace restores it. And, the prayer to direct the hearts of men toward God tells us where true innocence lies: in full devotion to God.
“that those you have set free from the darkness of unbelief may never stray from the light of your truth.”
– Truth and faith are intellectual realities, but they cannot remain there. Our hearts can represent our affections, our desires, and our wills. We ask God to direct all of these to himself because that kind of devotion is what keeps us in the light of truth. Spiritual maturity and security can only be found when both the mind and the heart are fully directed to God.
Questions & Advice: Have you lost your sense of innocence? Do you think that it can never be regained? Is your faith more a matter of emotions and affections or of intellect and truth?
Learn a little more about faith. Spend some of your daily prayer time asking the Lord to restore your innocence and to grant you a single and wholehearted focus on him. Reflect on ways to make your religion about both the mind and the heart.
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| The Heart interwoven with the Trinity |