by Helen Allingham, 1848-1926

Today is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, and the collect – the little prayer that summarizes the intentions for the day and the week to come – is probably one of the best summations I’ve seen of the Catholic teaching on how our civilization is supposed to be ordered:

Harvest Moon, ‘globed in mellow splendour’, 1879 by Helen Allingham,

Orémus.

Da nobis, quaesumus, Dómine: ut et mundi cursus pacífice nobis tuo órdine dirigátur; et Ecclésia tua tranquílla devotióne lætétur.

Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

R. Amen.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Grounds, John Constable – 1825

Let us pray.

Grant us, we beseech You, O Lord, that the course of the world may be so peaceably ordered by Thee [or, “according to Your rule in peace”] and that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in quiet devotion.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

Amen.

~

The purpose of the state is to create a society in which people are free to pursue holiness. That’s it. All the rest is details.

Which can be found in the excellent book, “Framework of a Christian State” by the estimable Irish Jesuit, E. Cahill. I have just learned that this compendium of Catholic moral and social sanity can now be found in its entirety as a PDF here. All 700+ pages of it.

Have fun.

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