Compassion That Becomes Service

O GOD, our Refuge and our Strength! Thou art so high that the very Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee, yet dost Thou dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. Everywhere Thou art seeking the wandering, those who have forgotten the warnings of parent and teacher and friend, who have despised the oracles of conscience, and are now sore pierced with the thorns of earth. Thou dost not despair when Thou findest us degraded and miserable in our sin, but bringest us forgiveness and hope. We are overwhelmed, O Lord, with wonder, to think that Thou dost believe in us, and wilt not let us go. From the pleasures of sin, from the torment of guilt, from poverty and blighted hopes and ill-requited love, we turn to Thee, our Father, for comfort and satisfaction. Make clear to us how the evils of the soul war against our happiness and health, how we are so fearfully and wonderfully made that not a wrong thought, or base desire, or strained emotion, but leaves its mark upon our bodies. Take possession of us, and so inspire us with great thoughts and noble aspirations and unselfish feelings, that our bodies may become fit temples for the habitation of Thy good Spirit. So occupy us with self-forgetting service for Thee that no time or strength may remain for our besetting sins. Lay upon us the burdens of the weak, the crosses of other lives. Are any sick? Let us bring to them help and good cheer, and, if it may be, some gift of healing. Are there any naked and hungry? Let us clothe and feed them. Are there any sad and depressed? Give to us the insight and the sympathy, in the presence of which the burdened heart will be eased and the darkened mind illumined. Are there any remorseful and despairing? Speak to them through us, as Thine organs, and say, "I am thy salvation." Thus may the fires of a Christlike charity burn with a steady flame within us, and thus may our souls be kept pure and fresh and strong. O true and holy Light, that lightenest every man, shine into these hearts of ours that we may hold converse with the sinful, yet contract no stain; that we may share the pleasures and mingle in the noise and dust of life, yet keep our garments unspotted from the world. Forgive us that we have sinned so often against those around us, by failing to draw near to them and to understand them, by want of pity for their trials and sorrows, by passing on our heedless way, with no ear for the still, sad voices of weary and laden souls. Henceforth let us arm ourselves with the mind that was in Christ Jesus, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Let the glory of His Cross be the inspiration of all our thought and service, that suffering with Him here, we may reign with Him hereafter. Hear us and answer us, for His sake. Amen.