11 January 2011

A Meditation on the Glory of the Children of God

O how gracious, kind, and merciful You are, O eternal and mighty God!  Not only did You create man in great glory, but when we had fallen, You did once more promise great glory to all who will accept Your grace and obey the promptings of Your Holy Spirit by faith and a holy life.  For such regenerate and sanctified souls may comfort themselves with the reflection that they possess great glory here in time:  sonship with God, the righteousness of Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, peace with You, Your favor, grace, and love to which they may always claim a fearless access by prayer, and from which they can obtain help and mercy in their troubles.

To this glory a still greater glory will be added after this life.  When the soul departs from the body, it is promised admission to the vision of Your countenance, the fellowship of Your saints, and abundance of heavenly joy.  This glory will also be shared by the body after the resurrection, in which it will be transfigured and shine like the sun.

O my God, grant me grace always to have this glory before my eyes, and to consider that while dying, I really begin to live, that in death my misery, but not my life, shall have an end, and that I shall then pass from unrest to rest, from tribulation to joy, from anguish to supreme delight, from sadness and this valley of sorrow to consolation.  -- Starck's Prayer Book, p. 150.

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