'May live together in unity and charity': on the Prayer for the Church Militant

... what to me is the clearest and most moving of all Anglican invocations.

So said Roger Scruton, in his Our Church, of the Prayer for the Church Militant. Scruton's words echo those of John Shepherd in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801):

Prayers to the same effect were offered in the primitive Church at the celebration of the Eucharist, and occur in ancient, and modern Liturgies; but a form of superior, or even equal excellence to this, is nowhere to be found.

Contrary to most contemporary Anglican liturgies, both Shepherd and Scruton rightly recognise the power and beauty of the Prayer for the Church Militant. Contemporary liturgies usually contain mere outlines of intercession, entirely subject to the vagaries of those leading the intercessions. By contrast, the Prayer for the Church Militant offers a memorable, theologically rich, intercession, rooted in a robustly apostolic vision of ecclesial vision (indicated in the opening reference to "thy holy apostle"):

It is composed upon the principles laid down by St. Paul, in his exhortation to Timothy, and accordingly consists of prayers, supplications, and intercessions for the whole Catholic Church; beseeching God to inspire it with the spirit of truth and concord, and that the individual members may live together in unity and charity. It then prays more distinctly for the different orders of which the Church is composed: first, for the higher estates; secondly, for the clergy; and lastly, for the people; that they may all with sincerity and fidelity, discharge the duties allotted to their respective stations.

Shepherd's summary of the Prayer, "may live together in unity and charity", captures not only its focus, but also a key concern of the wider rite: "ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them ... in love and charity with your neighbours ... and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people ... may continue in that holy fellowship". In the opening petition of the Prayer for the Church Militant this gracious vision is set before us, setting the context for the administration and reception of the holy Sacrament:

beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love.

So the Prayer for the Church Militant opens. What, then, of its ending?

The conclusion contains a thanksgiving for the deceased members of the Church, with a petition that the living may follow their good examples, and be finally partakers of the same inheritance of everlasting life and glory.

Shepherd has already rightly noted that the 1552 addition "militant here in earth" to the bidding - retained in 1559 and 1662 - was "designed expressly to exclude prayer for the dead". In place of urgent intercession for the deliverance of the departed is quiet thanksgiving, for they now rest in the fulness of unity and charity in the heavenly kingdom. Our only petition is that we might have "grace so to follow their good examples", walking in that charity which alone abideth.

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laudable Practice

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