Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to You, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the Author of all that is good. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
the constant gladness of being devoted to You – Are we devoted to God with constant gladness? Are we content in His presence, thankful to be able to pray to Him and worship Him? We don't normally think about our devotion to God in these terms. Devotion may seem like something solemn and serious, and indeed it is. But it is also a source of joy. God wants us to be glad in Him, to take delight in His love, to be cheerful in our prayer, and to find our pleasure in Him above all.
full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy – The things of this world will never make us truly and fully happy. We might enjoy them and take some satisfaction in them, but this kind of “happiness” quickly fades. Our real happiness, the happiness that will remain no matter what our situation, lies in God. Only in loving and serving Him, constantly and with all our hearts, do we find true, full, and lasting happiness.
the Author of all that is good – God has created all that is good, and all that He has created is good. If this is true, we may wonder why we suffer and why there is evil in the world. First off, God did not create evil. He is not the author of evil. Evil is a deprivation of good or a corruption of something good like blindness is the deprivation of sight or an infection is a corruption of healthy skin. We bring about and choose evil by our own free will, and God permits it because He gave us that free will to start with. He does not violate our freedom to choose. But, thanks be to God, He can and does bring good even out of the evil we get ourselves into.
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