On After the Holy Communion

An ancient prayer from Early Church for protection, love, communion.

A strange mercy of the Christian tradition is that it refuses to flatter us. It gives us words when our own words have become too polished to be honest.

The source text, drawn from the Christian prayer tradition, turns on a simple pressure: the soul cannot heal itself by becoming more articulate. It must be addressed, searched, forgiven, and led.

The author is not trying to be novel. That is precisely the relief. The prayer belongs to a Church old enough to have buried many fashions.

Christian memory is not a scrapbook. It is a school. This is one of the lessons.