"Stir up the wills of Thy faithful, O Lord, we beseech Thee; that
earnestly seeking after the fruit of good works, they may receive more
abundant helps from Thy mercy." (The "Collect" for the Sunday before
Advent).
Here we pray for something which it is far more difficult to "stir
up"--our own wills. We are not sufficiently in earnest; the might and
the mercy of God are there waiting to help us, but we have not the
energy nor the desire to receive them. We weaken our wills by yielding
to temptation, by deliberately going into occasions of sin, by allowing
ourselves to be careless about rules and resolutions, by letting things
drift and contenting ourselves with a low standard. Advent is a time to
rectify all this, to pull ourselves up and make a fresh start, and if we
are in earnest, we shall gladly join in the prayer: "Stir up the wills
of Thy faithful, O Lord," stir up _my_ will. It is not a prayer to be
said lightly for it means much--a will stirred up to "seek after the
fruit of good works" means constant and continued effort; it means
mortification, suffering, death to self; it means a determination to do
or suffer _anything_ rather than run the _least_ risk of committing the
_least_ sin; it means constant unremitting attention to little
things--to the smallest duties, the least prickings of conscience; it
means hard work. _Dare_ I say this prayer? If I am _really_ anxious for
"the fruit of good works," I shall dare anything. Fruit is impossible
without hard work either in the natural or the spiritual world.
"Who is sufficient for these things?" Certainly I am not, but the
consolation is that the work is _co-operative_. As soon as I pray: Stir
up my will, O God, because I want to bring forth fruit to Thy glory; He
will be there giving me "_more abundant helps_" from His mercy. God does
not expect me to work alone, nor to suffer alone, nor to make efforts
alone. What He wants is a good will. He is coming "to men of good will,"
and nothing can prove that I am one of them, better than a fervent
prayer that my will may be stirred up, cost what it may. The "abundant
helps" will immediately be at my service; and when it seems sometimes as
if, in spite of all my efforts, the day is going to be lost, I will hold
on still, remembering that the help is "_more_ abundant" when the need
is greater. The stores of His mercy are infinite and He ever gives
_more_ to the generous soul.