APRIL SEVENTH
Reading edition
Saint Francis Xavier born 1506.
William Wordsworth born 1770.
William Ellery Channing born 1780.
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The child is Father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. —William Wordsworth.
A self-controlled mind is a free mind, and freedom is power. I call that mind free which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers. I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit, which does not live on its old virtues, but forgets what is behind, and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh and higher exertions.
—William Ellery Channing.
That ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
—Ephesians 4. 23, 24.
Lord God, give me the power to control my mind and heart, that I may not be a slave to habits that may keep me from eternal love and blessedness. May I have sympathy and compassion for others, and cherish thy tenderness and mercy as I hold it in my daily life. Amen.