Suscipe: offering, gratitude and hope

Uphold me, Lord, according to your word, and do not disappoint me in my hope. This is the Suscipe, full of faith and trust in God's fidelity, sung before the altar by Benedictines when they profess their vows. They sing it again at anniversaries, whether in good times, or when illness or loss might make this a poignant yet essential reminder of the joy and fervour of their commitment. And finally, at their funeral, and before the same altar where they first pledged their lives, their community will sing the Suscipe for them, one last time: what began and was sustained by trust in God, ends in the same way. 

That, I know, is what will have happened earlier today at Minster Abbey, as the community laid one of their sisters to rest. Although I only met her a few times I remember Sr Aelred as someone who, despite her infirmities, was very much alive, and irrepressibly in love with life. May she spend her heaven irrepressibly enjoying the everlasting fulfilment of all the hope, and prayer-filled trust which upheld her throughout her life. 

And today the Church celebrates St Ignatius of Loyola, whose Spiritual Exercises end with his own suggested Suscipe. Contemplating the immensity and generosity of the love of God, and the many, many gifts with which he showers us, the retreatant, moved and overwhelmed by wonder and gratitude, can only ask - what return can I make to such a Lover, such a Giver and Gift? And Ignatius offers this prayer... 

Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will; all that I have and possess. You have given all to me; to you, O Lord, I return it. All is yours, dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me love of you and your grace, for this is enough for me.

We tend to call the Suscipe a prayer of self-offering, and so it is; but actually, the Latin verb suscipere, with which these prayers begin, means to accept or receive, or to support. It is a prayer of offering, yes; but at its heart is the One who receives, and who upholds... the lavish Giver of all gifts, and the faithful One who keeps covenant forever, and will never disappoint us in our hope. 

In the midst of our world's brokenness, wildfires and belligerence, and in such uncertain, pessimistic times, these prayers come today as a reminder to me to hold on to hope, and the trust which has to be at the heart of our vowed life. And, with the blessed remembrance of my own times of contemplation of the love of God, a reminder, too, to find the space in which to contemplate and root myself in the fidelity and the abundance I experience every day, whether I notice them or not... And to make my own heartfelt response, in love, to the Love which fills and sustains me every day.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you... (Psalm 32)