As two or three gathered in the St. Mary Magdalene Chapel this morning for the Daily Office, I offered this prayer among others:

2. For The Universal Church
Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.

It is a good and holy prayer penned by William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury under Charles I, and I can offer it from the heart. But, it is equally important — and arguably more important — for me to offer it for the heart, specifically, for my heart. It is difficult to see how the prayer might be answered for the Church until it is answered for me. And so, before praying it for the Church, perhaps I should offer it for myself:

Gracious Father, I pray for my heart. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where I am corrupt, purify me; where I am in error, direct me; where in anything I am amiss, reform me. Where I am right, strengthen me; where I am in want, provide for me; where I am divided, reunite me; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.

I need truth, yes, but truth with peace. It is possible to be thoroughly right and thoroughly lost. What does it profit a man to gain the argument but to lose his soul?

Where I am corrupt — and where am I not? — create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me.

In error — me? Grant me the humility of Orthodoxy, the wisdom humbly to remain within the folds of truth as discerned by the Church, and not to regard my own divergent opinion as special revelation.

And so goes the prayer through the last petition: Where I am divided, reunite me. And, I am divided. I attempt to serve too many masters. I do not love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. And, as for my neighbors, I often love them with all my convenience, but no more. So, may the Lord gather up the scattered and squandered pieces of my heart and reunite them in him.

It is said that all politics is local. Perhaps all prayer is, too, at least primarily so. Only then can it rightly move outward.