For the life of God’s People is inseparable from the life of Christ, as he himself declared in the Parable of the True Vine, “I am the vine”, he said, “you are the branches”, sharing in the vine’s life (NRSV, John 15:5).

And that is why disciples today who, like the Blessed Saints, are both true to their Lord and to their Lord’s Church, become living illustrations of their Lord’s own words: “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (NRSV, John 15:5).  And to those who are faithful unto death, he will give the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

Collect for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

“Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever”.  Amen. (3)

References

1. St Thérèse of Lisieux (1895 – 1897) trans. by Knox, R. (1958) Autobiography of a Saint.  Thérèse of Lisieux, London: The Harvill Press.

2. Laveille, A-P (1926) trans. by Fitzsimons, M. (1928) Life of the Little Flower.  St Thérèse de L’Enfant Jésus 1873 – 1897, Dublin: Clonmore & Reynolds Ltd.

3. © The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England (2000) Collects and Post Communions: Collect for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity.  Available from:
http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/collects-and-post-communions/contemporary-language/postwhit.aspx (Accessed 05 October 2012) (Internet).