On the occasion of rereading some notes from Jeremy Taylor's "The Worthy Communicant" (1660)

Routines are back in swing, school has started back, choir is resuming… Life sometimes gets in the way of offering our best, but I’m thankful for this silver-penned admonition from Taylor:

“But let us remember this, that there is nothing fit to be presented to God but what is great and excellent; for nothing comes from Him but what is great and best, and nothing should be returned to Him that is little and contemptible in its kind. […] An indevout prayer can never be joined with Christ’s prayers. Fire will easily combine with fire, and flame marries flame; but a cold devotion, and the fire of this altar, can never be friendly and unite in one pyramid to ascend together to the regions of God and the element of love. […] There is not indeed any greater indication of our worthiness or unworthiness to receive the holy communion, than to examine and understand the state of our daily prayer.”

It’s not for naught that our Holy Communion service begins with the General Confession…