Collect for the 22nd Sunday in Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

A PRAYER FOR THE PERSEVERANCE OF GOD.
We pray that God may enable us for perseverance or continual godliness.
     A.   The Church God’s Household.
The same description of the Church occurs in the Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, the Sunday of Patience, a similar Collect dealing with a very similar subject. God’s patience is manifest in His household. In that household the servants all are children, and the children servants, and God is Father though Master, and Master though Father.
     B.   A Prayer for God’s Perseverance with Us.
We pray that He would keep us with His Fatherly care, and that He would protect us from all adversities, for only thus can we hope to obtain that for which we next pray.
     C.   A Petition for Our Own Perseverance.
We pray that we may be devoutly given to serve in good works. The Master’s care must be repaid by willing service. If He perseveres with us we must persevere in all our duties, both to Him and our fellow-servants. Oh, for such continual recollection of our position and duties as members of the family of God!
by the Rev. Prebendary Melville Scott, D.D. from The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.A Devotional Exposition of the Continuous Teaching of the Church Throughout the Year,S.P.C.K., London, 1902.