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Summary
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer’s collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent asks for help when “we are sore let and hindered”; in older English, “let” meant to hinder.
- Short prayers cover a stalled plan, money, stuck papers or court cases, opposition, a relationship that cannot move forward, obstacles of one’s own making, long waiting and a closing door.
- In the Bible, obstacles come from other people (Nehemiah 4:8), from Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18), from God’s direction (Acts 16:6–7) and from sin (Isaiah 59:2).
- Nehemiah prayed and set a guard while the wall was rebuilt, and it was finished in 52 days (Nehemiah 4:9; 6:15).
- The Catholic Catechism reserves solemn exorcism to a priest with the bishop’s permission and says psychological illness is a matter for medicine (paragraph 1673).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Ezra 4:5, 24; 5:1–2; 6:15; Nehemiah 4:8–9; 6:15; Psalm 13:1, 5; 18:29; 37:5; 139:23; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 43:19; 45:2; 59:1–2; Habakkuk 2:3; Zechariah 4:6–7; Matthew 6:11, 13; Acts 16:6–7; Romans 1:13; 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 12:7–9; Ephesians 6:11; Philippians 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; Hebrews 12:1; James 4:7, 13–15). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Prayers and Thanksgivings, “Direct us, O Lord,” p. 49; Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, p. 95. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- Luther, Martin. Small Catechism, Appendix I, “Morning Prayer.” In Concordia Triglotta: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921. https://archive.org/details/concordiatriglot00unse
- Lasance, Francis Xavier. With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911. “Prayers Ordered by Pope Leo XIII to be Said after Every Low Mass.” https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/With_God/The_Holy_Sacrifice_of_the_Mass
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraph 1673: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P58.HTM; paragraphs 2851–2852: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PAC.HTM
- “Let (n.).” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/let
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