Submitted by June Crandall, Contributing Author
“And may we strive to touch and know the great human heart common to us all and O Lord God, let us not forget to be kind.” Part 7- Analysis of Mary Stewart’s Collect. Submitted by June Crandall This sentence is a prayerful appeal for empathy, shared humanity, and kindness by moving the reader from understanding (“touch and know the great human heart common to us all”) to a moral response (“let us not forget to be kind”).
Mary Stewart seems to exhibit humility and sincerity and speak prayerfully as she appeals by saying “O Lord God.” Here she is asking for guidance while appealing to all to not forget about kindness which is both necessary and fragile. People can become distracted by anger, pride, or division, so kindness must be consciously remembered…meaning it takes effort. The meaning here is that kindness is not accidental; it is a discipline and a moral practice rooted in awareness of our common humanity.
“And may we strive to touch and know the great human heart common to us all and O Lord God, let us not forget to be kind.” Part 7- Analysis of Mary Stewart’s Collect. Submitted by June Crandall This sentence is a prayerful appeal for empathy, shared humanity, and kindness by moving the reader from understanding (“touch and know the great human heart common to us all”) to a moral response (“let us not forget to be kind”).
Mary Stewart seems to exhibit humility and sincerity and speak prayerfully as she appeals by saying “O Lord God.” Here she is asking for guidance while appealing to all to not forget about kindness which is both necessary and fragile. People can become distracted by anger, pride, or division, so kindness must be consciously remembered…meaning it takes effort. The meaning here is that kindness is not accidental; it is a discipline and a moral practice rooted in awareness of our common humanity.
Words like strive to touch and know suggests deep recognition that implies emotional closeness, sympathy, and shared feeling, and further suggests that true human understanding – from the heart – is both emotional and spiritual, not merely abstract or distant.
The sentence ultimately means that human beings are united by a common inner life, and that remembering this truth should make us gentler, more compassionate, and more loving toward one another. It is both a meditation on shared humanity and a prayer that such understanding may lead to kindness. This is the final sentence in this series on Mary Stewart’s Collect. I hope you have enjoyed it and taken in its entirety; the Collect is deeply meaningful.
Who is Mary Stewart?
Info From: BC Woman‘s Institute, Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute
The Mary Stewart Collect, defined as “ a short prayer” was written by Mary Stewart in 1904 and is recited at branch, district, provincial, national and world meetings. It is a mantra members endeavor to live up to in a daily life.
Mary Stewart was born in 1876 in Ohio, she spent her childhood in Georgetown, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains.
Mary was the principal of the high school in Longmont, Colorado, a special teacher in a Denver high school, Dean of Women and teacher of Latin and English at the University of Montana. She contributed to leading American newspapers and magazines and published a book: “Metrical Translations from the Latin Lyrics of the Poet Catullus.”
She spent her life as a student as well as a teacher and instructor of Latin. In 1942 Miss Pearl Brown of Texas, asked for and received permission to set the Collect to music. In England, when the Women's Institutes began in 1915, Mrs. Alfred Watt introduced the Collect. Since then this “prayer for the day” as Mary Stewart thought of it, has been used by English speaking women around the world. Miss Stewart died April 1, 1943 and is buried at Loveland, Colorado, in the shadow of the peaks of the Rockies that she adored so well.
The sentence ultimately means that human beings are united by a common inner life, and that remembering this truth should make us gentler, more compassionate, and more loving toward one another. It is both a meditation on shared humanity and a prayer that such understanding may lead to kindness. This is the final sentence in this series on Mary Stewart’s Collect. I hope you have enjoyed it and taken in its entirety; the Collect is deeply meaningful.
Who is Mary Stewart?
Info From: BC Woman‘s Institute, Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute
The Mary Stewart Collect, defined as “ a short prayer” was written by Mary Stewart in 1904 and is recited at branch, district, provincial, national and world meetings. It is a mantra members endeavor to live up to in a daily life.
Mary Stewart was born in 1876 in Ohio, she spent her childhood in Georgetown, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains.
Mary was the principal of the high school in Longmont, Colorado, a special teacher in a Denver high school, Dean of Women and teacher of Latin and English at the University of Montana. She contributed to leading American newspapers and magazines and published a book: “Metrical Translations from the Latin Lyrics of the Poet Catullus.”
She spent her life as a student as well as a teacher and instructor of Latin. In 1942 Miss Pearl Brown of Texas, asked for and received permission to set the Collect to music. In England, when the Women's Institutes began in 1915, Mrs. Alfred Watt introduced the Collect. Since then this “prayer for the day” as Mary Stewart thought of it, has been used by English speaking women around the world. Miss Stewart died April 1, 1943 and is buried at Loveland, Colorado, in the shadow of the peaks of the Rockies that she adored so well.
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