Therefore,
having this ministry
inasmuch as we have been shown mercy,
we do not lose heart,
but
we have renounced
secret, shameful ways,
neither walking in deceit
nor distorting the word of God,
but by an open display of the truth
commending ourselves
to everyone’s conscience,
before God.
O Lord, in whom is our hope,
remove far from us, we pray thee,
empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.
Make our hearts so right with thy most holy and loving heart,
that hoping in thee we may do good;
until that day when faith and hope
shall be abolished by sight and possession,
and love shall be all in all.
Christina Rossetti (1830-94)