4. After this the Priest cries aloud,
“Lift up your hearts The words are
slightly varied in the Liturgies: thus in the Liturgy of St.
James, “Let us lift up our mind and hearts;” in the
Apost. Const. viii. 12, “Lift up your
mind.”.” For
truly ought we in that most awful hour to have our heart on high with
God, and not below, thinking of earth and earthly things. In
effect therefore the Priest bids all in that hour to dismiss all cares
of this life, or household anxieties, and to have their heart in heaven with the merciful God.
Then ye answer, “We lift them up unto the
Lord:” assenting to it, by your avowal. But let no
one come here, who could say with his mouth, “We lift up our
hearts unto the Lord,” but in his thoughts have his mind
concerned with the cares of this life. At all times, rather, God
should be in our memory but if this is impossible by reason of human
infirmity, in that hour above all this should be our earnest
endeavour.