Let us pray (in silence) [that we may grow into the likeness of Christ]
pause
Transfiguring God,
before the passion of your beloved Son
you revealed his glory on the holy mountain:
grant that we who by faith behold the light of his face
may be strengthened to bear the cross,
and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory;
through the same Jesus Christ
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
I have not had time to research the history of the Second Sunday in Lent, its connection with the Transfiguration story (the connection appears, at first glance, ancient), why the traditional collect for this Sunday does not connect with the Gospel reading, and why the Anglican tradition did not celebrate this from the Reformation until 1928. If you have any information about any of this, or can point to any, please let me know in the comments.
The Transfiguration does seem to be an ideal story to set at this point as the Church journeys with the catechumens preparing for Easter baptism, and those of us already baptised deepen our baptismal transformation.
There is no Transfiguration collect that I am aware of that is shared across (say) Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Again, if you are aware of such a shared collect, please let me know. So the above is a collect shared within Anglicanism – based on the first occurrence of a Transfiguration collect in BCP texts (1928). Here is my commentary for this collect for Lent 2.
I have already posted about the ridiculous situation in NZ Anglicanism where the Transfiguration story can be completely omitted for half a dozen years of Sundays!
If there is a way to improve the collect above, do let me know in the comments.
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