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Ordinary 9

Let us pray (in silence) [that we hold fast to the conviction that God’s purpose cannot be defeated]

Pause

O God,
your providence is unfailing,
remove from our path, we humbly pray, whatever is harmful
and grant us those things that work for our good;
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

From the Gelasian sacramentary, the first prayer of the third of sixteen Sunday Masses (#1186); then in the supplement to the Gregorian sacramentary, collect (#1150) of the eighth Sunday after (the) Pentecost (octave) which is the position (Trinity 8) it occupied in the Sarum missal, the Books of Common Prayer (1459-1928) and the Roman Missal (up to and including 1962):

Deus, cuius providentia in sui dispositione non fallitur,
te supplices exoramus,
ut noxia cuncta submoveas,
et omnia nobis profutura concedas.

The Latin, literally, would translate as: “God, whose providence in ordering that which is his own, is not deceived (mistaken).” Cranmer’s translation shortened the clause.

Cranmer 1549:

GOD, whose providence is never deceived, we humbly beseche thee that thou wilt put away from us al hurtfull thinges, and geve [us]* those thinges whiche be profitable for us; through Jesus Christe our Lorde.

*[us] added in 1559

This lost the idea of God’s control over events. So Bishop Cosin in 1661 revised the prayer.

BCP 1662:

O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth
all things both in heaven and
earth; We humbly beseech thee to put away
from us all hurtful things, and to give us those
things which be profitable for us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

After Vatican II, the collect was moved to Ordinary Sunday 9 (and TEC’s Proper 4)

ICEL 1973

Father,
your love never fails.
Hear our call.
Keep us from danger
and provide for all our needs.

In the failed 1998 English Missal translation:

O God,
you order the course of our lives
with unfailing providence.
Remove from our path whatever is harmful
and grant us those things that work to our good.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.

ICEL 2011

O God, whose providence never fails in its design,
keep from us, we humbly beseech you,
all that might harm us
and grant all that works for our good.

TEC BCP

O God, your never failing providence sets in order all things
both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you,
all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable
for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.