Let us pray (in silence) [that we may grow in our rejoicing]
pause
O God,
in Christ’s humility,
you stooped down
and raised up the fallen world,
grant to your faithful people a holy joy,
so that those whom you have freed
may delight in you eternally;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The above is my revision today of a collect for my Book of Prayers in Common in which I seek to provide a set of collects with history and commentary. You can read my reflection on this collect at Ordinary 14 or following below. I appreciate any constructive feedback on my work. The above collect is drawn from a shared Western prayer through to the Reformation. I am unaware of any usage of it since then beyond Roman Catholicism, and furthermore, Roman Catholicism has moved it to this Sunday from the Easter Season (where it was originally used). As this is the most-used collect for Sunday, I am suggesting that it be “resurrected” for wider use.
Resources off this site:
Textweek
Resourcing Preaching Down Under
Poetry (classic and contemporary) connected to the lectionary h/t Dean Ben Truman
Reflection on the Collect
The above is my reworking for my Book of Prayers in Common in which I seek to provide a set of collects with history and commentary. In contemporary liturgy, this is the collect used by Roman Catholics for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Although it has been prayed for over 13 centuries, including through the Sarum rite, I am unaware of a contemporary Anglican (or other) usage. In this case, I thought that translating towards the dynamic/functional equivalent end of the spectrum (than a more formal equivalence) was preferable in rendering the powerful images for our contemporary context. This can also hold some of the variations in the Latin originals.
The movement of this collect begins in the past: in Christ, God has come down, reached down, and raised us up from slavery (to death, to sin). In the present, we pray for holy joy, and in the future we hope to receive eternal joy.
In the Gelasian Sacramentary, on the Sunday after the Octave of Easter, which we would now refer to as the Third Sunday of Easter, is this collect:
Deus, qui in filii tui humilitatem iacentem mundum erexisti, laetitiam concede fidelibus tuis, ut quos perpetuae mortis eripuisti casibus, gaudiis facias sempiternis perfruere.
Literally this is something like:
O God, who, by the abasement/humiliation of your Son, raised up a fallen world, grant joy to your faithful, so that those whom you have delivered from the cases of perpetual death may enjoy everlasting joys.
Both gaudium and laetitia, can be translated as ‘joy’.
The prayer has clear overtones of Philippians 2. And there is a powerful descent-and-ascent dynamic.
Deus – God
qui in filii tui humilitatem iacentem mundum erexisti – you who in the humility of your Son have raised up the ailing world
Iacentem – one lying; one lying ill, dead, in ruins.
humilitatem – humility
concede – grant
fidelibus – to the faithful
ut … gaudiis facias sempiternis perfruere – that you may make to thoroughly enjoy eternal joys
God has raised Christ, the ailing world (iacentem mundum), and the faithful who are snatched (eripuisti) from perpetual death (perpetuae mortis). This is done in the humility of God’s Son (in filii tui humilitatem).
In the Sarum Missal, for Second Sunday after Easter, this is slightly altered to:
Deus, qui in Filii tui humilitate jacentem mundum erexisti: fidelibus tuis perpetuam concede laetitiam; ut, quos perpetuae mortis eripuisiti casibus gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis. Per eundem…
This seeks “eternal (perpetuam) joy” rather than simply “joy (laetitiam)”
And there is another variation for the 1962 Roman Missal onwards:
Deus, qui Filii tui humilitate iacentem mundum erexisti:
fidelibus tuis sanctam concede laetitiam;
ut, quos perpetuae mortis eripuisti casibus,
gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis.
In the post-Vatican II Roman Missal it has been moved to the Monday of the fourth week of Easter and the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and changed to:
Deus, qui Filii tui humilitate iacentem mundum erexisti, fidelibus tuis sanctam concede laetitiam, ut, quos eripuisti a servitute peccati, gaudiis facias perfrui sempiternis.
This adds “holy (sanctam)” to describe “joy (laetitiam)” and shifts the “being delivered” from “perpetual death (perpetuae mortis)” to “sin (peccati)”.
This was translated for ICEL 1973 as:
Father, through the obedience of Jesus, your servant and your Son, you raised a fallen world. Free us from sin and bring us the joy that lasts forever.
In the 2002 revision of the Roman Missal, Monday of the fourth week of Easter received a different collect.
In the failed 1998 English Missal translation this collect for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time is rendered as:
God of power,
who raised up a fallen world
through the lowliness of your Son,
grant to your faithful people a holy joy,
so that those whom you have rescued from the slavery of sin may delight in the happiness that never ends.
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.
The 2012 ICEL translation has it as:
O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness.
Mark in Slow Motion
I have been working on a series of reading Mark (this year’s primary Sunday Gospel) in slow motion. Unfortunately, the Sunday readings are now ahead of where I have prepared for, but, hopefully, they provide a good frame:
Mark in Slow Motion 1
Mark in Slow Motion 2
Mark in Slow Motion 3
Mark in Slow Motion 4
Mark in Slow Motion 5
Mark in Slow Motion 6
Mark in Slow Motion 7
Mark in Slow Motion 8
Mark in Slow Motion 9
Mark in Slow Motion 10
Mark in Slow Motion 11
Mark in Slow Motion 12
Mark in Slow Motion 13
Mark in Slow Motion 14
Mark in Slow Motion 15
Mark in Slow Motion 16
Mark in Slow Motion 17
Mark in Slow Motion 18
Mark in Slow Motion 19
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