What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

Today’s prayer was not in the 1962MR and its previous editions.   This is indeed a Lenten prayer to be found in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary.  In the ancient Veronese, a version was found among the prayers for the September fast:  Percepimus, domine, gloriosa mysteria, quibus in terris positos iam caelestium facis esse consortes. Tu inter ista quae uiuimus guberna nos, domine, quaesumus, ut ad illa perducas.  

COLLECT
Deus, qui nos gloriosis remediis in terris adhuc positos
iam caelestium rerum facis esse consortes,
tu, quaesumus, in ista qua vivimus nos vita guberna,
ut ad illam, in qua ipse es, lucem perducas.

Guberno is really "to steer or pilot a ship", and by extension "to direct, manage, conduct, govern, guide".  This where we get our word "governor".    

LITERAL TRANSLATION
O God, who are already making us, still set in place upon this earth,
to be sharers of heavenly things by means of glorious remedies,
let You steer us in this life in which we are living,
with the result that, You lead us through unto that light in which You are.

In other Lenten prayers we have had the image of illumination of our souls.  We have also seen many times remedium.  The glorious remedies are without question the saving sacraments, the Church herself, and the practices of Lent.  Remember that Lent itself in our ancient prayers and writings of the Fathers is called a sacramentum.  

Yet, the prevailing image today is that of the captain or steersman of a ship.  

Our life as pilgrims extends beyond the land to the mysteries of the sea as well.  On our passage we are guided for and marveling at heavenly things on our voyage.  If there are clouds we cannot see the heavens and thus can lose our way.  If the winds are too strong or adverse, the voyage is perilous.  Light is a key to our sailing properly.  We have the lesser lights of the stars, moon and sun in this life.  In the life to come we will have Light Itself.   I am reminded of Ps 35:10-1: Quoniam apud te est fons vitae, et in tuo lumine videbimus lumen... For in Your presence is the source of life, and in Your light we shall see Light.

The concept of glory figure here as well.  The Fathers of the Church wrote of the transfiguring glory of God, a divine characteristic.  This glory will be shared with us in heaven and it will transform us, forever.  Glimpses of this divine glory have been shown to us by God.  Think of how Moses, when speaking with God face to face, had to wear a veil afterwards, because his face was to bright to look at.  The luminous presence of God, the Hebrew shekina would descend and transform him who entered into the tabernacle, the tent of the Presence.  Even today, the sign of the Real Presence of the Eucharist is truly a veil and a baldachin, more than the presence candle.