Rose vestments from the days of Fr. Finigan in Blackfen. Then came the regime change….
We are coming to the 3rd Sunday of Advent, also nicknamed Gaudete…. the plural imperative of gaudeo, “Rejoice!”. This Sunday there is a relaxation of the penitential aspect of Advent.
Yes, Advent is a penitential time, though not so much as Lent.
Remember: Real priests wear rosacea.
In the first week of Advent we begged God for the grace of the proper approach and will for our preparation.
In the second week, we ask God for help and protection in facing the obstacles the world raises against us. This Sunday we have a glimpse of the joy that is coming in our rose colored (rosacea) vestments, some use of the organ, flowers. Christmas is near at hand.
COLLECT – (2002MR)
Deus, qui conspicis populum tuum nativitatis dominicae festivitatem fideliter exspectare, praesta, quaesumus, ut valeamus ad tantae salutis gaudia pervenire, et ea votis sollemnibus alacri laetitia celebrare.
The infinitives in our Collect (expectare… pervenire… celebrare) give it a grand sound and also sum up what we are doing in Advent. L&S informs us that conspicio means, “to look at attentively, to get sight of, to descry, perceive, observe.” Alacer is, “lively, brisk, quick, eager, active; glad, happy, cheerful” and it is put in an unlikely combination with laetitia, “joy, especially unrestrained joyfulness”. At the same time we also have votis sollemnibus. Votum signifies first of all, “a solemn promise made to some deity” (we have all made baptismal vows!) and also “wish, desire, longing, prayer”. There is a powerful sentiment of longing in this prayer, God’s as well as ours. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that expecto is from ex- + pecto (pecto, “to comb”). You won’t find exspecto “look forward to”, in your L&S, but the etymological dictionary of Latin by 
Ernout and Meillet says it is from ex– + *specio, spexi, spectum or ex- + spicio. Therefore, it is a cousin of conspicio: God “watches” over us and we “look” back at… er um… forward to Him. This word play is clever.
Furthermore, sollemnis, related to sollus, i.e. “totus-annus“, points to something that takes place every year. So, it basically means “yearly, annual”. Thus, by extension it means something that takes place at appointed times, such as rites of a religious character and that which is does by custom.
LITERAL TRANSLATION:
O God, who attentively watch Your people look forward faithfully to the feast of the Lord’s birth, grant, we entreat, that we may be able to attain the to joys of so great a salvation and celebrate them with eager jubilation in solemn annual festive rites.
OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
Lord God, may we, your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving.
You decide.
With the last two week’s of “rushing” in our prayers and doing good works, we have now the added image of eager and unrestrained joy, an almost childlike dash towards a long-desired thing.
Have earthly fathers watched this scene all of a Christmas morning?
Even so should we be in our eager joy to perform good works under the gaze of a Father who watches us, a Father with a plan.
The obsolete ICEL version captures little of the impact of the Latin prayer, that is, God the Father is patiently watching his people as we go about the Advent business of doing penance and just works in joyful anticipation Christ’s coming.
NEW CORRECTED ICEL (2011):
O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation, land to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.
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The prayer, however, except implicitly, is for the faithful people who are preparing well, but doesn’t seem to be asking mercy for us poor sinners who might not be among that number. It would be wrong to see any semi-pelagianism in it, but maybe it could unwittingly aid abet it? Fr Hunwicke has made a similar observation about the First Sunday’s collect.
“The faithful” (fideles) is a status, just like “catechumen.” If you’re baptized, you’re one of the faithful.
Nobody prays “for all the faithful, except Bob, because we don’t like him today.” The intent of the Church is to pray for all the faithful. If a specific member of the faithful isn’t doing what the faithful are doing in general, we pray for him anyway! Mwahahahah!