WDTPRS: 7th Sunday after Pentecost – acts of faith

Nadal 7th post PentecostIn the traditional Roman calendar this Sunday is the 7th Sunday after Pentecost.

Today’s Collect survived the cutting and pasting experts of the Consilium to live on as the Collect for the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

COLLECT (1962MR):

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

Blaise/Chirat (a dictionary of Latin in French) indicates that dispositio is “disposition providentialle”. It has to do God’s plan for salvation. Fallo is an interesting word. It means basically, “to deceive, trick, dupe, cheat, disappoint” and it has as synonyms “decipio, impono, frustror, circumvenio, emungo, fraudo”. Fallo is used to indicate things like simply being mistaken or being deceived. It can apply to making a mistake because something eluded your notice or it was simply unknown. In our Latin conversation it is not uncommon to say nisi fallor, “unless I am mistaken…”. If you look for submoveo you may have to check under summoveo. Find profutura under prosum. Don’t confuse noxia with noxa.

LITERAL WDTPRS VERSION:

God, whose providence, in its plan, is not circumvented, humbly we implore You, that you clear away every fault and grant us all benefits.

There is no getting around or circumventing God’s plan.

Why, given who God is and who we are, would we want to try?

But we do, don’t we.

We have to make a choice about which way to go with noxia.  Does it mean “harmful things” that are outside us or that are within us, that is, our own sins, our faults?  Both?

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973 9th Sunday Ordinary Time):

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

ROFL! Quite simply dreadful.  This may be one of the worst I have ever seen.But we NEVER have to HEAR IT AGAIN.

CURRENT ICEL (2011  9th Sunday Ordinary Time):

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.

We have to make a choice about which way to go with noxia.  Does it mean “harmful things” that are outside us or that are within us, that is, our own sins, our faults?  Both?
God knows who we are and what we need far better than we can ever know ourselves.

Foreseeing all our sins and many faults, all that we say and do is embraced in His eternal plan.

He has disposed all things so as to make glorious things result from the evils for which we alone are responsible.

Sometimes, moreover, it is hard to understand that God actually cares are us.  Given how immeasurably vast God is and how small we are, it is easy for some, mired in earthly distractions, to lapse into sort of deism and imagine a God who created everything and then, like a clock maker, just set the pendulum to swing and stepped away.

There is an old adage that, if you want to know if God is interested in you, just make a plan.

It is good for us each day never to forget to make an Act of Faith, which is a good Trinitarian prayer.

O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I believe that Thy Divine Son became Man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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10 Comments

  1. gracie says:

    What a coincidence that you have posted the Act of Faith. My prayer life has been suffering from a dryness – I don’t know how else to put it – perhaps it’s the daily recitation of the same prayers over and over – sometimes it’s like being on autopilot. I remembered Christ’s words, “Pray always” and reflected on the fact that – as a Jew – he would have had the psalms memorized cold – along with the rest of the Old Testament. He probably could go for several weeks without repeating Himself!

    The conclusion drawn from this reflection is to memorize more prayers. I decided to rummage through the past and remembered that the nuns had taught us the Act of Faith, Act of Hope, and Act of Love. I have long forgotten them but looked for them among my books and – voila! – there they are in the Baltimore Catechism. I’ve got two down and one to go and then it’s on to more of the gems from the past. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (There was a wonderful prayer After Communion I saw once – alas, I didn’t save it.)

  2. wmeyer says:

    For the last few months, I have added to my morning prayers the Acts of Faith, Hope and Love, from the Baltimore Catechism. I also make use in my personal prayer of the old form of the Confiteor, from that catechism .

  3. Supertradmum says:

    Synchronicity–same theme and ideas as a priest instructed us on a retreat I attended this weekend.

    God is trying to tell us something for sure when two great priests say the same thing at the same time.

  4. Veritatis Splendor says:

    Gracie: Try St. Thomas Aquinas’ Prayer after Communion. A bit long(think Nicene Creed). The old hymns like the Ave Maris Stella, Veni Creator, Veni Sancte Spiritus, and Thomas Aquinas’ Five Eucharistic Hymns are good too, plus easy to memorize if you know the tone for them.

    Another way to escape the dryness is to seriously shake it up and limit the vocal prayer a bit, focusing instead on some silent mental prayer or Lectio Divina.

  5. Mike says:

    Along with the Pater, Ave, and Gloria, and Acts of Faith, Hope, Love, and Contrition, my morning prayers include prayers to the Blessed Mother (Memorare), to St. Joseph, to St. Michael the Archangel (who is obviously my patron saint as well), and to my guardian angel, and conclude with the Morning Offering (as posted by Fr. Z) and a few prayers for personal intentions. All these take five minutes or so tops.

    I put a little holy water font with a crucifix on the wall next to the front door so I have a reminder to say the Angelus when I leave and when I come home.

  6. jameeka says:

    Thank you for these WDTPRSs, Father Z.

    It is sometimes ( often?) frustratingly difficult for me to connect the Collects with the specific readings for the Mass, but those dear little etchings provide some grist for the mill…

  7. I always heard the adage translated as “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans,” but I guess that was an obsolete ICEL translation.

  8. Lutgardis says:

    Gracie: There’s a wonderful app for your phone–iPieta–that is full of good prayers all arranged by category. You can even bookmark your favorites so you don’t have to scroll through the whole list each time you pray. There are several options for prayers before and after Mass, Morning Offerings, Night Prayers, prayers for priests, the pope, to different saints, consecrations, as well as wonderful basic prayers that are often forgotten these days (The Golden Arrow, Poor Souls, etc.). I love it and have found it a great resource to combat dryness in prayer. It also has tons of spiritual reading resources, catechisms, Bible commentaries, all sorts of things! I can’t remember if it was free, but it couldn’t have cost more than a few dollars and the edification I’ve received since I downloaded it has been priceless.

  9. benedetta says:

    I second the sentiments above — that is an excellent app indeed. I like being able to join all prayers with the movement of the universal church while on the go.

  10. gracie says:

    wmeyer – Agreed that the Confitior is a fantastic prayer, especially the final lines. In what other prayer do we ask God not only to pardon and absolve our sins, but also to remit them? We don’t have the right and yet God gives us the right anyway.

    Veritatis Spledor – The St. Thomas Aquinas prayer may be the one I’m thinking of as it’s so beautiful.

    Lutgardis and benedetta – It’s great to learn about the iPieta app and I’m going to check it out. This is the upside of technology.

    Thank all of you for your great suggestions. It was kind of you to take a moment out of your busy lives to help me out.

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