3rd Week of Advent: Monday

Here is the Collect for the Monday of the 3rd week of Advent.

COLLECT:
Voci nostrae, quaesumus, Domine,
aures tuae pietati accomoda,
et cordis nostri tenebras
gratia Filii tui nos visitantis illustra.

This was in the 1962MR on the 3rd Sunday of Advent.  It was also in the Gelasian Sacramentary and in the Gregorian.

The verb accommodo is very cool.  It means "to fit or adapt one thing to another, to lay, put, or hang on".  When we apply pietas to God, it means "mercy".  Visito if you look closely at it has a root similar to "vision".  Visito means most basically "to go to see, to visit any one" but it also comes to mean "to punish" in the Christian Latin, such as the Vulgate (Psalms and Jeremiah).  Think of "visiting" vengence oon someone.

LITERAL VERSION:
O Lord, we entreat You,
attune the ears of Your mercy to our voice,
and illuminate the shadows of our heart
with the grace of Your Son coming to see us.

This prayer reminds us that the Lord is coming as Judge.  When He comes He will SEE us to the roots of our being.  All things will be laid bare before His sight.  At the end, all things will be laid bare before the sight of all who have ever lived. 

Notice also the profound connection between "voice" and "illumination".  What we are talking about here is the logos which illumines the mind. 

In the midst of this prayer, however, is God’s mercy.

We will get His judgment whether we want it or not.  His mercy, if we ask for it, is ours.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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One Comment

  1. Tom says:

    NLC translation (I do not have the FDLC one “at hand”):

    In Your goodness, Lord, listen to our prayer; may the grace of Your Son at His coming bring light to the darkness of our hearts.

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