Here is the Collect for 19 December in the 2002MR, duing this period of intense preparation before Christmas:
COLLECT:
Deus, qui splendorem gloriae tuae
per sacrae Virginis partum mundo dignatus es revelare,
tribue, quaesumus, ut tantae incarnationis mysterium
et fidei integritate colamus,
et devoto semper obsequio frequentemus.
This is from Rotulus 2 published together with the Veronese Sacramentary. It is not in any previous edition of the Missale Romanum.
The vocabulary is loaded. Just a couple notes, ut brevis. Remember that mysterium is interchangeable with sacramentum, and it stands not only for our salvation, but also the celebration of Holy Mass, the Eucharist.
Frequento is used to describe the participation of Christians in the sacred mysteries.
Interestingly I found frequentemus in two sermons of St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) when he is talking about the birth of the Lord. In one case he draws a moral parallel for the listener therefore to "frequent" also the observation of feasts of martyrs.
LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who deigned to reveal to the world the splendor of Your glory,
through the holy Virgin’s giving birth,
grant, we entreat You, that we both may reverence the mystery of the great incarnation
with integrity of faith,
and we may attend it always with devoted obedience.
ONE PROPOSED DRAFT I RECEIVED:
O God, who in the Offspring of the holy Virgin
graciously revealed to the world
the radiance of your glory,
grant, we pray,
that we may cherish with sound faith
and always celebrate with due reverence
the mystery of so wondrous an incarnation.
Do any of you have your own version?
Take a stab at it!
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Sans the use the liturgical English (e.g. thees and thous), no version is even worth one glance. I thank God my various texts protect me from this sort of thing.
P.K.T.P.
1973 ICEL version heard in church this morning:
Father, you show the world the splendor of your glory
in the coming of Christ, born of the Virgin.
Give to us true faith and love
to celebrate the mystery of God made man.
O God, Thou who hast seen fit, through the Holy Virgin’s giving birth, to unveil to the world the brilliance of Thy glory, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may both revere the mystery of so great an incarnation with innocence of faith and celebrate it with devout obedience.
Thee’s and thou’s ad usum et fructum P.K.T.P. :-)
Father, I find that the Spanish translation is so much closer to the Latin:
“Dios y Señor nuestro,
que en el parto de la Virgen María
has querido revelar al mundo entero
el esplendor de tu gloria,
asístenos con tu gracia, (okay, not very good for “tribue quaesimus”, but…)
para que proclamemos con fe íntegra
y celebremos con piedad sincera
el misterio admirable de la Encarnación de tu Hijo.”
By the way, I wanted to tell you that apparently the Spanish translator does not have a problem with “ineffable”, as he uses it in the second Preface for Advent: “la Virgen esperó con inefable amor de Madre”. Much better than “the Virgin bore Him in her womb with love beyond all telling” that we get in the English version!