In these final days of Advent preparation, the Church prays with great intensity. It is one of the “greater feria” of Advent, the home stretch, as it were.
Here is today’s
COLLECT (2002MR):
Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus,
ut, qui sub peccati iugo ex vetusta servitute deprimimur,
expectata Unigeniti tui nova nativitate liberemur.
This was in the 1962MR on Ember Saturday of Advent. It was before that in the Veronese, Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries. These advent prayers often refer to the “state of oldness”, which pertains to the “old man” afflicted by the sin of our First Parents.
WDTPRS LITERAL VERSION:
Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God,
that we who are oppressed under the yoke of sin from the servitude of the old man,
may be freed bu the long awaited new Nativity of Your Only-Begotten.
REVISION A:
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we who are weighed down from of old
by slavery beneath the yoke of sin
may be set free by the newness
of the long-awaited Nativity
of your Only-begotten Son.
REVISION B:
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we who are weighed down by ancient slavery
beneath the yoke of sin
may be set free by the long awaited new birth
of your Only Begotten Son.
By the way…
There is an interesting thing to note in the 2002 Missale Romanum which, if you are not thinking, might give you pause.
Notice that the Mass formularies skip from Feria Sexta … Friday of the 3rd Week of Advent to the 4th Sunday of Advent. Apparently there is no Sabbato … Saturday in the 3rd Week. What gives? Did they just forget Saturday?
In the older, traditional Missal they sure didn’t forget Saturday. Today is Ember Saturday.
Think about it
It is not possible to have a Saturday of the 3rd Week of Advent which is not within the stronger Advent days (17-23 December), which have their own Mass formularies. So, they don’t even include a page for the Saturday in the book.
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I like the last part of A and the first part of B.
1st choice: WDTPRS version (love the honest (non-PC) Scriptural reference to “the old man”!)
2nd: Rev. B with the word Nativity substituted for “birth” but it’s still inferior because it lacks “the old man”)
I have not yet seen an example where I could guess the specific reason for further revision of the corrected version–B in this case–that was approved and submitted by the bishops. Here, what might have been a pressing reason to substitute
… “from of old by slavery” instead of “by ancient slavery”?
… “newness of the long-awaited Nativity” instead of “long awaited new birth”?
I suspect there must have been some reason other than smoothness of readability. Possibly excessively slavishly literal translation?
“Notice that the Mass formularies skip from Feria Sexta … Friday of the 3rd Week of Advent to the 4th Sunday of Advent. Apparently there is no Sabbato … Saturday in the 3rd Week. What gives? Did they just forget Saturday?”
I noticed this once when doing some editing work. I thought it was a major “typo” and began consulting various OF missals and breviaries. Then it hit me.
I must say this time around, I actually don’t mind the revisions as they are very close in meaning to the literal translation, with little to no watering down. The concept of Jesus saving us from the pain of Adam’s sin is there in both and strong.