A reader sent a note about today’s Collect, Thursday in the 2nd Week of Easter, in the Ordinary Form.
Here is the Latin:
Deus, qui salute mundi sacrificum paschale effecisti,
propitiare supplicationibus populi tui,
ut interpellans pro nobis Christus Pontifix noster,
nos per id quod nostri est similis reconciliet,
per id quod tibi est aequalis absolvat.
This is a really interesting, though wordy, prayer. The construction, the parallels at the end, serves to illustrate, I think, the concept of Christ as Mediator, Pontifex. This prayer was in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary, but this way: Deus, qui pro salute mundi sacrificium paschale fecisti, propitiare supplicationibus nostris, ut, interpellans pro nobis, pontifex summus, quos per id quod nostri est similis, reconciliatur, per id quod tibi est aequalis absolvat Iesus Christus dominus noster….
So, we have Christ as our “Pontifex” in this prayer.
LITERAL RENDERING:
O God, who for the salvation of the world brought to pass the paschal sacrifice,
be appeased by the supplications of your people,
so that, Christ as our Bridge-Builder (Pontiff) interceding for us,
may reconcile us through that which is like to us,
and may absolve us by that which is equal to You.
CURRENT ICEL (2011):
O God, who for the salvation of the world
brought about the paschal sacrifice,
be favorable to the supplications of your people,
so that Christ our High Priest, interceding on our behalf,
may by his likeness to ourselves
bring us reconciliation,
and by his equality with you
free us from our sins.
OSOLETE ICEL (1973):
God of mercy
may the Easter mystery we celebrate
be effective throughout our lives.
But there’s more!
Today we have an instance of a change of prayers for this day. The Latin text I have above is from the 3rd edition of the Missale Romanum. The 1st edition of the Missale Romanum from 1969 has this for today:
Concede, misericors Deus,
ut, quod paschalibus exsequimur institutis,
fructiferum omni tempore sentiamus.
And this is what the obsolete ICEL renders.
I wonder how many other prayers were changed between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions!
Let’s go back to that image of the bridge-builder and the construction of the prayer with its parallels which, in sense, resemble the image they are speaking to.
In the sin of our First Parents, the whole human race sinned. We are all guilt of the Original Sin. In that Original Sin a gulf opened between man and God that no man was able to repair. And yet out justice man was obliged to repair it. The only one who could close the gulf was one who was both man and God, one Person with two perfect natures, divine and human. Christ is the great gulf-bridger. He is the Pontifex of all pontifices. He is Summus. There is, as we read in 1 Timothy 2:5, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He is the High Priest who is simultaneously the Perfect victim sacrifice which every other priest renews, rather than re-sacrifices.
Wow. It’s like the ICEL cmtee just shook their heads and took a bye on translating for the day.
When I heard this prayer today, I was very impressed by how it was full of fundamental truths of the faith and I wondered what the old translation was, presuming that it wasn’t like the new. I was more right than I imagined. Thanks, Father.
I normally don’t comment on these posts, but that Lame Duck translation is just embarrassing. Like hang-your-head-in-shame embarrassing.
I would be the last person on the planet to defend the old ICEL and its lame translations, but what’s fair is fair. This collect was newly inserted into the third typical edition of the Missale Romanum, replacing the one found in the two previous editions. Even the 2000 edition of the Liturgia Horarum still has the previous collect. The former text simply said: Concede, misericors Deus, ut, quod paschalibus exsequimur institutis, fructiferum nobis omni tempore sentiamus. ICEL’s translation of that prayer was deficient, but not so egregiously as if had been meant as a translation of the collect only now found in the 2002 edition of the Missal.
“Absolve us” indicates that we owe reparation to God for our sins; by sinning, we owe a debt. “Free us from our sins” is so bland and neutral, so… subjunctive, lacking any sort of sense that we HAVE sinned. More of a petition to keep us FROM sinning, which is a fine petition, but not what the Mass is truly about. Is the new ICEL better? Of course. Is there still a different soteriology and even Christology in the OF compared to the EF? Seems obvious to me.
(Just having noticed, while previewing this, the preceding comment by Parochus) Perhaps a rare act of moderate fairness to ICEL 1973 is warranted today. The
OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
God of mercy
may the Easter mystery we celebrate
be effective throughout our lives.
is a (still pretty weak) “translation” NOT of today’s collect for Thursday in the 2nd Week of Easter in the Roman Missal 3/e (quoted above), but rather of the original collect
Roman Missal 1/e
Concede, misericors Deus,
ut, quod paschalibus exsequimur institutis,
fructiferum omni tempore sentiamus.
for which a more accurate translation is (for instance)
Newman House Lauds and Vespers
Grant, O merciful God,
that what we receive in the paschal instructions,
we may sense as bearing fruit for us at all times.
It’s interesting that, in the 2002 Roman Missal, this original collect was replaced for an entirely new and deeper one for this date.
[Thanks for that! When I was looking for the source of this prayer I ran into this discrepancy. I didn’t follow up on it and then got busy with other things and just posted what I had. But you nailed it down. ]
I nominate Henry Edwards for a Gold Star for catching that!
Whatever credit is due should be shared with Parochus. Indeed, he apparently started with the same discrepancy that I first noticed, between the 2000 Liturgia Horarum and the 2002 Missale Romanum, then reasoning that the 2002 Liturgia Horarum must agree instead with the two editions of the Missale Romanum that preceded it.
I’ve been reading The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena this week. I’m currently about three quarters of the way through ‘A Treatise of Discretion.’ Almost every section in this Treatise refers to or uses Bridge and River imagery. I had been finding it a little dry and maybe beyond me. Somehow this Collect suddenly brings the imagery home for me and renews my resolve to plug onward through it .
“I wonder how many other prayers were changed between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions”
The U.S. bishops liturgy committee having approved use of the new collects and their translations in the liturgy of the hours, I compare daily the Latin collects in the 2000 Liturgia Horarum with those in the CTS Latin-English edition of the new Roman Missal, and do not often notice such a “discrepancy”. This 2nd week of Easter is probably the first week in which I’ve noticed two new collects–those for both today and tomorrow (Friday)–in the 2002 Missale Romanum.
I wonder how many other prayers were changed between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions!
“SkirpR,” a contributor at the always interesting MusicsSacra Forum, has come up with these differences:
2nd Week of Easter, Monday
was previously based on the 19th Week in Ordinary Time, but now has its own collect
2nd Week of Easter, Thursday
was previously the same as Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter, but now has its own collect
2nd Week of Easter, Friday
was previously the same as Wednesday of Holy Week, but now has its own collect
2nd Week of Easter, Saturday
was previously the same as the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time (and the Fifth Sunday of Easter), but now has two unqiue collects from which to choose
3rd Week of Easter, Monday
was previously the same as the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, but now has its own collect
4th Week of Easter, Monday
was previously the same as the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, but now has its own collect
4th Week of Easter, Saturday
now has a new collect because…
5th Sunday of Easter
was previously the same as the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time (and Saturday of the 2nd Week of Easter), but now has the collect that was previously assigned to Saturday of the 4th Week of Easter
5th Week of Easter, Monday
was previously the same as the 21st Week in Ordinary Time, but now has its own collect
6th Week of Easter, Tuesday
was previously the same as the Third Sunday of Easter, but now has its own collect
“There is also a new collect provided for the Vigil Mass (and 1st Vepsers) of the Ascension, as well as an alternate collect for the Ascension itself.
“While most of this work seems to be concentrated on Eastertide, there are a handful of other days in the Proper of Time that have had “touch-ups”:
“In Lent, there is an new alternate collect provided for Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent.
“The “new” collect for the Vigil Mass (and 1st Vespers) of the Epiphany was formerly the collect for January 7/Monday after the Epiphany, which has now received a new collect.
“The alternate collect for the Baptism of the Lord is duplicated from January 8/Tuesday after the Epiphany.”
I’d be interested to know whether these “new” collects are newly composed, or taken from / based on prayers in one of the older sacramentaries.
Sorry, Parochus, I noticed Mr. Edwards’ comment before yours!
Sam Schmitt’s listing serves as a reminder of the textual richness of the OF missal. In the EF missal, each day (M-F) of this week has been a 4th class Feria of Paschaltide, so the Mass of Low Sunday has been repeated daily (barring substitution of a votive Mass), including the same collect (in 1962 missal translation)
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who have celebrated the Paschal Feast,
may, by Thy bounty, retain its fruits in our daily habits and behavior.
now having been heard for six consecutive days. Whereas in the OF missal each day this week has its own complete Mass with individual orations, antiphons, and readings, including each day a different collect that is rather substantial in content and eloquent in expression.