venerdì 22 agosto 2008

Appreciating liturgical prayers and ICEL translations

I have been typing the Liturgy on a weekly basis. I will finish the entire cycle A already.  If you don't actually type it, the prayers don't really sink in for lay people because we probably won't remember them after they have been proclaimed by the priest.

The Collect for the 21st sunday in ordinary time reads:

Deus, qui fidelium mentes unius efficis voluntatis, da populis tuis id amara quod praecepis, id desiderare quod promittis, ut, inter mundanas varietates, ibi nostra fixa sint corda, ubi vera sunt gaudia.  Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.

ICEL 1975 translation: Father, help us to seek the values that will bring us lasting joy in this changing world.  In our desire for what you promise, make us one in mind and heart.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

ICEL also made a second version of the prayer, an inculturation into the sensibility of the language.  

Lord our God, all truth is from you, and you alone bring oneness of heart.  Give your people the joy of hearing your word in every sound and of longing for your presence more than for life itself.  May all the attractions of a changing world serve only to bring us the peace of your kingdom which this world does not give.  Grant this through Christ our Lord.


The prayer was originally the Collect for Dominica IV post Pascha.  The earliest appearance of the same prayer is in source V.  Which means it comes from the Old Gelasianum (Sacramentarium Gelasianum Vetus).  Used by the 8th century in Rome and probably composed from the 5th to 8th centuries.  This means that the prayer we are using until today is antique and imported.