Collect of the Day - 5
The collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity:
Protector in te sperantium Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum;
multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam; ut te tectore, te duce, sic
transeamus per bona temporalia, ut non amittamus aeterna. Per . . .
So the Sarum Missal; in the Gregorian Sacramentary the same collect stands
for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost (i.e. the previous week).
We give for comparison the version in the 1662 BCP:
O God, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is
strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that,
thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that
we finally lose not the things eternal; Grant this, O heavenly Father, for
Jesus Christ's sake our Lord.
We notice the hyperbaton in the opening phrase, very similar to that in the
collect for the first Sunday after Trinity: 'Deus, in te sperantium
fortitudo'. God as it were wraps himself around those who trust in Him to
protect them. 'Protego' is literally to cover over, to put a roof on;
'protectum' is the projecting part of a roof, the eaves.
We see in the translation the tendency to 'double up' on words;
'multiplica' becomes 'increase and multiply', perhaps alluding to Genesis
1:28 'Crescite et multiplicamini' - though I'm not sure what would be the
point of the allusion. Goulburn finds some point in the insertion, 'So that
this addition is not chargeable with that meaningless accumulation of words
which somewhat disfigures the style of the Exhortation at the beginning of
Morning and Evening Prayer, "acknowledge and confess," "dissemble nor
cloke," "humble, lowly," "assemble and meet," "requisite and necessary," etc.'
Perhaps. Or perhaps it's the And of God. Notice also the insertion of
'finally'; the rather longer ending.
The reformers actually omitted one word, 'bona'. The sense of the Latin is,
that we may pass through the good things of this world without being
distracted by them from the greater good to come. The collect affirms the
goodness of creation, following Genesis 1:31, 'Viditque Deus cuncta quae
fecerat, et erant valde bona.' Goulburn comments, 'For the point in the old
petition, which is entirely obscured by the translation, was this - that
"temporal good things," or the good things of time (of which indeed very few
men are utterly deprived, so as to be altogether without any of them) may
prove dangers and hindrances in our spiritual course, and that we can only
pass through them safely, and in such a manner as to secure eternal good
things, under the rule and guidance of God.' I don't think the Reformers
were terribly keen on affirming the goodness of creation; it wasn't their
strong suit; they were better at denouncing total depravity.
The Gospel for the day gives point to the idea of God as our guide, for it
is from Luke 6: 'Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall
into the ditch?' This however follows on from 'give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure, pressed down and shaken together, shall men give
into your bosom'. Our way is strewn with good gifts from God, but we need
to be led through them carefully lest they become pitfalls for us.
Oriens.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|