Collect for the Third Sunday per annum

 This prayer is found in the Gregorian Sacramentary and many other manuscripts. In 1570 it was the Collect for the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas. The 1970 revisers sought out prayers for the Christmas season more clearly suited to its themes. 

This brief text is very difficult to translate, as discrepancies among the versions in pre-conciliar hand-missals clearly demonstrate. The heart of the problem is the verb mereamur. In classical Latin, mereor means 'I earn' or 'I deserve'. Mereor is very common in liturgical texts, but theology teaches us that we cannot earn or deserve God's gifts. To think otherwise is the heresy of Pelagianism, to refute which Saint Augustine said 'when God crowns our merits, he is crowning his own gifts'.

How, then, should we translate mereamur? That is not an easy question to answer, and I do not offer a complete answer here. But I should welcome comments and suggestions from readers of the blog.

The prayer under discussion is unusual: the verb mereor in liturgical texts usually has God's reward as its object, as when we pray the we may 'merit the rewards of the blessed'. But here, we pray 'that we may deserve to abound in good works', to borrow Fr Adrian Fortescue's translation.

When preparing a new translation, ICEL proposed . . . that in the name of your beloved Son we may be made rich in good works. The passive 'be made' was intended to indicate that our good works are God's gift. The Vox Clara committee rejected this, so that now we pray that we may abound in good works. This leaves mereamur untranslated.

We shall need to speak about mereor again as we make our way through the liturgical year.

Prayer over the Gifts for the Second Sunday per annum

Found in the Gelasian Sacramentary and many subsequent MSS, this prayer has been assigned to many occasions in the liturgical year. In the 1570 Missal it is the Secret for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. It occurs three times in the 1970 book - as the Prayer over the offerings for the Second Sunday of the Year, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, and the Votive Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest. 

It has played a significant role in the history of Catholic doctrine. St Thomas Aquinas quotes it (STh 3a q83 a1) in support of his statement that through the sacrament of the Eucharist we are made participants in the fruit of the Lord’s passion. It was mentioned in discussions at the Council of Trent (but not, I think, in the Council’s documents). Pope Pius XII quoted it in Mediator Dei, and Vatican II in Sacrosanctum Concilium. In the Catechism it is quoted twice (1364 and 1405). 

 The last word of the body of the prayers, exercetur, has been questioned, since one very early manuscript has a different reading - exseritur. This, if accepted, would make the final line mean ‘the work of our redemption is made known’. Exercetur is more difficult. 

The official translation ‘is accomplished’ should not be ‘ taken to mean ‘is completed’ like Jesus’ word from the Cross (John 19,30) sometimes translated ‘it is accomplished’. Rather, an ongoing process is implied: ‘is being accomplished’ would make this clearer. 

 Because of the prayer’s long history, there are many translations of exercetur to compare. Here is a selection:- 

‘exercised’ (Husenbeth 1847) 

‘wrought’ (Fortescue 1926) 

‘renewed’ (English Dominican translation 1948) 

‘every offering of this memorial sacrifice carries on the work of our redemption; (O’Connell and Finberg 1952) 

‘accomplished’ (Caraman and Walsh 1961) 

 And from official translations of the Catechism: ‘s’opere’ ‘s’effettua (Italian) ‘se realiza’ (Spanish) ‘is carried out’ (English in section 1364) ‘is carried on’ (English in section 1405).

The Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum alludes to this prayer when it speaks of priests 'remembering always that in the mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice the work of redemption is constantly being carried out', 'constantly' rendering continuo.

The official English translation of this prayer would be improved if its final line was 'the work of our redemption is being accomplished' as the International Commission on English in the Liturgy proposed, before the Vox Clara committee, chaired by the late Cardinal Pell, advised the Congregation for Divine Worship to adopt what we now know as the official text.