This week's Collect has been used for many centuries in both the Roman and Ambrosian rites. It is clearly influenced by Saint Paul's words in Romans 8,15: 'we cry, “Abba, Father”.' In Milan it was used on the Saturday after Easter, when the newly baptised came to church to deposit the white garments they had worn at baptism. It alludes to the fact that neophytes had only been taught the 'Our Father' just before baptism, and so recited it publicly for the first time just before their First Communion. (Things are different nowadays. The ancient discipline has not changed - see the RCIA - but we seem to divulge the Lord's Prayer to all and sundry: I have heard whole classes of children, including adherents of many different religions, obediently parroting the Lord's Prayer.)
This Collect is found in various manuscripts of the Roman Rite but not in so prominent a position. After Vatican 2 it was promoted, so to say, by giving it a Sunday all of its own. And it was expanded by the addition of Saint Paul's phrase 'the spirit of adoption' (Romans 8,15 again).This is particularly appropriate in Year A, when we are reading from Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
There are some who regret the reform of the liturgy. This Collect is one example of the thoughtful scholarship that was involved. It deserves our respect,
