Two Favorite Collects
Proper 9 The Sunday closest to July 6
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments
by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your
Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole
heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your
Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole
heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The late Marion J. Hatchett, for thirty years professor of liturgy and music at Sewanee, reports (Commentary on the American Prayer Book, 1981, Seabury, NY, p.188) this collect is no. 971 in the Leonine Sacramentary, a collection of Latin propers in use, apparently in Rome, from the fourth through the seventh centuries. This collect is a favorite of mine. Another is the collect for Proper 28, the second to last Sunday of the Church Year, with which we often begin Bible study sessions:
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for
our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever
hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have
given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever
hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have
given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Both of these prayers are in classical form (address, colon, petition, closing in the name of the Trinity). Though some of the collects seem written for the sake of having something, anything, to pray - grab one out of the basket and read it - these two get to the heart of what we are about and could well be anyone’s everyday prayers. The only change I would make is in the second one, to pray, “Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, enjoy, and inwardly digest them ... “ Hatchett says this prayer was composed for Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s 1549 Book of Common Prayer as a reflection of Reformation emphasis on the Scriptures.
TW+