Collect for First Sunday of Advent

This is from a post on Dignum Et Iustum Est blog by Monsignor James P. Moroney.

Next Sunday, we will pray the following freshly translated Collect, or opening prayer, at Mass:

Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, 

the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ 

with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,

they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom. 

This first Collect of Advent is at least 1100 years old and is first used as an Advent post communion prayer in the old Gelasian Sacramentary. The prayer is in two acts, each inspired by Jesus’ words in Matthew 25.

Msgr. Moroney goes on to describe and explain the story of the ten virgins going out to meet the Bridegroom, and the story of the sheep and the goats, showing how the parables are reflected in the prayer. He adds a story of his own childhood as well, to complete the illustration. It’s worth taking a few minutes to read it.

There is so much in the prayers of the Mass! They are little nuggets filled with the treasures of our faith – only we must know how to mine them. The new translation opens up these riches much more than the old, and with just a little effort, our own spiritual development may be enhanced as we read, listen, and contemplate their meaning for our daily lives.