Msgr. James Moroney, executive secretary of Vox Clara, has posted the first in a year-long series of reflections on the Sunday collects as found in the new translation of Roman Missal at his blog Dignum et Iustum Est.
Having been so intimately involved in the process of the translation of the Missal, he is sure to offer some powerful insights into these newly translated texts.
Something to consider is that for those who have been attending Mass celebrated in English according to the Missal of Paul VI for the past several decades, next Sunday is the first time that you will hear the ancient collects of the Roman Rite with clarity and integrity. The collects, in particular, were one of the most poorly translated portions of the liturgy in the 1973 ICEL translation, and many times even these were not heard because of the use of the composed “alternate collects” of the old ICEL.
Many graces surely await us on the First Sunday of Advent when the texts of the liturgy will shine forth with clarity and purity, emanating spiritual depth and theological truth.
I would love to see a similar effort take place with the sung propers of the Mass, another part of the liturgy that has been largely neglected and obscured in post-conciliar era.