COLLECT
Current
Lord protect us in our struggle against evil.
As we begin the discipline of Lent,
make this day holy by our self-denial.
Forthcoming
Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting
this campaign of Christian service,
so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
BLESSING AND DISTRIBUTION OF ASHES
Current
Dear friends in Christ,
let us ask our Father
to bless these ashes
which we will use
as the mark of our repentance.
Forthcoming
Dear brethren (brothers and sisters), let us humbly ask God our Father
that he be pleased to bless with the abundance of his grace
these ashes, which we will put on our heads in penitence.
O God, who are moved by acts of humility
and respond with forgiveness to works of penance,
lend your merciful ear to our prayers
and in your kindness pour out the grace of your blessing
on your servants who are marked with these ashes,
that, as they follow the Lenten observances,
they may be worthy to come with minds made pure
to celebrant the Paschal Mystery of your Son.
AFTER COMMUNION
Current
Lord, through this communion
may our lenten penance give you glory
and bring us your protection
Forthcoming
May the Sacrament we have received sustain us, O Lord,
that our Lenten fast may be pleasing to you
and be for us a healing remedy.
Comment: This speaks for itself.
Wow, the ICEL sure messed up the prayer for the blessing and distribution of ashes! And I thought they left out a lot in the gloria!
That's not dynamic equivalence. That's a pair of scissors being used in the ICEL office.
One question.
Where do you find the proper texts for each day?Do you open a missal in front of the computer and type them i, or are they online somewhere?
I know the USCCB has released the ordinary of the Mass, but I'm looking for the changing texts, like the ones in the post.
Wiki Wiki Leak Leak
Which is disobedience, I do think . . . tsk tsk tsk!
Ahhh… I heard about that.
Thanks.
I think Jeffrey inadvertently left out the actual blessing from the current ICEL translation.
Glad to be corrected but I've looked several times and this is what I see.
Dear friends in Christ, let us ask our Father to bless these ashes which we will use as the mark of our repentance.
Pause for silent prayer.
Lord, bless the sinner who asks for your forgiveness and bless + all those who receive these ashes. May they keep this lenten season in preparation for the joy of Easter.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
It's not great, but it's there.
I tend to agree with those who criticize the new translation insofar as it clearly has that "as translated by a committee" grating quality. Frankly many of these prayers do have a "tin ear" sort of sound to them.
That being said, I don't see how anyone can look at the current / forthcoming distinctions and fail to recognize that the forthcoming translations are infinitely more nuanced, intelligent, and just overall better than the trite and vacuous current texts.
At a word service to distribute ashes today I used the new translation collect and blessing of the ashes instead of the current ones. There was no outrage. I asked several people afterward if they noticed anything or heard anything they could not understand–not one said yes.
@the prayer posetd by F C Bauerschmidt:
Interesting that while the introduction to the prayer invites the people to "ask God to bless these ashes" the ashes are never actually blessed! Rather, the priest asks God to "bless all those who receive these ashes." Kind of odd, isn't it?
There is, however, another prayer that can be said at this point which actually does bless the ashes.