The Collect, ancient in origin, for this 29th Ordinary Sunday in the Novus Ordo, is prayed in the Extraordinary Form on Sunday after Ascension:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, fac nos tibi semper et devotam gerere voluntatem, et maiestati tuae sincero corde servire.
The complex verb gero means, basically, “to bear, wear, carry”. In later Latin gero is also “to celebrate”. Constructed with a dative pronoun (such as tibi) and morem (from mos, “manner, custom”), it can mean “perform someone’s will”. I think today’s Collect swaps morem with devotam voluntatem. That servio (“to serve”) is one of 65 verbs using the dative, as in “be of service to”. Maestas (“majesty”) is interchangeable with words like gloria, which translate the Greek doxa and the Hebrew kabod. These words call to mind the cloud of glory that descended on the tent of meeting (shekhinah) when Moses spoke with God. This tent is still reflected in the baldachins and veils in our traditional churches over our altars and tabernacles. These coverings are a sign of God’s presence.
Literal rendering: “Almighty eternal God, cause us always both to bear a devout freewill for You, and with a sincere heart to serve Your majesty.”
Current ICEL translation (2011): “Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.”
Speaking of gero, one meaning is “to be pregnant”, as in gerere partum. This Collect always reminds me of a sweet depiction of physical and spiritual life, a fresco by Piero della Francesca (d 1492) in little Monterchi, near Arezzo.
La Madonna del Parto shows Mary great with child. Angels in Renaissance garb delicately lift tent-like drapes on each side to reveal her. She stands with eyes meditatively cast down, one hand on her hip for support, the other upon her unborn child.
The scene invokes a baldachin, the tabernacle veil, the tent containing the Ark with the Tablets guarded by gilded angels. Within the tent Majesty met with Moses whose face thereafter reflected divine glory. Mary, who was overshadowed, is the Ark, the Tabernacle in which Christ reposed.
As I write, it is the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. She was still and meditative, then she served her cousin, Elizabeth, the couple at Cana and her Son at His Cross. She is the perfect example of the service to others that flows from bearing her Son; from loving her Son.
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