Wednesday, February 26, 2003

If Karen doesn't want to pray for Saddam, perhaps it's only because she isn't familiar enough with the traditional liturgy.
Take for example the votive collect "Against Persecutors and Evildoers".

“We beg Thee, O Lord, to crush the pride of our enemies and humble their insolence by the power of Thy right hand : through our Lord.”
[Hostium nostrorum, quaesumus, Domine, elide superbiam: et eorum contumaciam dexterae tuae virtute prosterne. Per Dominum. (Sorry: I don’t know how to make the diphthongs appear on blogspot.)]

The collect “For Enemies” takes a different tack and prays for good things for the enemy. But note the final clause. The author doesn’t forget that enemies are, in fact, enemies.

“God, who lovest and maintainest peace and charity, give peace to all our enemies, and true charity; grant them forgiveness of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their cunning. Through our Lord.”
[Deus, pacis caritatisque amator et custos: da omnibus inimicis nostris pacem, caritatemque veram; et cunctorum eis remissionem tribue pecatorum, nosque ab eorum insidiis potenter eripe. Per Dominum.]

(The translations are from The Missal in Latin and English of O’Connell and Knox published by Sheed and Ward in 1949. “Insidiis potenter” seems to me to be quite a bit stronger than “cunning” in the second collect quoted. But I yield to my betters; it wouldn’t be the first idiom to hang me up.])

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