Collect · Apr 17, 2019 · LENT, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, WDTPRS
WDTPRS – Spy Wednesday, the last Collect of Lent
Novus OrdoWednesday of Holy Week — Mar 24, 2027, Apr 12, 2028
Deus, qui pro nobis Filium tuum crucis patibulum subire voluisti, ut inimici a nobis expelleres potestatem, concede nobis famulis tuis, ut resurrectionis gratiam consequamur.Fr. Z’s literal rendering
O God, who desired Your Son to undergo on our behalf the yoke of the Cross so that You might drive away from us the power of the enemy, grant to us Your servants, that we may attain the grace of the resurrection.
The term “Spy” Wednesday is probably an allusion to Christ’s betrayal by Judas. This prayer was the Collect for this same day in the 1962 Missale Romanum. It was also in the ancient Gregorian Sacramentary in both the Hadrianum and Paduense manuscripts. This is an austere prayer, a razor, cutting to the heart of the matter.