Second Sunday after Epiphany MMXII - Collect Study

The Collect

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through..  

Latin original Collect:

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui coelestia simul et terrena moderaris, supplicationes populi tui clementer exaudi, et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, per..
--Gelesian Sacramentary

Introit:  All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee, O God.….
Epistle:  Romans 12-6-16.  Having then gifts differing according to the grace given..
Gradual: He sent his Word and heald them; and delivered them from their destruction…
Gospel:  John 2: 1-11  And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee…

See it all here
http://www.archive.org/stream/commonserviceb00unknuoft#page/n67/mode/2up

This translation is that of Cranmer and also appears in the Lutheran book of worship and captures superbly the intent of the Latin original from the 6th century

It is similar to last Sunday's collect, in that it asks for God to receive our prayers. In this case it asks for peace in our time, whereas last week the petition was that God would show us his desire and give us the strength to do it.

The form of the petition may remind one of  Psalm 102:  "Hear my (our) prayer O Lord, and let my (our) cry come unto thee" which is often used as part of a litany of prayer.  

The attributes given to God are Almighty and Everlasting, for he is certainly both.  He is beyond all power in our comprehension, able to create the vast universe and the smallest particle.  He is everlasting being the Alpha and Omega. There never was a time that he wasn't God in Trinity,

These two attributes are now brought together to show that he constantly commands all that is, heaven and earth. He is the great Sustainer.  There is nothing that is beyond his sovereign command, and there never shall be.

Finally, the collect petitions for that which only God can give: true peace. We are comforted by the words and promise of our Lord Jesus Christ who said,

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The traditional epistle appointed for this Sunday continues the reading from last Sunday in Roman's 12.  See a homily by Chrysostom here:
http://orderofcenturions.org/documents/epiphany2_chrysostom_romans_xii_4.html


Finis

(Portions were paraphrased and passages cited from The Collect of the Day, by Paul Zeller Strodach, 1939, The United

Lutheran Press, Philadelphia)  http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/s/t/r/strodach_pz.htm

The Ancient Collect: Its history and form
http://orderofcenturions.org/collect-form.html
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Released by Primus Pilus
Legio Christi-Ecclesia Militans
"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" [St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14:19]

* ORDO CENTURIONUM * IN HOC SIGNO VINCES * TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM