What’s in That Prayer? The Collect for Trinity Sunday

Here is the oration that the Church prays in the Mass and Office for Trinity Sunday:

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui dedísti fámulis tuis in confessióne veræ fídei, ætérnæ Trinitátis glóriam agnóscere, et in poténtia majestátis adoráre Unitátem: quǽsumus; ut, ejúsdem fídei firmitáte, ab ómnibus semper muniámur advérsis.

Here is my translation:

Almighty, sempiternal God, who hast given to Thy servants to know the glory of the eternal Trinity in the confession of the true faith, and to adore Unity in the power of Its majesty: we beseech Thee, that, in the strength of that same faith, we may ever be defended from all adversities.

Here is the translation from the Divinum Officium site:

Almighty, eternal God, You Who have given Your servants, in the confession of the true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of that majesty to adore its unity, grant, we beseech You, that in the firmness of this faith we may ever be protected from all harm.

We ask the Father through the Son and in the unity of the Holy Ghost to be defended from all adversities in the strength of our Faith in the Holy Trinity, that wondrous Mystery by which we confess the one God to be in three Persons.

We can only make such a confession as a result of His free gift to us of the true Faith. The grace of Faith in this Mystery — its being given as a gift from God — is emphasized when we pray, “…who hast given to Thy servants to know the glory of the eternal Trinity in the confession of the true faith, and to adore Unity in the power of Its majesty.” Even to adore the Trinity is itself a gift from God.

Today’s Lesson comes from Saint Paul to the Romans (Rom. 11:33-36), and impresses upon us the ineffable nature of the Divinity. God’s judgments, ways, and mind are all hidden from us — how much more His very Essence! It is only by the gift of Faith, through which we know God as He has revealed Himself, that we can profess the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to be a divine Trinity in Unity. The Gospel (Matt. 28:18-20) presents us with the “Great Commission,” that occasion when Jesus sends His Apostles to preach this same true Faith to all nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

Jesus promised to be with his Church for all days as she sets about this great work — which is still not completed. Even though some in the Church seem to think that the Great Commission longer obliges, we have a sacred duty to spread belief in the Holy Trinity to the entire world. May the Catholic Church, defended from all adversity, triumphantly proclaim this truth to the whole human race in perfect fidelity to the command of her divine Founder.

A blessed Trinity Sunday to all!

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Here are several on-site readings on the subject:

• On the Feast of the Holy Trinity
• The Blessed Trinity Explained to Thomas Butler (by Father Feeney)
• Life with the Trinity
• Saint Joseph: An Image of the Blessed Trinity
• Heaven’s Icon: Sister Lucy’s Vision at Tuy, Spain (on a vision of the Blessed Trinity)
• The Divine Missions and the Indwelling of the Three Persons of the Trinity in the Souls of the Just
• Trinitarian Processions
• The ‘Relations’ in the Blessed Trinity
• Were We Saved by Jesus Christ or by the Holy Trinity? 
• No Escaping the Threes
• Homesick for Heaven (the life of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity)

Ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt ómnia: ipsi glória in sǽcula!

What’sInThatPrayer?