The original collect for Lent 3 is “We beseech thee, almighty God, to respect the prayers of the humble, and stretch out the right hand of Thy Majesty for our defense…” It’s a nice little collect, and matches well the theme of Oculi, that we approach the Lord with humility, not arrogance, and He is our defense against all evil.
TLH is expanded somewhat from that, adding that the prayer matches our heart’s desire, rather than seeking respect:
WE beseech Thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of Thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty to be our defence against all our enemies…
It’s not a big change.
For reasons left unexplained, LSB swapped the collect:
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
This is one of the nicer collects for the erring. And it’s a shame it doesn’t find a place in the historic lectionary cycle of collects. But today is not the day for it either. It didn’t find a place because it doesn’t match the theme of the day. I don’t know why they attempted to shoe-horn it in, but it doesn’t fit. Here is the collect we will be using this Sunday, updated only slightly from TLH:
We beseech You, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of Your humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of Your Majesty to be our defense against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Yes, we are keeping beseech. Not sure if hearty is necessary, it’s not in the Latin, but our desires should be hearty. So we will include that, making it clear that our desire for protection is of the heart, and we are earnest and sincere in our request.
Musings of a Circuit Riding Parson 