The Collect, ancient in origin, for this 29th Ordinary Sunday in the Novus Ordo, is prayed in the Extraordinary Form on Sunday after Ascension:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, fac nos tibi semper et devotam gerere voluntatem, et maiestati tuae sincero corde servire.
The complex verb gero means, basically, “to bear, wear, carry”. In later Latin gero is also “to celebrate”. Constructed with a dative pronoun (such as tibi) and morem (from mos, “manner, custom”), it can mean “perform someone’s will”. I think today’s Collect swaps morem with devotam voluntatem. That servio (“to serve”) is one of 65 verbs using the dative, as in “be of service to”. Maestas (“majesty”) is interchangeable with words like gloria, which translate the Greek doxa and the Hebrew kabod. These words call to mind the cloud of glory that descended on the tent of meeting (shekhinah) when Moses spoke with God. This tent is still reflected in the baldachins and veils in our traditional churches over our altars and tabernacles. These coverings are a sign of God’s presence.
