On the 17th Ordinary Sunday the Collect for Holy Mass once again presents military imagery. It’s as if our Holy Mother were trying to make a point: we are pilgrim soldiers marching through this world and we had better be disciplined if we are going to attain our homeland. The following was in the 7th-century Veronese Sacramentary.
“Protector in te sperantium, Deus,sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum,multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam, ut, te rectore, te duce, sic bonis transeuntibus nunc utamur, ut iam possimus inhaerere mansuris.”
