Collect translation

In Paul Turner's Blog by Paul Turner

Q: How do you explain the collect for Tuesday in the Octave of Easter?

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A: I think that that translation is really unfortunate. I treated a lot of puzzling translations in my book, In These or Similar Words, but somehow I missed “paschal remedies” in the glossary of questionable words and phrases I put in there.

I looked up the earlier translations of that prayer before it reached its final form. What we have in the missal now starts this way “O God, who have bestowed on us paschal remedies, endow your people with heavenly gifts.” From what I can tell, ICEL proposed this: “O God, who have bestowed on us paschal healing, accompany your people with the heavenly gift,” which strikes me as a better way to get the prayer off the ground. But this prayer was one of a great many that changed between the translating room and the publication of the missal.

I really believe that everybody who made changes thought that they were making improvements, but it did not always turn out that way.