Collect for Monday in Easter Week (1928 BCP)

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Collect for Monday in Easter Week (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for Monday in Easter Week. It is a 1928 American addition to the older Easter Week propers. The prayer asks God to open "the eyes of our faith" because the risen Christ is made known to his disciples "in the breaking of bread," and it is read with Peter's sermon in Acts 10 and the Emmaus Gospel from St. Luke 24.

Text of the Collect

O GOD, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread; Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith, that we may behold thee in all thy works; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[1]

The 1928 source places this collect after the Easter Day proper and after the rubric that the Easter Day collect is said daily through Easter Week. It is therefore not the ordinary Easter Day collect repeated under another title. The comparative Justus page notes that the Monday heading, rubric, collect, and readings for a second service were added in 1892, while the 1928 column prints a new collect for Monday itself.

This rubric, the Collect, and Readings for a second service, were all added in 1892.

[2]

Liturgical Setting

The collect belongs to Easter Week, when the 1928 BCP keeps the Resurrection before the Church not only at Holy Communion but also in the Daily Office. Morning Prayer provides a seasonal invitatory sentence from Monday in Easter Week until Ascension Day:

On Monday in Easter Week, and until Ascension Day. - Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed : O come let us adore him. Alleluia.

[3]

This setting matters because the Monday collect is a prayer for Easter perception. The congregation has already been taught to adore the risen Lord; it now asks that faith may see him rightly. The phrase "breaking of bread" points directly to the Emmaus Gospel, but it also resonates with the Prayer Book's broader eucharistic life. Percy Dearmer's historical outline of Christian worship identifies "the Breaking of Bread" with Holy Communion among the apostles:

A.D. 29 The "Breaking of Bread," or Holy Communion, among the Apostles.

[4]

Clause-by-Clause Meaning

The address, "O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread," grounds the prayer in revelation, not religious cleverness. The risen Christ is not discovered by the disciples' power of recognition. He manifests himself. This keeps the prayer close to Luke 24, where the disciples' eyes are first "holden" and then opened as Christ takes, blesses, breaks, and gives bread.

The petition, "Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith," asks for a grace of perception. It is not a general request for optimism or religious feeling. It asks that faith may see the risen Lord truly in the world God has made and in the works by which God makes himself known. The next clause, "that we may behold thee in all thy works," broadens the Emmaus recognition without leaving it behind: the same Lord who is known in the breaking of bread teaches the Church to read Scripture, creation, providence, sacramental worship, and mission in the light of Easter.

The ending, "through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord," returns the prayer to the Son named in the first clause. The one who manifests himself is also the mediator through whom the Church prays.

Appointed Epistle

The appointed Epistle, Acts 10:34-43, gives the apostolic proclamation that accompanies the collect's prayer for opened faith. Peter preaches Christ's public ministry, death, resurrection, chosen witnesses, and the forgiveness of sins:

Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

[5]

The collect's phrase "in all thy works" is not vague when read with this lesson. Peter names the works of God in Christ: the Father sends the word, anoints Jesus with the Holy Ghost and power, works healing through him, raises him on the third day, and appoints witnesses.

The second half of the Epistle gives the resurrection its missionary and saving force:

Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

[6]

Here the Prayer Book joins recognition and witness. Faith sees because God shows Christ openly to chosen witnesses; faith then receives apostolic testimony and remission of sins through Christ's name. The collect's request for opened eyes is therefore a prayer to believe the apostolic witness and to see all God's works through the risen Lord.

Appointed Gospel

The Gospel is St. Luke 24:13-35, the Emmaus account. It begins with disciples who know the facts of the Passion and hear reports of the empty tomb, but still do not yet recognize Jesus walking with them:

And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

[7]

This is why the collect asks for opened eyes. The disciples are near Christ and speak with Christ, yet recognition requires his gracious self-disclosure. The Gospel then shows how Christ interprets his Passion through the whole scriptural witness:

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

[8]

Monday in Easter Week therefore has a scriptural as well as eucharistic shape. The risen Lord opens the Scriptures before he is known in the breaking of bread. The article of faith is not detached from the biblical text; the biblical text is read through the crucified and risen Christ.

The Gospel reaches the phrase that gives the collect its opening:

And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

[9]

The last line of the Gospel repeats the point in almost the same words used by the collect:

And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

[10]

The collect is thus a direct liturgical response to the Gospel. The Church hears how Christ was known at Emmaus, then prays that faith may be similarly opened to behold God in his works.

Historical Development

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the older Easter Week pattern behind the Prayer Book propers. In the Western rites, Easter Week once had more extensive daily provision; in the Prayer Book, special provision narrowed chiefly to Monday and Tuesday:

The Latin rituals had special Masses for every day in Easter week, but according to Sarum use the first three days were distinguished above the rest as double feasts. In the Prayer Book special provision was made for only two days. The old Collects were discarded, but the Epistles and Gospels were retained, recounting the principal testimonies to the Resurrection.

[11]

This background explains why Monday's appointed Epistle and Gospel are resurrection testimonies rather than generic Easter themes. Procter and Frere summarize the Easter Week lesson sequence in terms directly relevant to the 1928 Monday proper:

The first Lessons on Monday and Tuesday in Easter week point to the joy of the resurrection: the Song of Moses on the escape of Israel from the death which had overtaken the Egyptians: the Bride, after long waiting, now rejoicing in the Bridegroom's presence: the promise of victory over our spiritual enemy as often as we smite in trusting obedience; and the rising from death of those who by faith touch Him who died, and was buried, and rose again: and the calling from the grave of the great army of the resurrection. The Gospels and Second Lessons for these days continue the story of the day of the resurrection.

[12]

E. J. Rowland gives another historical and devotional frame for Easter Week, especially its ancient association with the newly baptized:

In early Christian centuries the whole of Easter Week used to be a retreat for the newly-baptized, who attended Mass each day dressed in their white robes.

[13]

Katharine S. Oliver, writing on the collects, identifies the 1928 American source history of this particular collect. Her note is valuable because it does not merely reproduce the text: it names the modern revision process, Dr. Suter, and Genevieve Irons as a partial source.

The Collect for Monday in Easter Week is rewritten by Dr. Suter from a litany by Genevieve Irons who withdrew her book--The St. Veronica Manual, 1896 from publication.

[14]

Oliver then prints the prayer itself, substantially matching the 1928 collect:

O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread; Open we pray thee, the eyes of our faith, that we may behold thee in all thy works; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

[15]

The collect is therefore both old in biblical and Prayer Book setting and modern in American Prayer Book composition. It stands in the received Easter Week sequence of resurrection witness, but its present wording belongs to the twentieth-century American revision.

Anglican Theological Use

The collect is especially useful for teaching the Anglican relation of Scripture, sacrament, and common prayer. The Gospel shows Christ opening the Scriptures and being known in the breaking of bread. The Epistle shows apostolic preaching bearing witness to his resurrection. The collect turns both into petition: faith must be opened by God if it is to behold rightly.

The prayer also guards against reducing Easter to a single past event. Acts 10 proclaims the historical resurrection and its apostolic witnesses; Luke 24 shows the risen Christ meeting confused disciples on the road; the Morning Prayer antiphon carries the Easter proclamation until Ascension Day. Monday in Easter Week therefore teaches that the Resurrection governs the Church's seeing, hearing, worship, and mission.

For preaching or catechesis, the collect can be read in three movements. First, Christ manifests himself. Secondly, faith's eyes must be opened. Thirdly, the believer is taught to behold God in his works. This is not a vague natural theology detached from Christ. It is a paschal way of seeing: the God who raised Jesus, gave apostolic witness, opened the Scriptures, and made Christ known in the breaking of bread is the same God whose works the Church asks to behold.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Collect for Monday in Easter Week," in "Monday in Easter-week," The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; complete collect compared word for word with local source sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1181-1215, and with the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2475-2481; PDF spacing artifacts were normalized; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  2. ↑ Society of Archbishop Justus comparative apparatus to the American Prayer Book propers, note beside "Monday in Easter-week"; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1184-1190; Comparative U.S. Prayer Book propers, Eastertide.
  3. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Morning Prayer, seasonal invitatory antiphons before the Venite; checked against sources/justus1928/MP.htm, lines 314-325; Society of Archbishop Justus, Morning Prayer - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
  4. ↑ Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book: What It Is and How We Should Use It, Churchman's Penny Library No. 4 (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd., 1907), historical table; wording checked against tmp/dearmer_prayer_book1907.html, lines 296-301; Project Canterbury transcription, The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer.
  5. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Monday in Easter-week," "For the Epistle," Acts x. 34-43, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1220-1230, and the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2482-2493; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  6. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Monday in Easter-week," "For the Epistle," Acts x. 40-43; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1231-1238, and the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2494-2503; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  7. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Monday in Easter-week," Gospel, St. Luke xxiv. 13-35; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1241-1247, and the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2504-2511; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  8. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Monday in Easter-week," Gospel, St. Luke xxiv. 25-27; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1261-1265, and the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2530-2535; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  9. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Monday in Easter-week," Gospel, St. Luke xxiv. 30-32; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1269-1273, and the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2540-2546; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  10. ↑ 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Monday in Easter-week," Gospel, St. Luke xxiv. 35; checked against sources/justuspropers/ReadingsB.htm, lines 1274-1277, and the local PDF extraction tmp/revision-research/collect-for-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany/1928-propers-pypdf.txt, lines 2546-2551; Society of Archbishop Justus, 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels.
  11. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), p. 543, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; wording checked against tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 694-703; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII.
  12. ↑ Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, revised edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), p. 544, chapter XIII; wording checked against tmp/revision-research/eastertide-in-the-1928-bcp/procter-frere-ch13.html, lines 711-722; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter XIII.
  13. ↑ E. J. Rowland, Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained, revised and enlarged 4th ed. (St Leonards on Sea: Christ Church Publications, 1956), Easter section; wording checked against tmp/revision-research/holy-week-in-the-1928-bcp/rowland_services1956.html, lines 1138-1142; Project Canterbury transcription, Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained.
  14. ↑ Katharine S. Oliver, Sanctification of Time: Three Talks, "The Purpose, History, and Use of the Sunday Collects" (1950), section on the 1928 American Prayer Book; wording checked against tmp/revision-research/collect-for-third-sunday-in-advent/oliver-sanctification1950.html, lines 167-171; Project Canterbury transcription, Sanctification of Time: Three Talks.
  15. ↑ Oliver, Sanctification of Time: Three Talks (1950), quoted 1928 collect in the 1928 section; wording checked against tmp/revision-research/collect-for-third-sunday-in-advent/oliver-sanctification1950.html, lines 169-170; Project Canterbury transcription, Sanctification of Time: Three Talks. The 1928 BCP itself supplies the final "Amen."

External Links

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