One of the features of our Semitic heritage is a certain liking for and a certain facility with rhetorical use of parallelisms in liturgical speech: making two statements in parallel, sometimes with the second reinforcing the first, sometimes contrasting.
The grammatical structure was much in evidence in some of the presidential prayers provided for Mass on Sunday, the 11th Sunday of the Year..
Collect
O God, strength of those who hope in you,
graciously hear our pleas,
and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing,
grant us always the help of your grace,
that in following your commands
we may please you by our resolve and our deeds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.Prayer over the Offerings
O God, who in the offerings presented here
provide for…
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