Blessed John Paul II: Feast Day and Collect

According to L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, October 22 has been chosen as the Feast Day of the soon-to-be-Blessed Pope John Paul II.  The date is the anniversary of his formal inauguration to the papacy in 1978.  The paper has also published the Collect to be used at the beatification and at his Feast Day Liturgy.  The Latin text is:

Deus, dives in misericordia,

qui beatum Ioannem Paulum, papam,

universae Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti,

praesta, quaesumus, ut, eius institutis edocti,

corda nostra salutiferae gratiae Christi,

unius redemptoris hominis, fidenter aperiamus.

There are two items of note.  In the first line we find the phrase "dives in misericordia," which is the Latin title of his 1980 encyclical letter.  Latin titles are taken from the first words of the documents, which in this case are "Dives in misericordia Deus," translated, "God [who is] rich in mercy."  Of course it is perfectly fitting that the pope who canonized Sister Faustina, who established the Feast of Divine Mercy, and who both died on the vigil of and will be beatified on the same feast, would have the phrase "dives in misericordia" in his Collect.

Second, the last line contains the phrase "redepemtoris hominis," which is the title of very first encyclical letter in 1979, the one that would set the tone for his entire pontificate.  Who can forget the poetic and profound opening words?  "Redemptor Hominis Iesus Christus est centrum universi et historiae."  Translation:  "The Redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, is the centre of the universe and of history."  Both phrases ("rich in mercy" and "Redeemer of man") show up in the English translation.  Blessed be God that we only have a "new" version.  It is both beautiful and accurate and in no need of being re-translated:

O God, who are rich in mercy

and who willed that the Blessed John Paul II

should preside as Pope over your universal Church,

grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,

we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,

the sole Redeemer of mankind.

Who lives and reigns.

I wait expectantly with joyful Christian hope for the day when we can insert this prayer into the universal liturgy of the Church.  Deus bonum est!