To-day's collect caught my attention; it is unusual in that it has not one but two parallel ut-clauses, the references to fasting and mitigating earthly desires matching up with each other, just as do the hopes for rejoicing in holy devotion and more readily coming at things celestial:
Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, quos jejunia votiva castigant, ipsa quoque devotio sancta lætificet: ut, terrenis affectibus mitigatis, facilius cælestia capiamus. Per...Grant, we beg, almighty God: that those who are castigating [themselves] by votive fasts, may also by reason of this same holy devotion be rejoiced: that, earthly affections mitigated, we may with more facility lay hold of the heavenly. Through...
Whatever poor efforts to mortify ourselves we undertake, we pray - begging God all-powerful, Who alone can work such wonders - that in Christ (our One Redeemer and Mediator) these attempts, salted with grace, may redound to our supernatural good, by divorcing us from worldly beguilements, and permitting us with clearer eyes and steadier wills to long for what alone is imperishable.
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