Collect taken from the memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop
Collect: O God, who by the preaching of the Bishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury led the English peoples to the Gospel, grant, we pray, that the fruits of his labors may remain ever abundant in your Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ…
“O God, who by the preaching of the Bishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury led the English peoples to the Gospel“
– Particularity is a part of the faith. While we are all joined to the one Church, we are also a rich diversity of peoples who come to the faith from our own cultures and background. So, we acknowledge how God has worked through a particular bishop to draw a particular people, the English, to himself.
“grant, we pray, that the fruits of his labors may remain ever abundant in your Church.”
– Though we have a promise that the Church herself will never fail, there is no such promise for each particular Church. So, we pray now for God to continue to preserve and multiply the fruit borne in England and throughout the Church.
Questions & Advice: Do you embrace the fact that you come from a particular culture and time? Do you know the heritage of how the faith came into your country, your family? Have you allowed any presumption to stop you from working to preserve and grow the faith among your own people?
Read the Catechism’s expression of Unity and Diversity (CCC 814). Spend some of your daily prayer time reflecting on the ways your heritage enriches or perhaps takes away from authentic faith. Pray for your country and give thanks to God for the people who brought the faith to your country.
 |
| Sancte Augustine, ora pro nobis! |