Collect taken from the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran.
Collect: O God, who from living and chosen stones prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty, increase in your Church the spirit of grace you have bestowed, so that by new growth your faithful people may build up the heavenly Jerusalem. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son…
“O God, who from living and chosen stones prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty,,”
— We are those chosen and living stones, so this prayer is meant to evoke a sense of awe and wonder that God has chosen us as his dwelling place.
“increase in your Church the spirit of grace you have bestowed, so that by new growth your faithful people may build up the heavenly Jerusalem.”
— Moving from awe to gratitude, we ought to be motivated to show that gratitude by embracing the gift fully and giving God what he most wants: more souls and holier souls. To build up the heavenly Jerusalem is to grow in holiness and to bring others to the faith, so we beg the grace needed for such a task.
Questions & Advice: Does the Church building remind you that you are a living stone in the temple of God? Do you daily recognize that you are part of a community of faith that is meant to work together just as closely as the bricks in a building work together? How often do you think about ways to grow the temple of God?
Read about the importance of a Church building in the Catechism (1179-99). If you aren’t already going to mass today, consider doing so. At the very least, try to visit a church to pray and thank God for it’s presence as a reminder of the whole Church to which we belong. Spend some of your daily prayer time reflecting on ways to build up the Church through your own sanctity or by gently drawing others to the faith.
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| Ut Ecclesiam tuam sanctam regere et conservare digneris, Te rogamus, audi nos! |