The Collect for Friday of the Third Week of Easter is:
“Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have come to know the grace of the Lord’s Resurrection, may, through the love of the Spirit, ourselves rise to newness of life. 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.”
Reflection
We have “come to know” the grace of the resurrection. More than just an intellectual idea, this means we’ve experienced and accepted something that marked a change in our lives… at least, it should have. That new knowledge and change in our lives ought to raise us to newness of life, a life that is heavenly even while we remain on earth. In order to do this, we have to have and to practice the “love of the Spirit.” This means the Holy Spirit and the whole spiritual life.
So, for your daily contribution to the Church’s collection of prayer,
Recall when you first began to understand what Jesus’ death and resurrection meant for you. Pause to reflect on what that means for your day to day life. One particular way to look at this is to remember (or look up) the seven Gifts of the Spirit you received in Baptism and Confirmation. Pray to renew your commitment to “come to know” the grace of the Lord’s resurrection. Then spiritually unite that prayer to all the Masses throughout the world today. That way, when the priest says “Let us pray,” you can be a part of that “us” even if you don’t get to attend Mass.