The Collect for the Memorial of St. Anselm, Bishop and Doctor:
“O God, who led the Bishop Saint Anselm to seek out and teach the depths of your wisdom, grant, we pray, that our faith in you may so aid our understanding, that what we believe by your command may give delight to our hearts. 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
St. Anselm lived in the 1000s. He was an excellent bishop, but also a talented preacher and he even practiced a little philosophy. Among his most famous quotes is this “I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe-that unless I believe I shall not understand.” Faith is not irrational, but it does go beyond reason, so we cannot understand Catholicism by reason along. So, our prayer is referring to that when it asks for our faith to aid our understanding. Even better, we also ask that this faith continues from understanding on to giving “delight to our hearts.” St. Anselm, intellectual though he was, was also a man of action who lived and loved the doctrine that he pondered and preached.
So, for your daily contribution to the Church’s collection of prayer,
Ask yourself if you really rely on faith as a Catholic. Be willing to admit if you sometimes want the Church to prove herself to your own limited understanding before accepting her teachings. Pray for the humility walk by faith instead of sight. Pray also for the prudence to know the difference between having faith and being gullible. 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.
