Category: The Daily Collection

The Daily Collection is a series of reflections based on the “Collect” of the Mass, which most people call the opening prayer. This section breaks down that prayer and provides a few points of reflection on that prayer. Maybe the reflection will be profound and helpful, maybe it will seem kind of hum-drum, and maybe you’ll have your own insights that are better than mine – great! The goal is to get you to notice the prayer in the first place. They are often beautiful, if not a little dense, and starting to recognize their existence and meaning is just one more way to achieve the “Full, Conscious, Active participation” at Mass called for by the Second Vatican Council. It’s a small way to help you on your way to ordinary holiness.

Daily Collection: Our Lady of Fatima

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. Collect: O God, who chose the Mother of your Son to be our Mother also, grant us that, persevering in penance and prayer for the salvation of the world, we may further more effectively each day the reign of Christ. Who lives and reigns... "O God, who chose the Mother of your Son to be our Mother also" - "Behold, your mother." So spoke Jesus on the cross and this is a fact we must often recall. Mary is our Mother. Just as Eve became the mother of all the living, Mary, the...Read More

Daily Collection: Fourth Week of Easter – Friday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter. Collect: O God, author of our freedom and of our salvation, listen to the voice of our pleading and grant that those you have redeemed by the shedding of your Son’s Blood may have life through you and, under your protection, rejoice for ever unharmed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son... "O God, author of our freedom and of our salvation, listen to the voice of our pleading" - We have free will and that is the image of God in us. Sin enslaves us and takes away our freedom, so...Read More

Daily Collection: Fourth Week of Easter – Thursday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter. Collect: O God, who restore human nature to yet greater dignity than at its beginnings, look upon the amazing mystery of your loving kindness, and in those you have chosen to make new through the wonder of rebirth may you preserve the gifts of your enduring grace and blessing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son... "O God, who restore human nature to yet greater dignity than at its beginnings, look upon the amazing mystery of your loving kindness" - God not only overcame the Original Sin of Adam, but made us even...Read More

Daily Collection: Fourth Week of Easter – Tuesday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from Tuesday of the fourth week of Easter. Collect: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, celebrating the mysteries of the Lord's Resurrection, we may merit to receive the joy of our redemption. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, celebrating the mysteries of the Lord's Resurrection" - We invoke God's help as always, but notice that it is a prayer which presumes some action on our part. We pray for God to make fruitful our efforts to celebrate the mysteries of the Lord's resurrection. And we must not overlook the use of the word "mystery." The resurrection...Read More

Daily Collection: Fourth Week of Easter – Monday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from Monday of the fourth week of Easter. Collect: O God, perfect light of the blessed, by whose gift we celebrate the paschal mysteries on earth, bring us, we pray, to rejoice in the full measure of your grace for ages unending. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "O God, perfect light of the blessed, by whose gift we celebrate the paschal mysteries on earth" - Psalm 36 prays to God "in your light we see light." Because God is the source of all existence and the ultimate meaning of existence, knowing God gives us a clearer picture of reality. The "blessed"...Read More

Daily Collection: Fourth Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Collect: Almighty ever-living God, lead us to a share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before. Who lives and reigns... "Almighty ever-living God, lead us to a share in the joys of heaven" - We look forward to heaven, but we can share in some of it's joys here and now.  Holiness, virtue, good liturgy; all these and more are ways we can share in that joy now. "so that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before" -...Read More

Daily Collection: Third Week of Easter – Saturday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from the Saturday of the Third Week of Easter. Collect: O God, who in the font of Baptism have made new those who believe in you, keep safe those reborn in Christ, that, defeating every onslaught of error, they may faithfully preserve the grace of your blessing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "O God, who in the font of Baptism have made new those who believe in you, keep safe those reborn in Christ" - People who have been baptized are new creatures. This is not common knowledge or a popular thing to say, but the baptized are Children of God...Read More

Daily Collection: Third Week of Easter – Friday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from the Friday of the Third Week of Easter. Collect: 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... "Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have come to know the grace of the Lord's Resurrection" - We have "come to know" the grace of the resurrection. In other words, this knowledge was the result of a process and marked a change in our lives... at least, it should have. "may,...Read More

Daily Collection: Third Week of Easter – Thursday

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from the Thursday of the Third Week of Easter. Collect: Almighty ever-living God, let us feel your compassion more readily during these days when, by your gift, we have known it more fully, so that those you have freed from the darkness of error may cling more firmly to the teachings of your truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "Almighty ever-living God, let us feel your compassion more readily during these days when, by your gift, we have known it more fully" - During the Easter season, we emphasize the resurrection, which is also the ultimate expression of God's compassion. We...Read More

Daily Collection: Philip and James

Posted on by Father Albert
Collect taken from the Memorial of Sts. Philip and James, Apostles Collect: O God, who gladden us each year with the feast day of the Apostles Philip and James, grant us, through their prayers, a share in the Passion and Resurrection of your Only Begotten Son, so that we may merit to behold you for eternity. Through our Lord Jesus Christ... "O God, who gladden us each year with the feast day of the Apostles Philip and James" - Simply put, the fact that the Apostles existed and the fact that we have a feast in their honor should make us glad....Read More