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: Fourth Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Easter is: "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 with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection 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. It is Good Shepherd Sunday, so we focus on the...Read More

Daily Collection for the Memorial of St. Anselm

Posted on by Father Albert
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...Read More

Daily Collection: Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Saturday of the Third Week of Easter is: "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 Your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection People who have been baptized are new creatures. This is not common knowledge or a popular thing to say. Still, the baptized are Children of...Read More

Daily Collection: Friday of the Third Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
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...Read More

Daily Collection: Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Thursday of the Third Week of Easter is: "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 who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection During the Easter season, we emphasize the resurrection, which is also the ultimate expression of God's compassion. We rely on...Read More

Daily Collection: Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter is: "Be present to your family, O Lord, we pray, and graciously ensure those you have endowed with the grace of faith an eternal share in the Resurrection of your Only Begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection By Baptism, we become the adopted family of God. Thus, the prayer starts by recalling this fact in order to stir up our faith and confidence. Then, we ask for a share in the Resurrection of His...Read More

Daily Collection: Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter is: "O God, who open wide the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom to those reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, pour out on your servants an increase of the grace you have bestowed, that, having been purged of all sins, they may lack nothing that in your kindness you have promised. 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 [caption id="attachment_1196" align="alignleft" width="130"] Yes, that is Fonzie from Happy Days....Read More

Daily Collection: Monday of the Third Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Monday of the Third Week of Easter is: "Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, putting off our old self with all its ways, we may live as Christ did, for through the healing paschal remedies you have conformed us to his nature. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection The Resurrection means that there is a new and better life meant for all of us. Like Christ, we have to die in order to attain that new life. This applies in the literal final...Read More

Daily Collection: Third Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for the Third Sunday of Easter is: "May your people exult for ever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. 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 Joy is the theme of the season, so we ask for the grace to find that joy, to "exult," in the right things. Since salvation...Read More

Daily Collection: Saturday of the Second Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Thursday of the Second Week of Easter is: "Set aside, O Lord, the bond of sentence written for us by the law of sin, which in the Paschal Mystery you canceled through the Resurrection of Christ your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection Many people do not seem to think in this way anymore, but the reality is that Original Sin put all of humanity in debt. That's what this prayer means by the "bond of sentence." In justice, that debt means...Read More