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: Pope St. Martin I

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Pope St. Martin is: "Grant, almighty God that we may withstand the trials of this world with invincible firmness of purpose, just as you did not allow your Martyr Pope Saint Martin the First to be daunted by threats or broken by suffering. 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 Pope St. Martin I was the last Pope to be martyred. He was exiled and died from mistreatment and starvation. He vehemently opposed a terrible heresy that...Read More

Daily Collection: Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Thursday of the Second Week of Easter is: "O God, who for the salvation of the world brought about the paschal sacrifice, be favorable to the supplications of your people, so that Christ our High Priest, interceding on our behalf, may by his likeness to ourselves bring us reconciliation, and by his equality with you free us from our sins. 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 Though a complicated sentence, this prayer is rich in what...Read More

Daily Collection: Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter is: "Enable us, we pray, almighty God, to proclaim the power of the risen Lord, that we, who have received the pledge of his gift, may come to possess all he gives when it is fully revealed. 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 The power of the risen Lord is the power to overcome death and live in eternal happiness. In order to benefit from this power, we not...Read More

Daily Collection: The Annunciation

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for the Solemnity of the Annunciation is: "O God, who willed that your Word should take on the reality of human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man, may merit to become partakers even in his divine nature. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever." Reflection This prayer refers to what we often call "the marvelous exchange." God becomes man so that we can be come like God, "partakers in the...Read More

Daily Collection: Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy)

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Divine Mercy Sunday is: "God of everlasting mercy, who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast kindle the faith of the people you have made your own, increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed. 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 refer to the "very recurrence...Read More
Via Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TheResurrectionOfChrist.jpg

Daily Collection: Easter Sunday

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for the Easter Vigil is: "O God, who on this day, through your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the light 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 Christ conquers death, plain and simple. Easter is about his resurrection, which "unlocks the path to...Read More
Via Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BenedictineEasterVigil.jpg

Daily Collection: The Easter Vigil

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for the Easter Vigil is: "O God, who make this most sacred night radiant with the glory of the Lord's Resurrection, stir up in your Church a spirit of adoption, so that, renewed in body and mind, we may render you undivided service. 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 By the time this prayer is prayed, the congregation will have heard the glorious Exsultet sung in honor of Christ the Light who dispels the darkness of sin....Read More
Via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weltliche_Schatzkammer_Wien_(181).JPG

Daily Collection: Good Friday

Posted on by Father Albert
The Collect for Good Friday's commemoration of the Cross is: "Remember your mercies, O Lord, and with your eternal protection sanctify your servants for whom Christ your Son, by the shedding of his Blood, established the Paschal Mystery. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen" Reflection As we remember Christ's passion and death, we begin our prayer by asking God to remember His mercy. Of course He does not need to be reminded, but this way of talking to God is an ancient practice found throughout scripture. In reality, we are reminding ourselves of God's mercy in order...Read More

Daily Collection: Holy Thursday

Posted on by Father Albert
Today's Collect for Mass says: "O God, who have called us to participate in this most sacred Supper, in which your Only Begotten Son, when about to hand himself over to death, entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity, the banquet of his love, grant, we pray, that we may draw from so great a mystery, the fullness of charity and 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 This one is pretty straightforward. It's Holy...Read More

Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Posted on by Father Albert
Today's Collect says: "O God, who have taught us to chasten our bodies for the healing of our souls, enable us, we pray, to abstain from all sins, and strengthen our hearts to carry out your loving commands. 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: Lent is especially the time to "chasten" our bodies, which means to subdue, restrain, or even punish them. But, we don't do it because we hate our bodies or ourselves. Our prayer even tells us that we do...Read More