As I was composing last week’s bulletin on the Opening Collect, it was my hope that I could explain what I wanted to explain in one article, but there is an additional element about the Collect that I think is worth further reflection.
Recall the explanation of the Collect from the GIRM:
Next the Priest calls upon the people to pray and everybody, together with the Priest, observes a brief silence so that they may become aware of being in God’s presence and may call to mind their intentions. Then the Priest pronounces the prayer usually called the “Collect” and through which the character of the celebration finds expression. (GIRM, §54)
I draw our attention to the final phrase, that the Collect expresses the character of the celebration that will follow. We see this in a few different ways. When the Church celebrates a feast day of one of the saints, the Collect has the nature of highlighting something about the saint of the day and asking for their intercession so as better to imitate their fidelity to the Lord. For example, the saint the Church usually celebrates on September 3 is Pope St. Gregory the Great. Here is the Collect for that Mass:
O God, who care for your people with gentleness
and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory,
endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom
those to whom you have given authority to govern,
that the flourishing of a holy flock
may become the eternal joy of the shepherds…
During the special seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, the Collect will take on the character of that season or that day. For example, here is the Collect for Easter Sunday:
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…
During Ordinary Time, the Collects are more general and in keeping with the focus of Ordinary Time as “a time for growth and maturation, a time in which the mystery of Christ is called to penetrate ever more deeply into history until all things are finally caught up in Christ.” (https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/ordinary-time)
In addition to praying with the readings of the Mass as a good way to prepare for Mass, praying with the Collect can also be very fruitful, so do not overlook these gems that the Church offers to us as sources of rich reflection and meditation.