The Collect for the Feast of the Holy Family

O God, Who were pleased to give us the shining example of the Holy Family, graciously grant that we may imitate them in practicing the virtues of family life and in the bonds of charity, and so, in the joy of Your house, delight one day in eternal rewards. 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.

the shining example of the Holy Family – For thirty years, Jesus lived His life in a family. He prayed with Mary and Joseph, worked with them, played with them, shared meals with them, and spent His time relaxing in their company. Jesus was even obedient to His earthly parents. Imagine that. The Son of God submitted Himself to Mary and Joseph's loving guidance and obeyed them. This is indeed a shining example of family life, an example of love and respect, enjoyment and docility, community and harmony, that we should strive to imitate.

practicing the virtues of family life – What are these virtues of family life? Exactly those that are listed above: first of all, love, then respect, enjoyment of one another, docility to each other, community, and harmony with each other. These virtues are practiced in the context of the theological virtues, faith, hope, and love, so that our family life may enter into the divine life of God.

in the bonds of charity – When most people hear the word “charity,” they automatically think about giving to the poor. While alms are indeed an important expression of charity, they certainly do not contain the entire meaning of the word. Charity is self-giving love, the kind of love that imitates and participates in God's love, the love through which the Father gave His only Son for us.

in the joy of Your house – In John 14:2, Jesus assures us, “In My Father's house there are many dwelling places,” and Jesus is going to prepare a place perfectly suited to each one of us that we may be where He is for all eternity. There we will experience perfect, pure joy.

delight one day in eternal rewards – Why are so many people afraid to die? Isn't death our ticket home to Heaven, to the delight our Lord has prepared for us, to the full enjoyment of His presence? Certainly we should respect and care for the earthly bodies God has given to us, but they are not permanent, and they must, therefore, take a back seat to our spirits, souls, and minds. Our physical health is important, but it is not nearly as important as our spiritual, mental, and emotional health. Our bodies will die one day; our souls will continue to live. Our first desire must always be to get to Heaven and to immerse ourselves in God and His eternal life and love.

Collect for the Fourth Week of Advent

O God, eternal majesty, Whose ineffable Word the immaculate Virgin received through the message of an Angel and so became the dwelling-place of divinity, filled with the light of the Holy Spirit, grant, we pray, that by her example we may in humility hold fast to Your will. 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.

O God, eternal majesty – The phrase “eternal majesty” focuses our attention on the transcendence of God. He is infinitely far above us, so far that our human minds cannot reach. We can know that He exists with our human reason, and we can discern a few of His qualities, but we run into limits quickly.

Whose ineffable Word – God, therefore, reveals Himself to us, first through the Law and the Prophets and the Wisdom books that make up the Old Testament and then, definitely, through His divine Son, the Word of God, Whose story is told in the New Testament. Yet this Word, this Son, is God, and is therefore ineffable, incapable of being fully expressed or described in words. We must get to know Him personally, experience His love, and immerse ourselves in His life.

the immaculate Virgin received through the message of an Angel – This part of the prayer invites us to meditate on the annunciation. Picture Mary rapt in prayer and the angel Gabriel appearing before her, calling her “you who have been filled with grace,” and telling her that she is to be the mother of the Son of the Most High, the Messiah, the Davidic King promised long ago. Mary is sinless and perfectly open to this message from God, yet she wonders and ponders. “How can this be?” she asks Gabriel. She does not doubt, but she wants to know more, and the angel honors her question. The Holy Spirit will overshadow Mary, just as He overshadowed the void during the creation, and a new creation will enter into her womb, God-made-Man, the Incarnate Word.

so became the dwelling-place of divinity – God did not force Mary; she freely chose to accept His message and to become the Mother of God. She welcomed the divine Son into her body. She became the tabernacle of God, the new Ark of the Covenant, the dwelling-place of God-made-Man. For nine months, she cherished Him, nourished Him, sheltered Him in her body. We, too, become tabernacles of the living God, for when we are baptized, His divine presence enters into our souls, and when we receive Him in the Eucharist, we accept Him into our very bodies as well as our souls and hold Him within us.

filled with the light of the Holy Spirit – The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary at the Incarnation, but paradoxically, His shadow is the brightest of lights. We must pray to be filled with the light of the Holy Spirit that He may enlighten our minds for truth and our wills for love.

by her example – We should look to Mary as the prime example of a human being perfectly in sync with God. She never once went against His will in anything she thought, said, or did. She remained completely in His grace at all times, preserved from original sin at her conception through the anticipated merits of her Son and upheld in grace by her cooperation with God's outpouring of love.

we may in humility hold fast to Your will – This is our goal, to embrace Mary's humility and to remain always in God's will. We are such fragile creatures. We fall so easily. And sometimes we don't realize this. We think we're strong and independent, a match for whatever life throws at us. But then we fall, following our own will instead of God's. Humility helps us recognize that God knows exactly what is best for us, even when we don't think so. In His will is our salvation and sanctification and more love than we can ever imagine.

The Collect for the Third Week of Advent

O God, Who see how Your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord's Nativity, enable us, we pray, to attain the joys of so great a salvation and to celebrate them always with solemn worship and glad rejoicing. 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.

see how Your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord's nativity – Are we eagerly, faithfully awaiting Christmas? Are we looking forward to celebrating our Lord's birth, to inviting Him to be born into our hearts and souls in a new, more intense, more intimate way? Are we preparing our hearts to receive Him? Do we remember that our Lord is watching us, not waiting with a checklist to jot down everything we have done, right or wrong, but rather waiting eagerly to come to us and to shower us with His love?

enable us...to attain the joys of so great a salvation – What joy we should experience when we reflect on what God has done for us and what He has in store for those who remain in His grace! When we live in His grace, when God dwells within our souls, we can start living eternal life and its joy right now. We can feel within us that peaceful contentment, that twinge of pure delight, that comes from intimacy with God. This is the joy that no one can take away from us if we decide to hold fast to it and remain in our Lord. It is the joy that will find its fulfillment in Heaven.

to celebrate them always – This prayer reminds us to celebrate our joys, to celebrate God's gift of salvation. These days, the word “celebrate” is often associated with parties or excitement about good news, but the original meaning of the word as it developed in English in the mid-fifteenth century is “to perform publicly with appropriate rites” as in (and especially) the celebration of the Mass. The English word comes from the Latin participle celebratus, “kept solemn” or “much-frequented,” and its verb celebrare, “to assemble to honor,” “to publish,” or “to sing praises of.” To celebrate our joys, then, means to express them solemnly and to sing the praises of the One Who has given them to us and to do so especially in the Mass.

with solemn worship and glad rejoicing – Indeed, this prayer captures the deeper definition of “celebrate” by telling us how to celebrate. We worship God, and we rejoice with great gladness in recognition of Who He is and what He has done for us. Solemnity and rejoicing don't seem to fit well together, but solemnity, seriousness, or formality certainly does not exclude joy. In fact, sometimes such solemnity, a solemnity that arises from wonder and awe in the presence of God, can lead to even greater joy, for we realize, even in our limited way, how truly amazing, how truly mighty, how truly perfect He is.

The Collect for the Second Week of Advent

Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet Your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom gain us admittance to His company. 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.

Almighty and merciful God – Isn't it wonderful to be able to reflect on how God is both almighty and merciful? He has the power to do whatever He wills, yet He wills to reach out to us in love, to forgive our sins, and to send His Son to die on the cross for our salvation.

may no earthly undertaking hinder – It's so easy to get caught up in the things of this world and forget God. There are so many temptations, so many human longings, so many distractions that pull our attention away from Him. We need God's grace that earthly things may not get in our way, may not hinder us in our journey toward eternal life, may not lead us away from God and into the mire of sin. This isn't to say that what we do here on earth is all bad. Of course it isn't! Yet we must keep the things of this world firmly in their place, that is, secondary to God and our love and service to Him.

set out in haste to meet Your Son – Are we eagerly running toward Jesus? Or are we slogging along, shuffling our feet and stopping periodically (or all the time) to gaze at some distraction? Jesus, may we hurry to meet You, keeping our eyes fixed on You at all times.

may our learning of heavenly wisdom – What is this heavenly wisdom? It is getting to know God and the plan of salvation His love sets before us. It is immersing ourselves in the sacraments. It is growing in familiarity and appreciation for God's Word in the Scriptures. It is praying to grow closer and closer to God and to see the world more and more through His perspective (as much as we can in our limited human nature). It is keeping our eyes, our minds, and our hearts on God.

gain us admittance to His company – Just reflect on this for a moment. Here is the goal of our entire existence. We want to spend eternity in the company of Jesus, face to face with Him, immersed in His love.