The Collect for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

God our Father, Who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race Your wondrous mystery, grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore Your Unity, powerful in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

God our Father, Who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification – Here we have a majestic portrait of the Blessed Trinity: God our Father, the Word of truth, and the Spirit of sanctification. We should take a few minutes on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity to ponder the mystery of the Trinity, to reach out in gratitude and worship to the Father, Son, and Spirit, three in one. God our Father loves us so much that He gave His only Son, the Word, the way, the truth, and the life, to die on the cross for us. The Father and the Son love us so much that they send their very Love, the Holy Spirit, to guide our journey toward increasing holiness.

Your wondrous mystery – The Trinity is now and will always be a mystery. We will never fully understand how God is three Persons and one God, but we believe and we adore.

we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory – The Catechism beautifully teaches, “The divine persons are really distinct from one another. 'God is one but not solitary.' 'Father', 'Son', 'Holy Spirit' are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: 'He is not the Father Who is the Son, nor is the Son He Who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit He Who is the Father or the Son.' They are distinct from one another in Their relations of origin: 'It is the Father Who generates, the Son Who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit Who proceeds.' The divine Unity is Triune” (#254).

and adore Your Unity, powerful in majesty – The Catechism also explains, “The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three Persons, the 'consubstantial Trinity.' The divine Persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: 'The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God.' In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), 'Each of the Persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature'” (#253).

The Collect for Pentecost

O God, Who by the mystery of today's great feast sanctify Your whole Church in every people and nation, pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth and, with the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed, fill now once more the hearts of believers. 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 mystery of today's great feast – Pentecost is a mysterious feast indeed. Take a moment to reflect on how the Holy Spirit appeared in a noise like a strong, driving wind and how He came to rest on the apostles in tongues as of fire. Think about how He made the apostles speak in many different languages and how He made those listening hear in his or her own language. Consider how the Holy Spirit lives in us when we are in a state of grace. We are His temple. What a truly awesome mystery!

sanctify Your whole Church in every people and nation – The miracles of language at Pentecost are a sign, a foreshadowing, that the Church would spread across the whole world and present the Gospel in the language of every people. And the Church has done exactly that. Let us pray that people will open themselves up to the sanctification God offers through His Holy Church in every place.

pour out, we pray, the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth – The Holy Spirit showers us with His gifts: wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. We should take some time on this Pentecost to reflect on how these gifts are operating in our lives and to pray to the Holy Spirit to increase them and to give us the grace to embrace them and use them well.

with the divine grace that was at work when the Gospel was first proclaimed – By God's grace, three thousand people were baptized on the first Christian Pentecost. Their hearts were set on fire, and they longed to plunge into the depths of God's love. That same divine grace is at work today. Do we respond with the same loving intensity?

fill now once more the hearts of believers – Fill our hearts with Your grace, dear Lord. Fill our hearts with the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Fill our hearts with Your love. Fill our minds with knowledge and wisdom. Fill our souls with the very presence of the Holy Spirit, indeed, with the indwelling presence of the Blessed Trinity, that we may enjoy You now as we wait to see You face to face in Heaven.

The Collect for Ascension

Gladden us with holy joys, almighty God, and make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving, for the Ascension of Christ Your Son is our exaltation, and, where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope. 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.

Gladden us with holy joys – Holy joys. Isn't that a wonderful phrase? Do we take delight in holy things? Are we joyful when we pray and go to Mass? Are we glad to read Scripture and study our faith? Do we rejoice with the saints and angels? If not, we should!

make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving – Our rejoicing and devotion must be accompanied by thanksgiving. We should thank God for every blessing He gives to us, and those blessings are innumerable. We will never be able to count them all. God gives us everything we have and everything we are. We should strive to express our gratitude deeply, widely, and frequently.

for the Ascension of Christ Your Son is our exaltation – With the Ascension of Jesus, humanity has entered into the very midst of the Blessed Trinity. Think about that for a moment. Jesus has raised human nature to infinite heights. What's more, He promises that we shall join Him in Heaven and sit with Him on His throne, first in our resurrected souls and later in our resurrected bodies, which will be rejoined to our resurrected souls. How can we not exalt at the top of our lungs, praising God for the wonder and beauty of His love?

where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope – Jesus is now in Heaven with part of His Body, the Church, i.e., with the saints who have gone before us. Yet we, too, are members of His Body, and we are called as pilgrims to travel through this world, following Jesus all the way to Heaven. We are called to proceed in hope, the assurance that by God's grace, we will reach our destination even though we are not there yet. We look forward with faith, hope, and love to the day when Jesus will come to take us home to be with Him forever.

The Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Grant, almighty God, that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy, which we keep in honor of the risen Lord, and that what we relive in remembrance we may always hold to in what we do. 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.

we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy – Easter is all about joy. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He brings us to new life with Him, making us new creatures and preparing us for eternal life with Him. Our devotion should be wide and deep, reflecting our joy and gratitude, the newness of our lives, and our recognition of the grace and salvation that is ours in Jesus.

in honor of the risen Jesus – Easter is not a one-day celebration. It lasts for weeks in order to give us plenty of time to celebrate the miracle of Jesus' resurrection and to worship our risen Lord in a special way. Further, every Sunday no matter what the liturgical season is like a mini-celebration of Easter as we worship the risen Jesus and marvel at the divine life He has given to us.

what we relive in remembrance – At every Mass, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is re-presented to us, and He is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist. In Baptism, we died and rose again with Him. We were plunged into His death and resurrection sacramentally. In the Mass, we renew the covenant we entered into with our God at Baptism and welcome Him into our bodies and souls, minds and hearts, in the most intimate way possible.

we may always hold to in what we do – Our lives, every single aspect of our lives, must be immersed in and guided by the risen Lord. Our thoughts, our words, and our actions should all be focused firmly on Jesus. We must live for Him as He lives in us.

The Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Almighty ever-living God, constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us, that those You were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism may, under Your protective care, bear much fruit and come to the joys of life eternal. 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.

constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us – When we were baptized, we died with Christ and rose to new life. We entered into a covenant with God, becoming His adopted children, members of His family, the Church. We renew that covenant every time we receive our Lord in the Eucharist. The Paschal Mystery plays out in our lives as we continually strive to die to ourselves and embrace the will of God, to surrender to our Lord and live for Him, to take up our Cross and follow Christ, and to receive the new life He gives us.

You were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism – Baptism is not merely a symbol; it changes us ontologically, in our very being. It indelibly marks us as God's children. It infuses us with sanctifying grace and divine life. It fills us with the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity. It makes us new creatures in Christ, sons and daughters in the Son, heirs to the kingdom of Heaven, members of Christ's very Body.

under Your protective care – How often do we reflect on God's protective care? Do we realize how much He guards us and nurtures us every day, every moment, of our lives? So why are we afraid? Why are we anxious? If God is all-powerful (and He is), if He loves us infinitely (and He does), why do we not trust Him to work all things out for good as He has promised to do?

bear much fruit – God wants us to be fruitful vines, channels of His love to those around us. We are to make His love active in the world by allowing it to flow through us freely.

come to the joys of life eternal – We can begin living eternal life right now, not fully of course, but truly, for we are new creatures in Christ, filled with the divine presence, drawn into intimacy with God, and loved beyond all telling. In this joy, we long for and make our way to the fullness of joy that we will find in Heaven.