The Collect for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

O God, strength of those who hope in You, graciously hear our pleas, and, since without You mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of Your grace, that in following Your commands we may please You by our resolve and our deeds. 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.

strength of those who hope in You – God is our strength at all times, in all circumstances. Without Him, we could not live or move or breathe. We could do nothing good without His grace working in us. And for those of us who hope in Him, who know Him and place our trust in Him, He provides even greater strength and grace that we may shine His light to the world and get everyone else to realize that without God, they are nothing at all.

graciously hear our pleas – God always hears our pleas, and He always hears them graciously and with love. He just doesn't always answer them as we might wish. When we pray words like this, we are actually reminding ourselves of God's love and care rather than asking Him to change in some way.

without You mortal frailty can do nothing – This is a true statement that we often forget. We like to think that we can do all sorts of things on our own, that we are actors in the play that we write for our lives. Yet we are actually dependent upon God for everything. We are weak, frail creatures who can do nothing without our loving God to give us the ability to think and speak and act and even be.

in following Your commands we may please You by our resolve and our deeds – Our good intentions please God even when we fail miserably in carrying them out. He always gives us a chance to repent of our sins and failures and to embrace His mercy and forgiveness. Yet it is, of course, much better to obey God's commands in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Again, though, we cannot do this on our own. God gives us His grace to help us obey Him. Our job is to accept that grace and use it, allowing it to fill us and motivate us that we may live our lives in, with, and for God.