The Collect for the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Almighty and merciful God, graciously keep from us all adversity, so that, unhindered in mind and body alike, we may pursue in freedom of heart the things that are Yours. 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.

graciously keep from us all adversity – From a purely human point of view, we might be inclined to complain that God has not been doing a very good job of keeping us from adversity this year. We seem to be attacked by hardships on all sides, floundering in difficulties, unable to live as we normally do. We ask ourselves what God is doing with all this and why He is not preventing it when we are praying so much and so hard. Well, for one thing, God's view of the situation is so much better than ours. He sees the big picture, the infinite picture, and we must trust that when He allows adversities (as we label them), He does so only for our ultimate good. Yes, this is hard to accept in the midst of them. But later, when we look back, we will understand. We may have to get to Heaven to really understand, but God will show us these things from His point of view, and we will see clearly. Further, we have to be careful how we define adversity. True adversity is what separates us from God, namely, sin. We certainly can and should pray that God preserve us from hardships, but we absolutely must pray that God preserve us from sin.

unhindered in mind and body alike – What hinders us in mind and body? We may think of various illnesses, pain, sadness, and depression. We might reflect on how our bodies and minds often feel weak and tired. We may even consider how much we have to struggle just to get through the day sometimes in the craziness of this world. But what hinders us most in both mind and body is sin. Sin weakens our will and our intellect. The more we choose to do wrong, the easier it is to do so again and the more we try to rationalize our actions. Sin can weaken our bodies, too, when we chose unhealthy or dangerous actions. So when we pray here that our minds and bodies may be unhindered, we are again first and foremost asking God to keep us from sin.

we may pursue in freedom of heart – Freedom of heart is freedom to love to God and to obey God. It is freedom from slavery to sin and death. This is real, true freedom.

the things that are Yours – God's love, God's will, God's life. These are what we pursue in freedom of heart. We long to bask in God's presence for all eternity, glowing with His love, safe in His arms.