The Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Grant us, Lord our God, that we may honor You with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart. 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 honor You with all our mind – What does it mean to honor God with our minds? First, we embrace what He reveals to us through Scripture and Tradition, through the Church, through our consciences, and through the many other ways in which He communicates with us daily. We learn to recognize Him when He reaches out to us, and we reach back. Second, we strive to know ever more about Him and His plan of salvation, delving into the beauty and wonder of our faith. Third, we must conform out minds to God's revelation and God's will. Fourth, we must use our minds to praise and thank God, acclaiming the awe of His being and the wonders of His works of love.

love everyone in truth of heart – We must truly love others from the heart. This does not mean simply having affection for our neighbors although affection is often part of love. It means willing the very best for them and then doing all we can to help them achieve that best. Love is an act of will that arises out of the depth of our being where we encounter God and His love for us. It is this divine love that flows into and through us that we strive to pass on to all those we meet.

The Collect for the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Almighty ever-living God, direct our actions according to Your good pleasure, that in the name of Your beloved Son we may abound in good works. 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.

direct our actions according to Your good pleasure – To love God means to embrace His will. We must always trust that God knows exactly what is best for us and that whatever He ordains or permits will be for our greater good. Our part is to cooperate and to obey, to make our decisions in conformity with God's will, to allow Him to call the shots in our lives.

in the name of Your beloved Son we may abound in good works – Whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever we think we must unite to Jesus. We will abound in good works when we act in imitation of Jesus, or even better, in unity with His divine life.

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Almighty ever-living God, Who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of Your people and bestow Your peace on our times. 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.

Who govern all things, both in heaven and on earth – God is in control. In the worst of situations, in the darkest of days, in the midst of great sadness and pain and fear, God is in control. He governs all things. Nothing in heaven or on earth happens that He does not ordain or permit (and there is a difference between God's ordaining will and His permitting will). Yet He works all things for our good when we remain in His love and conform our wills to His.

mercifully hear the pleading of Your people – God always hears our pleas. Sometimes we may think He does not or that He ignores our prayers. Yet He always listens to us, and He always responds. He might not, of course, answer our prayers in the way we want Him to. God knows far better what we need than we do. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He will give us what is best for us in all circumstances. But He never discourages us from praying to Him, for through our prayers we grow closer and closer to our most merciful Lord and prepare our hearts to receive the mercies and the graces He showers upon us.

bestow Your peace on our times – “Peace I leave with you; My peace, I give you,” Jesus assures us. “Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). The peace that Jesus gives us in the rest we find in Him, joined to Him in the bonds of love, tucked away in His Sacred Heart, placing our lives firmly in His hands, trusting Him to care for us. This is the peace we find in our Lord.

The Collect for the Baptism of the Lord

Almighty ever-living God, Who, when Christ had been baptized in the River Jordan and as the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, solemnly declared Him Your beloved Son, grant that Your children by adoption, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, may always be well pleasing to You. 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.

when Christ had been baptized in the River Jordan – We might wonder with John the Baptist why Jesus chose to receive a baptism of repentance, for He was sinless. Jesus told John (and us) that it was to fulfill all righteousness, to carry out the Father's perfect will and His perfect plan of salvation. Jesus knew that when He entered into the water, He would take our sins with Him. He prepared the water that would one day soon, after He had died on the cross and risen again, wash away those sins as our Lord filled us with His grace and with His very presence. Jesus also knew what the Father had in mind, how He would reveal His Son to the world as He came up out of the river.

as the Holy Spirit descended upon Him – This descent of the Holy Spirit both revealed Jesus' identity and marked Him for the mission He had come to accomplish. The Spirit came in the form of a dove to symbolize a new creation (as in the days of Noah) and to represent the peace that Jesus came to bring through the forgiveness of our sins and our entry into eternal life (which we begin to live now by God's grace and will experience fully in Heaven).

solemnly declared Him Your beloved Son – The Father's voice rang out over the waters of the Jordan, declaring that Jesus is His beloved Son. Imagine what you might have thought if you were standing on the riverbank that day. Would you have been frightened or awed or both? You might not have realized that you were witnessing a manifestation of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but perhaps your heart would have told you that something your mind could not grasp had just appeared before your eyes.

Your children by adoption – In the new covenant initiated by Jesus Christ through His passion, death, and resurrection, we have become the children of God. We have been adopted as heirs into His covenant family, bound to Him by love. Our home is now His home: Heaven.

reborn of water and the Holy Spirit – When we are baptized in water, we receive the gift of sanctifying grace, the divine indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The power of God courses through us, making us a new creation in Christ, making us His for all eternity if we accept Him, cooperate with His grace, and embrace the eternal life He gives us.

may always be well pleasing to You – This should be one of our constant prayers to God: “Dear Lord, make me well pleasing to You. Give me Your grace, please. Pour it out in abundance. And help me to open my heart to receive it that it may change me and draw me ever closer to You. Amen.”

The Collect for Epiphany

May the splendor of Your majesty, O Lord, we pray, shed its light upon our hearts, that we may pass through the shadows of this world and reach the brightness of our eternal home. 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 splendor of Your majesty – Epiphany is a feast of light. We think about the star that showed the magi the way to the newborn Jesus. We reflect on how the gifts of the magi must have glimmered in the dim light of the stable. But our collect takes us to a whole new level of light by inviting us to ponder the splendor of God's majesty. Our God dwells in inexpressible light, beyond anything our human minds can conceive. Yet He shines His light on us, filling us with the splendor of His love by sending His Son to become Man, save us from our sins, and immerse us in His grace.

shed its light upon our hearts – Our hearts have been darkened by sin, dimmed by our faults, made gloomy and dreary by our anxiety and lack of trust. We must always pray that God forgive our sins, strengthen us in our weakness, support us in our misery, and illuminate our hearts that we may see the way to Him just as the star of Bethlehem guided the magi to Jesus lying in the manger.

we may pass through the shadows of this world – This world often seems like a dark, shadowy place, filled with fear and suffering, controlled by those who desire power and wealth for their own sake, brimming with bad news. Indeed, we live in a fallen world, and we must travel through its shadows by the light in our own hearts, which have been filled with God's grace and love. We are called to let God's light shine through us and to illuminate the world with faith, hope, and love.

reach the brightness of our eternal home – Are we ready to step out of the shadowlands (as C.S. Lewis once called this world) into the light of Heaven? Are we training our spiritual eyes to endure more and more of God's splendor so that we will be ready to see Him face to face when He calls us home?

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.