The Collect for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

O God, Who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. 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.

the grace of adoption – When we were baptized, we entered into God's covenant family. We became His sons and daughters by adoption. Jesus is God's only-begotten Son, but we are given a share in Jesus' own sonship and become sons and daughters in the Son, heirs in the Heir, sharers in the divine life, and members of the divine family.

children of light – Are we children of light? Do we let God's light shine through us? Do we seek to become transparent like the Blessed Virgin Mary who magnifies the Lord? Or do we allow ourselves to give in to the darkness of the world around us? Do we let it darken our minds and hearts? Do we let it take over our lives?

grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error – This world presents so many errors as though they were great truths. We are so often told what to think and what to believe by people who are clearly trying to manipulate us for their own purposes. When we give in and accept the errors, we allow the darkness to overshadow us and to sneak into our minds and hearts. Our thoughts become warped and degraded, and we often forget how to think properly at all. We allow others to control us rather than seeking the truth and the light.

always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth – Jesus says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” He also says, “I am the Light of the World.” When we stand in the bright light of truth, then, we stand in Jesus. In Him we find the truth. In Him we are filled with light and life and peace. In Him we must stand and allow Him to shine through us to those still wrapped in darkness. We must stand as a lamp on a table or a city on a hill and let His light and His truth pour through us to a world that desperately needs that light and truth.

The Collect for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love Your holy name, for You never deprive of Your guidance those You set firm on the foundation of Your love. 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.

we may always revere and love Your holy name – In the Bible, a name refers to the one's character, personality, and even person. It is much more than a mere word used arbitrarily to identify someone. So God's name, then, stands for Who He is. When we revere and love God's holy name, we revere and love Him. And we must pray for the grace that will help our reverence deepen and our love broaden, for we can never revere and love God too much.

You never deprive of Your guidance – God guides us always. He nudges us and inspires us. He reveals His will in many different ways. He teaches us through Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. He pokes our consciences. God is always speaking to us in one way or another. But do we listen? Do we recognize His voice? Do we notice His messages? Do we follow His guidance? Or do we go our own way?

those You set firm on the foundation of Your love – Take a few minutes today to reflect on God's love and how it serves as the foundation of our lives, our faith, and our own love. God has set us firm in His love. We cannot lose it. God will always love us infinitely more than we can imagine. Yet we can fail to accept and return that love or to spread that love to others. May we always embrace God's love and make it the foundation of our entire existence.

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.

The Collect for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

O God, Who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of Your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of Your redemption. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

in this wonderful Sacrament – The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith and life. It is wonderful beyond our imagination because in the Eucharist we receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

a memorial of Your Passion – In the Eucharist, Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross is re-presented, made present again in an unbloody manner, that we may participate in it. It is the very same sacrifice. We do not crucify Jesus again. Because Jesus is both God and Man, His sacrifice stands outside of time. Yet Heaven touches earth at every Mass that we may enter into Jesus' Passion anew.

to revere the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood – Unfortunately, many Catholics fail to understand the infinitive treasure we have in the Eucharist. They receive without, as St. Paul says, discerning the Body and Blood of Christ. Perhaps the Mass is a merely routine or habit to some, an obligation to others. Yet they do not realize that Jesus is really present in the Host and in the Chalice. They lack faith, so they also lack the reverence they ought to show toward this sacred mystery. And this is a tragedy on so many levels.

we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of Your redemption – May we open ourselves to Jesus when we receive Him in the Eucharist. May we allow Him to cleans us with His mercy, fill us with His grace, and strengthen us with His love. May we live a Eucharistic life, filled with His presence, radiant with His joy, and generous in His blessings.

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.