A Look at the Mass: The Collect

It seems fitting that this is the last post in the series which I'll be writing in the United States, for a while. And the reason it's fitting is that this post concerning the Collect ends the Introductory Rites of the Mass. After this we will move into the Liturgy of the Word, which will take us up to Advent. But first, we have to discuss the Collect.

And what a fitting conclusion to the Introductory Rites it is! I said in my previous post on the Gloria (here), that one of the things which emphasized the importance of the Gloria was that it is a spot where the celebrant, the choir, and the people meet in the Extraordinary Form. Within the Ordinary Form, all generally sing it together. The Collect, on the other hand, is different; its recitation is reserved to the priest alone. In both forms of the Mass, it is chanted or spoken with no one doing anything else at the time. This should speak both of the profundity and importance of its words.

Not only is the Collect used here in the Mass, but it is also the prayer used throughout the day by the Church in the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours. Thus, it may be called the prayer of the day, for it sums up all the Church's desires throughout the day. This also leads us to the reason for this prayer being called "the Collect." Within it the celebrant "collects" all of the petitions of the people and directs them to God, and he speaks on our behalf before God's throne.

Historically speaking, we may call the Collect, as part of the main orations of the Mass, one of the most stable and static parts of the Mass. Jungmann notes that somewhere between the third and sixth centuries the rule was that only approved texts could be used for this prayer, instead of the practice of the celebrant writing his own text along a certain style, which was done for many of the other Mass parts (372-373). Additionally, the form for the prayer was almost completely standardized from the beginning and has undergone little changes even to today.

One of the unique features of the Collect is that it is geared primarily to supplication, as opposed to adoration, thanksgiving, or contrition, and this has always been its purpose. In fact the most basic of the Collects simply use a phrase of petition, with no extrapolation on the mysteries being celebrated. However, over time, the Church began to add a mention of the mystery being celebrated or a praise of the saint whose celebration was commemorated. For an example of the most basic form, let us look at the Collect for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time:

"God of might, giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
you may nurture in us what is good
and, by your watchful care,
keep safe what you have nurtured.
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 can see that there is really none of the normal added praises or titles of God which we see in the rest of the Liturgy, beyond a simple acknowledgment that He is the giver of all gifts. The rest of the Collect, with the exception of the conclusion, is a request for various graces and/or that God may bring certain virtues to perfection in us. However, as I stated above, there is little addition for the feasts of saints or of their solemnities. As a proof of this, I offer the Collect for Easter Sunday:

"O God, who on this day,
through your Only Begotten Son,
have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity,
grant, we pray,
that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection may,
through the renewal brought by your Spirit,
rise up in the light of life.
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."

Notice that after the invocation of, "O God," there is a simple acknowledgement of the mystery being celebrated, namely the Resurrection of Christ and what is accomplished, but it lacks very little doctrinal explanation, and is more of a lead-in to the petition of the Collect.

The last part which we should note of the Collect's form is that it is almost always addressed to God the Father, with a few exceptions where it is addressed to God the Son, but never to the Holy Spirit. The reason for this will be explained shortly, in light of the two possible conclusions to the Collect.

At the Mass, the Collect is always begun with the invitation of the celebrant to the people of, "Let us pray." We may see here the importance of this moment. As with the Penitential Act, the priest is here calling our attention to something specific. Like the "Dominus vobiscum," he is asking us for something specific. That which he calls our attention to is that he is about to go before God on our behalf, and what he asks for is that we may both pray for him as he does so and be united with him in his prayers.

The priest will then either recite or chant the Collect, which as previously noted, gets its name from the fact that within this prayer are "collected" all of the specific petitions of the Universal Church for the day and for the mystery being celebrated. Here is a moment where the priest is truly separated from the faithful. It is not that he is worthy of this, but God has called him to be one who prays as a representative of the entire Church before God. We may, then, say that here he acts in persona Christi, Who always offers intercession to God the Father on our behalf in Heaven.

While we of course should bring our own personal intentions to the Mass, we must never elevate these above the public prayers of the Church. We must live our spiritual lives in union with the Church's liturgy. There are numerous occasions throughout the Mass where the priest will pray on our behalf for our personal intentions; here, however, we must also pray for that which the Church Universal prays for, since as a loving Mother, She always proposes that which is for our good. Thus, we cannot afford to neglect this, but must include these prayers in addition to our personal supplications.

The Collect always concludes, at least in the Ordinary Form, with one of the two following forms:

"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."

or, if our Lord has been mentioned and expounded upon in the Collect:

"Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever."

As can be seen, these two are really the same conclusion, the second merely avoids needless repetition. The depth of this conclusion is incredible. Not only does it again bring before us Christ's role of Mediator, but it also brings before us His Divine Sonship, and, additionally, the entire co-equal and co-eternal Trinity.

The priest, acting in persona Christi, has addressed God the Father; he has taken upon himself the Mediatorship of Christ. However, as I said, he also prays as a representative of the Church. Therefore, his prayer is said also as a human representative. He prays in persona ecclesiae - in the person of the Church (my own term). For this reason, he does not use the word "I," or "my," or "mine," as he does when consecrating the Eucharist or when absolving from sin, but speaks as himself. The prayer then concludes by offering the petitions through Christ, Who as Son of God is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, but due to His humanity is also our Mediator.

The Collect then concludes with the people's response of "Amen." This ancient word, which has always remained untranslated in all of the Church's liturgies, rites, and forms, means, "Let it be so." It is a way of giving assent to what has been said before. It is crucial that we at least spiritually respond with our Amen to the Collect. Even if we were to attend Mass in a language where we did not understand the words, our Amen is a way of affirming our unity with the Church. We are part of the Universal Church, and thus we may rest assured that our Amen is not simply an affirmation of some fancy words of the priest, or a desire of the people, but is part of the sensus fidei, the sense of Faith of the Faithful, who can never ere when they act in union with the Magisterium, Sacred Scripture, and Sacred Tradition.

This Amen, this affirmation to all that has taken place so far in the Mass, concludes the Introductory Rites. Through these rites, we have prepared ourselves to hear the Word of God and to participate in the Sacred Mysteries. Thus, the importance of being present for all of them. It is not enough that we arrive before the Gospel. Doing so may mean that we have attended Mass, but it neglects the importance of properly disposing ourselves for the most sacred actions man can do.

All historical information taken from:
Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development. Volume 1. Part III: The Collect. The Inclusion of the Congregation Assembled, 359-372, and The Collect. Form and Content, 372-390. Translated by Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. (Christian Classics: Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951).