Let us pray- the call to Begin the Collect
It is a celebrant's invitation addressed to each of us present at the Eucharistic Liturgy at the beginning of the Mass. We are to pray together, both as individual participants of the liturgy and as a community, i.e. the Church. This prayer, which finishes the first part of the Mass liturgy, or introductory rites, is called the collectible at the Roman Missal. The word of Latin origin (colligare, meaning "gather together") explains and justifies its purpose. The Collect is not only a text intended to be read by a celebrant. It is no accident that it is encapsulated in a dialog structure. It consists of four elements, which in turn demand our participation.
First, the celebrant calls everyone present to direct their intentions toward God by announced the verbal encouragement: "Let us pray." This invocation must be followed by a moment of silence (this is the second element of this ritual structure of prayer). Every silence in the liturgy, paradoxically, is an action, it is always an individual involvement in the celebration.
During this brief silence, we place in the hands of the priest "all our daily affairs", especially those that particularly hurt or exult us, are expectations or fulfillment of hope, what concerns me or my loved ones, flow from the heart, sometimes tragically sore or vice versa - full of hope , love, faith, and also personal worship of God, begging Him for some special good, etc. All these individual intentions, requests, thanksgiving or praise, the celebrant gathers together and joins in a collective prayer in accordance with a given calendar day or liturgical period. The celebrant in an imploring attitude, imitating the ancient gesture of arms spread out and stretched out towards the heavens (so-called attitude of the orant) utters the liturgical prayer of the day. This gesture refers to the traditional way of praying for the first Christians.
The Collect in its content is a liturgical worship and a request addressed to God the Father through the mediation of Jesus Christ in union with the Holy Spirit. There are also collections addressed directly to Christ himself. These prayers have a Trinitarian (i.e., relating to the Three Divine Persons) ending. The priest's utterance of the collective's content is also the third element of the rite discussed here. The last part belongs to the entire liturgical community. It is the answer: "Amen". This is an important acclamation of the liturgical assembly. It means agreement, consent and identification with the heard content.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george