Collect for the 6th Sunday of Easter

Thank you for joining me as we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. There is one word in this week’s Collect that can change the way you pray. Which word do you think it is?

Grant, almighty God, that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy, which we keep in honor of the risen Lord, and that what we relive in remembrance we may always hold to in what we do. 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.

Before the One Word, a quick reminder that it is still Easter, and will be for a couple more weeks. We are reminded to be wholehearted in our celebration of the Risen Lord! Don’t let Easter pass by too quickly, it is the greatest Feast of our Church.

The One Word is in the next phrase: “that what we relive in remembrance we may always hold to in what we do.”

The One Word is “remembrance.” When is the last time you’ve thought about remembering or memory? In his Confessions, Book X,  St. Augustine wrote about remembrance, the memory, and finding God. He wrote about what was in his memory and how it got there. He wrote about remembering what he forgot.

St. Augustine wrote that the memory isn’t just about storing past events, or keeping information about physical things or feelings, or emotions. Even animals have a memory, however, the mind and memory given to mankind is what makes us in God’s likeness. That is where we encounter God.

The mass is not our church service, the mass is prayer. At mass, we relive the memory of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. We anticipate the glory of the Resurrection, and we do this with Him. When we are at prayer, we are in a place designed for an encounter with God. When we live from that encounter, everything we do and say should give God’s love and life to those around us.

Lectio the Liturgy: Before you go to mass this weekend, practice spending time in your memory. Ask God to meet you there and ask him to speak to you. Journal your experience. It is in this relationship, that begins in this space, where we find our identity, our strength, and our hope.

Thank you for praying with me,
Julie