the collect and the readings: 31st week tuesday 2012 II

Last week we reflected on the Gloria, the ancient pryer, Glory to God int he highest.  In particular we reflected on the greeting of the angel peace to men of good will, and we said that the gift of the incarnation was not because we deserved it, nor did God owe it to us, but that all these are divine initiative.  It is God who loved us first. He has given us graces although these are undeserved.  And finally he will grant us heaven not because we are worthy of heaven but because of his mercy.

Today we look at two things, the collect and the Liturgy of the Word.

First, the collect.  In the past this was called the Opening Prayer of the Mass.  When we were translating the hiligaynon liturgy we wanted to use also the word collect in hiligaynon - collecta, pero nahadlok kami nga tawgon ini nga pangamuyo nga collecta kay basi matindog na ang usher kag mangolekta.  Kag dayon masiling kamo, ay nagadali gid.

But the collect is a very appropriate word to describe this prayer.  Collect means gathered, gintipon.  So this prayer is the result of our gathered prayer, the prayer which we gathered, gintipon and made into one.  This also shows that this gathered prayer comes from a gathered people.  Gathered people, ang gintipon nga katawohan is the meaning of the word ecclesia, or church.  We become a church, when we gather together in the Eucharist and there we pool our prayers together to make this into one.  So this is what we do although diri sa chapel mas symbolic kita nga gintipon naton literally ang aton pangamuyo sa mga gagmay nga papel nga aton ginsulat kag ginbutang sa sulod sini nga box - that is literally a collecta, the collect.  But of course it is enough that in the liturgy when the priest says let us pray, we keep quiet for a while and we remember what we would want to pray for, what we would want to be included in the prayers of the community, in the gathered prayer by the gathered people in the collect.  That is why it is good to be reminded that in the Eucharist we are one people.  It is not good nga lain akon, lain man imo, lain man ila.  We do this together because we are one people.  We are reminded by the collect that we are one people gathered to pray as one body in Christ.

The second point I would like to make is the Liturgy of the Word.  We introduce it by saying “A reading from.”  This is our lex orandi.  What is our lex credendi?  It means that we are reading something written.  It connotes something past - it was written a long time ago and we read it today as it was read in the years long past.  This is not new and yet this is also not old.  It is not new because these were written 4 thousand, 2 thousand years ago by prophets and apostles - this is the faith of our ancestors, the faith handed down to us.  And yet it is also new, it is relevant even now, the word continues to challenge, the word continues to judge our actions, the word of God continues to console.  The word of God teaches the truth and the truth is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Thus when the reader says the word of the Lord, we affirm this by saying thanks be to God.  This is an act of faith for if we acknowledge that this is the word of God then we take this seriously, we listen, we put to heart, we put it in mind, we remember it, we ponder it and then we allow it to move us to act.  This is lex vivendi - we are a people of the word - we take seriously our bibles. 

This year we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II.  One of the effects of Vatican II is its mandate to put importance on the word of God.  The first to be affected by this mandate is the liturgy when it allowed 80 percent of the bible to be read in its 3 year cycle.  Gani kon nagapamati kita sa readings sa misa kag naga-attend kita misa kada adlaw then in 3 years time we could have read already 70 percent of the bible. 

Dali na lang Christmas.  Panumdum na kamo sang gifts nyo for Christmas, and give yourself a gift by buying yourself a bible diary ukon companion ukon ano man dira nga na-imprinta ang daily readings sang misa and bring it with you when you come to church so that as you listen you can follow kon ano ang ginabasa.  Take seriously the word because every time we read it we say thanks be to God - we say thank you Lord for the invitation, thank you Lord for the challenge, thank you Lord for the consolation, thank you for your word. 

Ang aton gospel nagahatag sa aton sang leksiyon nga magaabot gid ang panahon nga wala na excuse kon indi ka mamati sang inbitasyon sang Ginoo.  Magaabot gid ang tion nga indi ka na makapamalibad, no more excuses if you refuse to listen and respond to God invitation.  So let us take the word of God, let us take God’s daily invitation to us seriously.