E SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

THE COLLECT. 47
A word as to the formation of the Collect. The
Collects, however varied, are written more or less on
the same lines. St. Paul desires that supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made
by men. This rule is followed in the Collects.
Take a few familiar instances. The Collect for the
God (lifting of the heart to God the
Holy Ghost : O
Father) who didst instruct the hearts of the
faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit (statement
of a grace and thanksgiving), grant us in the same
Spirit to relish what is right and ever to rejoice
in His consolations (the request), through our
Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who with Thee
liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy
Spirit through everlasting ages. These words,
which end all Collects addressed to the Father, implore
what is asked through the merits of the Passion and
Death of our Lord.
Here is a Collect addressed to Christ for the feast
of the Blessed Sacrament :
O God (the elevation of the heart to God) who
under a wonderful Sacrament hast left us a
memorial of Thy Passion (statement of a favour and
consequently thanksgiving), grant US, we beseech
Thee (the Church s favourite form of earnest petition),
so to reverence the sacred mysteries of Thy
Body and Blood, that we may continually find
the fruit of Thy redemption in our souls (close
of petition), who livest and reignest, world without
end (thus ends often the Collect addressed to the Son),
or the fuller form : who livest and reignest in the
unity of the Holy Ghost, God through ever
lasting ages.
The first or principal Collect is always peculiar to