The Collect of the Day

This first part of the Holy Eucharist is called the Liturgy of the Word. It centers around the Holy Scriptures, and these readings from the Bible are preceded by another collect, this time the Collect of the Day. This second collect focuses us on the particular date or occasion on which the day’s worship is taking place. Christianity is a very time-conscious religion. In the Incarnation of Jesus, God entered into time and space in a new and unique way. This means that time and space have been hallowed (made holy) in a way which humanity not been conscious of before. Time, for us, is not just a succession of hours, days, weeks and years. For us, time is a path, a journey, a progress toward God. It is our walking the way of the Cross in the companionship of Jesus. From Advent to Christmas to Easter to the Ascension and the Coming of the Holy Spirit, time has direction, always “God-ward.” The Collect of the Day marks our temporal location along that way like that star on the map in the local mall that says, “You are here.”