Bulletin

May your grace, O Lord, at all times go before us,                     

follow after us and make us always determined                                

to carry out good works.

Collect: Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness

surpass the merits and desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us

to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask.

Collect: O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow your grace abundantly upon us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven.

O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbour, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life.

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today’ readings all deal with the power of the cross. The veneration of the Cross gained prominence after Constantine’s conversion and the legalization of Christianity in 313 AD. Christian symbols could now be displayed without fear.

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,  

 look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, 

 that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance.

The celebration of the Dedication of our Church brings back memories for some of us. But for all of us it is an occasion to reflect on the meaning of the Church and of the Altar. The prayer below is the Collect of today’s mass. The text is from the official Vatican preface explaining how the Catholic Church understands a church and its altar. It certainly merits reading and reflection.

O God, who cause the minds of the faithful

to unite in a single purpose,

grant your people to love what you command

and to desire what you promise,

that, amid the uncertainties of this world,

our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.

O God, who have prepared for those who love you

good things which no eye can see,

fill our hearts with the warmth of your love,

so that, loving you in all things and above all things,

we may attain your promises, which surpass every human desire.

Almighty ever-living God,

whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father,

bring to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters,

that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised.