During the season of Lent this year, I thought it would be a good time to look at some prayers of the Mass that are rarely used or are prayed frequently and yet they have much to teach us if we would spend time meditating on them.

I’m going to begin with the Collect for the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Ordinary time does not mean that nothing is going on, Ordinary Time just means that it’s not Lent, Easter, Advent, or Christmas. It is a time of spiritual growth.

Between 2018 and 2032, we will pray this mass only five times, however this Collect is worthy of remembering.

What if we really would find peace in the way God rules the world? How would that change the Church?

It’s a thought that needs to come to fruition. We should bring the good news of the justice of God to the world like it’s our job - because it is.

Thanks for praying with me,

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The Collect this week contains within it a challenge. We pray that our words AND our deeds are always pleasing to God.

The Christian life is not always an either/or. Actually, it’s mostly a both/and and this is one of them.

It is true, St. Francis never said to use words when necessary. He didn’t live that, either. He used words a lot. He even preached to the birds.

Thanks for praying with me,

As I meditated on this prayer, I asked God what would be a good example to use. He told me, "washing windows."

The more I thought about God’s suggestion to see this prayer as washing windows, the more I know that He is right.

A clean window (that’s us) lets in more light and warmth (that’s God), while it also lets others see Him shine when they look through us.

Thanks for praying with me,

What makes plain water sacramental? What makes olive oil anointing? The same thing that makes bread and wine the Body and Blood. Imagine the care God took during creation to be sure that we were completely taken care of.

Thanks for praying with me,

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I tried to imagine what it was like to be at the Temple that day when Mary and Joseph walked in with Jesus. I thought about how as Jesus grew, His thoughts never led His mind into the gutter.

His thoughts were pure. In this prayer we implore (beg with mercy) that we have a mind made new so that we would be able to think and see and be like Christ, not just admire Him.

Thanks for praying with me.

It just seems odd that God would give us a gift and then ask us to offer it back to Him. He’s done it to me, and for good reason!

When we offer our gifts back to Him, our work becomes His work. Our work is now fruit that will bear fruit that endures.

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Imagine the Persons of the Trinity standing in a triangle. Between them is a constant flow of love and grace.

Now imagine sticking your arm into that flow. You are now caught up in the flow: the Father giving grace to participate in the memorial of the Son and the Spirit bringing us deeper into redemption each time we participate.

Thanks for praying with me,

At His Baptism, when Jesus came out of the water and as He was praying, the heavens opened up, and the Holy Spirit, the love between the Father and the Son, was so great, that it was seen in the form of a dove. The voice of the Father was heard, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

This is why our mortal nature must be inwardly transformed. This is our identity.

God did not take on our very flesh so we could be a better version of ourselves. He became man so that our mortal nature could be transformed.

Thanks for praying with me,

There are more than one Epiphanies in the Bible, and I believe that God is puts an epiphany, a manifestation of Himself, in front of us every day. We just need to watch and listen, and then respond, behold, and receive.

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