Liturgically Speaking: The Gloria and Collect

After the Penitential Act, the Gloria is sung on Sundays and Solemnities outside of Advent and Lent (the prayer is one of such joyful praise, that we “tone down” this joy in the penitential seasons of the Church by omitting the Gloria).  Notice the spiritual movement of the Mass: after we have humbly confessed that we are sinners and implored God for His mercy, our next prayer is one of praise.  The Gloria is sometimes known as the “Greater Doxology,” “doxology” coming for the Greek word for praise.  The Gloria is a very ancient prayer, originally sung as a morning prayer at the rising of the sun.  It was introduced into the liturgy in ancient times, perhaps the second century.  At first, it was sung first only at Christmas.  This is fitting, since it begins with the words of the angels to the shepherds on the first Christmas morning: “Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth peace to people of good will” (Lk. 2:14).  In the sixth century, Pope Symmachus extended this to all Sunday Masses celebrated by the Bishop, and then by the eleventh century the Gloria was used much as it is now. 

If you’ve never done so before, try using the Gloria as a text for your own private prayer.  This can help the meaning “sink in” when it can be so easy to “rattle it off” week after week.  The Gloria opens with emphatic acclamations of praise to the Father: “We praise You. We bless You. We adore you. We glorify You. We give You thanks for Your great glory. O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.”  It’s as if we’re using all these acclamations in search of adequate words with which to give God the praise that is His due.  The Gloria then addresses Christ:  “O Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father: you Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You Who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You Who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are holy. You alone are the Lord. You alone, O Jesus Christ, are most high.”  This may seem repetitive, but the language of love and poetry often is repetitive!  Here we acclaim Christ for who He is, what He has done, and we implore Him to have mercy on us and hear our prayer.  Finally, the Gloria ends by invoking the Holy Trinity: “Together with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father. Amen.”  If you find yourself distracted during the Gloria, consider it as if it were a love song, and choose one word or phrase to focus on and direct to the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. 

After the Gloria is the Opening Prayer or Collect.  We have already asked God for His mercy and offered a hymn of praise.  Now, in a summary way, we state our needs.  First, Father says “Let us pray.”  There is a moment of silence, and the intention is that we are actually praying.  At that moment we can offer to God our intention for that Mass or anything else we wish to bring before Him in our prayer.  The Collect “collects” the prayers of the whole community as we prepare to enter into the Liturgy of the Word.  The Collect also often lays before us in summary fashion the mystery we are celebrating at that liturgy.  Most Collects have the same structure:  an invocation calling upon God; grounds, or the reason for our confidence in calling upon Him; a petition; and a conclusion calling upon Christ to mediate on our behalf.  These prayers are some of the most beautiful and rich in the whole Mass.  They are also some of the easiest to miss!  If you have a hard time focusing on the Collect, try reading it ahead of time or getting a small missal book so you can follow along and make the prayer your own.  With our Amen, the Introductory Rite ends, and we begin the Liturgy of the Word.