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Introductory Rite-Opening Prayer (Collect)
At the end of the Introductory Rite
is the Opening Prayer or Collect. The priest
invites us to pray silently for a moment, and then, in our name, expresses the
theme of the day’s celebration and petitions to God the Father through the
mediation of Christ in the Holy Spirit. In other words, he ‘collects’ or
gathers up all the prayers on our behalf and offers them to God. He reads it
from the Book of the Chair. The unfolding of this opening
prayer is as follows:
·
An invitation to prayer: ‘Let us pray’,
·
A time of silence: a time to present our intentions to God.
·
The invocation: these can be varied but they all address God in some form- for
example- Father, Eternal Father, Lord, God of mercy and power, Father of love.
·
The anamnesis or thanksgiving:
·
The request: Give,
·
The affirmation of the mediation of
Christ: ‘Through Christ our Lord’.
·
Our response: ‘Amen’.
WHAT DOES AMEN MEAN?
Amen is the transcription of a Hebrew
word whose root evokes that which is solid, stable, true and faithful. In
Scripture, it can be used as an adjective or adverb, but when we use it
liturgically as a response to prayer, it is used as an adverb. Amen means
either ‘It is so’ or ‘May it be so’(May that happen).
The meaning of the Amen that follows all the doxologies is ‘Truly it is so’,
but when we implore God: “Have mercy on us and forgive us our sins,” we
humbly add Amen, (may it be so). By endorsing any of the prayers that ends with
Amen, we are also remembering that we are pronouncing at the same time the name
of Jesus. (Revelations: 3:14). What a powerful four-letter word Amen is!
The Opening Prayer is not just a
prayer to be heard at Sunday Mass. The opening prayer can be useful for
Reflection Prayer during the week. You might like to visit my Opening Prayer
series, where I provide reflection questions to ponder and to make the Opening
Prayer tangible for our lives during the week.
Introductory Rite is now completed
after the Opening Prayer has been concluded.
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