10/14/2026
Source & Summit | Part 2: The Introductory Rites ✝️ The Collect
At the end of the Introductory Rites, the priest says: “Let us pray.”
A brief silence follows. And in that silence, something profound happens.
Every person in that church brings their prayer to God - their own burdens, their own intentions, their own grief and gratitude. And then the priest collects them.
That is exactly where the name comes from. The Collect gathers the individual prayers of the faithful into one unified offering, and through the priest, lifts them to the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit.
This is the structure of all Catholic prayer: to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. The Collect makes that structure visible. It is Trinitarian prayer in its purest form.
It is also brief by design. The Collect does not linger, instead it gathers, lifts, and releases the prayers to open the people to receive the Word of God in the Liturgy of the Word.
The silence before the Collect is not empty. It is every heart in the church, lifting something to Heaven, and the Church, through her priest, carries it there.
Next week: Part 3 — The Liturgy of the Word
⛪️ Source & Summit is an ongoing series at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. Whether you are a lifelong Catholic or just beginning to explore the faith, this series is for anyone who has ever sat in the pew and wondered — what is actually happening right now? New posts will continue to roll out as we journey through the Mass together. Keep coming back, and share this with someone who needs it.
📍Dallas, TX | ⏰ Sunday Mass 7:30am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm | 🔗 Check the link in our bio for more
