Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, March 1, 2026

Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Collect for the Second Sunday of Lent.

This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for the Second Sunday of Lent.

O God, who have commanded us to listen to your beloved Son, be pleased, we pray, to nourish us inwardly by your word, that, with spiritual sight made pure, we may rejoice to behold your glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

This prayer echoes the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Peter, James, and John, probably a bit perplexed and amazed by the now-shining Jesus, heard the words,

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Mt. 17:5)

A Command for All Time

God’s command from Matthew is in the “who” phrase of this week’s prayer. The voice from Heaven made a command not just for that day, but for all time. We are called to listen. However, in this verse, to listen doesn’t just mean to give attention to, it means to be taught by. The Father calls for us to be students, taught by His Son.

When I first read through this prayer, the verse that came to mind was Luke 10:39, where Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Interestingly, that verse has a note that points to Acts 22:3, where Paul says he was "educated at the feet of [the Rabbi] Gamaliel.”

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus just like a hopeful rabbi-in-training at at the feet of his master. “At the feet of” a rabbi is a metaphor for being formally trained by a rabbi. It is the position of listening, or being taught. When you sat at the feet of a teacher, your goal was to not only act or speak like him, but to also think like him.

Nourished By God's Word

At the heart of the prayer is our petition that we would be nourished inwardly by God’s word. Notice the parallel between “your beloved Son” and “your word.” There is another reference to Jesus in the verb “nourish.” In the Latin form of the prayer, for “nourish” we find the word “pascere” which means to pasture. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us to green pastures that not only feed us but allow us to grow - in a way you might not expect.

When we are nourished by God’s word, our spiritual sight is made pure, which means that we can see God as He is, not through our filters of the world, or what we think God should be. With pure sight, we can behold His glory. We can see that what He has for us is far greater than what we see or want in our earthly attachments.

The one thing we really need to ask ourselves about this prayer is, “Where is my ‘work?’” And perhaps our work is the hardest part.

This prayer is a call for us to listen, to let ourselves be nourished and be made pure. Our work also includes rejoicing and beholding.

This work is a recipe for celebrating a holy Lent. Our work is what makes us holy. As we go through each day of Lent doing this work, when Easter Sunday comes we look less like ourselves and more like Jesus and when our spiritual sight is made pure, we don’t just see God in all things, but others see Jesus in us and through us.

Lectio the Liturgy Sunday March 1, 2026