If there is a prayer that can properly be said to descend directly from heaven, it is the Gloria. Its first words were not composed by men, but sung by the angels on Christmas night: «Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will». The Church took that heavenly chant and developed it into one of the purest and most solemn expressions of praise to God. In this chapter of Claves — FSSP, the meaning of the Gloria is explored in depth, its place within the Mass, and the gestures and prayers that lead to the collect prayer, the true synthesis of the Christian people’s supplication.
The Gloria: an angelic hymn of praise
The Gloria was not incorporated into the Roman liturgy immediately. For centuries, its use was reserved for very specific occasions. At first, it was sung only in the Christmas Mass, then only bishops could intone it on Sundays and martyrs’ feasts, while priests recited it exclusively in the Easter Mass. It was not until the late 11th century that its use became generalized, establishing that it be sung in all festive Masses: Sundays—except in Advent and Lent—, feasts, and times of special liturgical joy such as Christmas and Easter.
When intoning the Gloria, the priest raises and extends his hands toward heaven, then joins them before his chest, a gesture that expresses adoration and surrender. Throughout the hymn, he bows his head several times, especially when pronouncing the name of Jesus or expressing direct reverence to God. This gesture is not exclusive to the Gloria: throughout the Mass, the priest bows his head every time he pronounces the holy name of Jesus, thus underscoring Christ’s centrality in the Eucharistic sacrifice.
The Trinity glorified in the Gloria
The entire text of the Gloria is a development of the two angelic proclamations: the glory due to God and the peace offered to men. In it, the Most Holy Trinity is glorified in a clear and orderly manner. It begins by praising the Father, then invokes the Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and finally mentions the Holy Spirit. It is no coincidence that when naming the Holy Spirit, at the end of the Gloria, the priest makes the sign of the cross, recalling that all Christian praise is essentially Trinitarian.
The Gloria admirably summarizes the four ends of the Mass, which are also the four ends of every authentic prayer. First, adoration, expressed already in the word Gloria. Then, thanksgiving: «We give you thanks for your great glory». Next, propitiation or petition for forgiveness: «Have mercy on us». And finally, confident supplication, in which divine help is requested: «Receive our prayer». In this way, the Gloria places the soul in the right attitude before God before continuing the development of the liturgy.
“Dominus vobiscum”: God is present and acting
Once the Gloria is concluded, the priest turns to the faithful and pronounces for the first time one of the most characteristic formulas of the liturgy: «Dominus vobiscum», the Lord be with you. The assembly responds: «Et cum spiritu tuo», and with your spirit. This dialogue is not a mere greeting, but a call to attention and prayer. It marks the proximity of an important moment in the Mass and reminds the faithful that the Lord is truly present and acting.
It is not just a wish, but an affirmation of faith. As God said to Moses «I will be with you», so the liturgy proclaims that the Lord is there, working in the Mass. It is not the assembly that, by gathering, makes Christ present, but Christ who acts in his Church. Saint John Chrysostom saw in the people’s response a recognition of the Holy Spirit present in the priest’s soul, who acts as God’s minister to perform the Eucharistic sacrifice.
The collect: the unified supplication of the Church
This dialogue opens the way to the collect prayer, so called because it gathers in a few words the supplications of the entire assembly. The priest recites it standing, facing East, with hands raised and separated, an ancient gesture that expresses imploration, respect, and veneration. This posture, inherited from the Old Testament, is the original attitude of the one who prays and appears in the oldest prayers of the Mass: the collect, the prayer over the offerings, the preface, and the canon.
The orientation toward the East is not an unimportant architectural detail. The East is the direction of the rising sun, a symbol of Christ, and according to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, it is from the East that the Lord will return in glory. Celebrating oriented expresses hope in his return. For this reason, in the liturgical tradition, priest and faithful do not turn their backs on each other, but turn together toward God, to whom the sacrifice is offered.
Structure and depth of the collect prayer
The collects belong to the oldest prayers of the Roman rite, many of them composed between the 3rd and 4th centuries. They are brief, sober, and dense, like a Latin maxim. They follow a very precise structure that, as Saint Thomas Aquinas explains, reflects the stages of every petition to God. First, the soul rises toward Him, invoking Him directly; then, His benefits are recalled, often related to the feast of the day; only then is the specific petition formulated; and finally, the prayer concludes by recalling that all grace comes from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
At the end of the collect, the assembly responds with a firm and conscious “Amen”. This Hebrew word, used by Christ Himself, expresses both the assent of the intellect—“it is true”—and that of the heart—“so be it.” With this Amen, the faithful fully unite with the prayer pronounced by the priest in everyone’s name, manifesting the deep communion between the minister and the assembly.
The Gloria and the collect prayer introduce the faithful into an ordered, conscious, and deeply theological praise. Through ancient gestures and venerable words, the liturgy educates the soul to adore, give thanks, ask for forgiveness, and supplicate with confidence.