During Mass keep your ears pricked up, ready to pick up Biblical references in the prayers. A theme of this Collect is our identity as children of God through adoptio gratiae, adoption of grace. St. Paul writes often about spiritual adoption (e.g., Gal 4:5 and Eph 1:15, et al.). Writing to the Romans he tells us about the moral implications of spiritual sonship. Why not spend a half hour or so reading and thinking about Romans 8:1-15 and (under the usual conditions) gain a partial indulgence?
The phrase splendor veritatis should ring a bell. The late Pope John Paul II in his 1993 encyclical Veritatis splendor began to correct the erroneous and dangerous tendencies of some contemporary moral theologians. Progress has been made.
