What is a "Collect"?

"From the Latin word collecta, meaning "assembly." The word is normally used to refer to the prayer near the beginning of the Eucharist that precedes the lessons. The collect was supposedly designed to "collect" the thoughts of the lessons and bind the thoughts together, back in the days when only one lesson and a Gospel were read. A collect is actually any short prayer that contains an invocation, a petition, and a pleading in Christ's Name (in that order)."

This term, and many others, may be found by accessing the very helpful website provided by our brothers and sisters in Christ at the Church of the Holy Cross in Charleston, South Carolina.