Commontide

Preparation for Personal Prayer

Holy Spirit, breath of God and fire of love, I cannot pray without your aid: Kindle in me the fire of your love, and illumine me with your light; that with a steadfast will and holy thoughts I may approach the Father in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who reigns with you and the Father in eternal union. Amen.

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Commontide
Collect
Prayers

A Collect for the Eve of the Lord's Day

Saturday — Evening Prayer

O God, the source of eternal light: Shed forth your unending day upon us who watch for you, that our lips may praise you, our lives may bless you, and our worship on the morrow give you glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Provenance

Ancient Collects (attrib.), BCP 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This Saturday evening collect asks God, "the source of eternal light," to shed his unending day upon those who watch and wait for him, looking forward to Sunday worship. Carried into Anglican prayer books through a 1960 Lutheran compilation but attested in English print by 1913 and attributed there to the ancient Latin collect tradition, it breathes the biblical vision of a city where God himself replaces the sun.