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 Worship

Friday — Evening Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies’ sake. Amen.

Found in the Prayer Book

This prayer appears in more than one place in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.

  • The Daily Office
  • Burial Of The DeadThe Burial of the Dead

Provenance

ECUSA 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This Friday evening collect asks Christ, who by dying defeated death itself, to lead us through the gate of death as he has already gone before, so that we fall asleep in faith and wake in his likeness. Composed for the 1979 Episcopal Church revision of the Book of Common Prayer, it weaves Paul's triumphant cry that death's sting has been drawn (1 Cor 15:55) together with the psalmist's hope of waking satisfied in God's likeness (Ps 17:15).