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 Presence of Christ

Thursday — Evening Prayer

Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen.

Provenance

Roman LOH, 1971

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This collect places us on the Emmaus road with the two disciples who invited a stranger to stay as evening fell, and knew him in the breaking of bread. It entered the Roman Liturgy of the Hours in the 1970s, was taken up by the Episcopal BCP in 1979 as an optional evening collect, and became the Thursday evening collect in the ACNA prayer book.