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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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Prayer
Prayers

A Prayer for Mission (1)

Morning Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, who alone works great marvels: Send down upon our clergy and the congregations committed to their charge the life-giving Spirit of your grace, shower them with the continual dew of your blessing, and ignite in them a zealous love of your Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Omnipotens sempiterne deus, qui facis mirabilia magna solus, praetende super famulos tuos spiritum gratiae salutaris et, ut in veritate tibi complaceant, perpetuum eis rorem tuae benedictionis infunde.

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Original-language source · public domain

Provenance

Gelasian, c. 650-750; Anglican from 1544

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in the English liturgical tradition, this collect was already in Cranmer's 1544 Litany and entered the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as "A Prayer for the Clergy and People." Its Latin original stands in the early-medieval Roman sacramentaries, and its opening phrase echoes Psalm 136 verbatim; the ACNA 2019 text freshens the language and adds a new petition for "a zealous love of your Gospel."