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
Blessing
Prayers

You are sealed by the Holy Spirit

Holy Baptism — alternate form at the signing of the newly baptized

N., you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever. Amen.

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Holy Baptism

Provenance

ECUSA 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This declaration, spoken to each newly baptized person by name, entered Anglican liturgy in 1970 through the Episcopal Church's baptismal revision work, drawing on Paul's language of being "sealed" by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13) and on the ancient Eastern church's chrismation formula. It reached its fixed form in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and was carried unchanged into the ACNA 2019 Prayer Book.