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

Compline

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Provenance

Sixth century (trad.); US BCP 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

A night prayer traditionally reckoned a sixth-century collect, carried into Anglican use through the modern Compline revival and first printed in an official prayer book at the US BCP 1979. It sets the weariness of human life, caught in the "changes and chances" of this world, against God's eternal changelessness.