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

Christ the King

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui in dilecto Filio tuo, universorum Rege, omnia instaurare voluisti: concede propitius; ut cunctae familiae Gentium, peccati vulnere disgregatae, ejus suavissimo subdantur imperio.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 623

Proper Preface

Preface of Christ the King

Through your only begotten Son Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords; for you have seated him at your right hand in glory, and put all things in subjection under his feet, that he may present them to you, O Father, perfectly restored in beauty, truth, and love.

Provenance

Roman Missal, 1925

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

Composed in 1925 when Pope Pius XI established a feast honoring Christ's kingship over all nations, this collect lifts its opening clause almost verbatim from Paul's letter to the Ephesians. The English text in Anglican prayer books is a free adaptation made for the 1979 Episcopal prayer book by its working editor, Howard Galley.