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
Prayer
Prayers

For a Marriage or Anniversary

O God, you have so consecrated the covenant of marriage that in it is represented the spiritual unity between Christ and his Church: Send your blessing upon these your servants, that they may so love, honor, and cherish each other in faithfulness and patience, in wisdom and true godliness, that their home may be a haven of blessing and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

BCP 2019, p. 667

Provenance

TEC 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

A blessing written for American Episcopalians getting married in 1979, later adopted by the Anglican Church in North America as a stand-alone prayer for weddings and anniversaries alike. It borrows its central image, that marriage pictures the love between Christ and his Church, from a much older English wedding tradition, but the wording itself is 20th-century.