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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Prayer
Prayers

For the Acceptance of Prayer

Heavenly Father, you have promised to hear what we ask in the Name of your Son: Accept and fulfill our petitions, we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance, nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as you know and love us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

BCP 2019, p. 675

Provenance

1979 BCP (TEC)

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This short prayer, asking God to receive our prayers even when we don't know quite how to word them, entered the American Prayer Book in 1979 as one of eight collects offered after the Prayers of the People. The ACNA's 2019 Prayer Book carries it forward unchanged among its occasional prayers "for times of prayer and worship."