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 Unity of the Church

Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles, “Peace I give to you; my own peace I leave with you”: Regard not our sins, but the faith of your Church, and give to us the peace and unity of that heavenly city, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, now and for ever.  Amen.

Dómine Jesu Christe, qui dixísti Apóstolis tuis: Pacem relínquo vobis, pacem meam do vobis: ne respícias peccáta mea, sed fidem Ecclésiæ tuæ; eámque secúndum voluntátem tuam pacificáre et coadunáre dignéris: Qui vivis et regnas Deus per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. Amen.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 646

Provenance

Roman Ritus Pacis, c. 1010

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This collect draws on one of the most ancient prayers still in active liturgical use in the Western church: an eleventh-century Latin prayer from the Roman Mass, spoken by the priest just before Communion. The Episcopal Church adapted it for congregational use in 1979, opening the singular priestly confession outward to the whole assembly; the ACNA carries it forward as a collect for church unity.