Commontide

For the Acceptance of Prayer

O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help; for you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

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Commontide
Prayer
Prayers

For the Universal Church

Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior.  Amen.

BCP 2019, p. 646

Provenance

Laud, c. 1640s

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This prayer for the whole Church comes from the private devotions of Archbishop William Laud (1573-1645), composed for his own daily use and preserved in his autograph manuscript at Oxford. It entered public Anglican worship when adopted by the American prayer book in 1928.