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
Litany
Prayers

The Supplication

Especially appropriate in times of war, or of great anxiety, or of disaster.

O Lord, arise and help us; And deliver us for your Name's sake. O God, we have heard with our ears, and our forebears have declared to us, the noble works that you did in their days, and in the time before them. O Lord, arise and help us; And deliver us for your Name's sake. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O Lord, arise and help us; And deliver us for your Name's sake. From our enemies defend us, O Christ; Graciously behold our afflictions. With pity behold the sorrows of our hearts; Mercifully forgive the sins of your people. With favor hear our prayers; O Son of David, have mercy upon us. Be pleased to hear us, O Christ; Graciously hear us, O Christ; graciously hear us, O Lord Christ.

Deus, auribus nostris audivimus, patres nostri annuntiaverunt nobis, opus quod operatus es in diebus eorum, et in diebus antiquis. [...] Exsurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et redime nos propter nomen tuum.

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Original-language source · public domain

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Great LitanyThe Great Litany

Provenance

Cranmer 1544 (Sarum antiphon base)

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This chain of versicles is among the oldest English liturgical prayers still in common use: Cranmer translated it from a medieval Sarum processional chant in 1544, making it part of the first authorized English-language service. Its heart is two verses of Psalm 44, a lament calling God to "arise and help us" as he helped our ancestors, prescribed for use in times of war and national crisis.