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
Collect
Prayers

Memorial Day & Remembrance Day

O King and Judge of the nations: We remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our armed forces, who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy; grant that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, now and for ever.  Amen.

BCP 2019, p. 636

Proper Preface

Preface of Remembrance Day or Memorial Day

For by the sacrifice of your Son on the Cross, all who turn to him in the tribulation of war will find their peace with him in paradise.

Provenance

ACNA 2019 (from TEC 1979)

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This Memorial Day collect was composed for the Episcopal Church's 1979 Book of Common Prayer, where it appeared as a thanksgiving "For Heroic Service." It is a fresh 20th-century American composition with no Latin original and no pre-1979 Anglican antecedent; the ACNA 2019 BCP adopted it with four deliberate editorial refinements, most notably adding "King" to the address and supplying the traditional Trinitarian conclusion.