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.

Touch screen to pause

Skip to main content
Commontide
Collect
Prayers

Of Any Commemoration (alternative)

Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy; for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

BCP 2019, p. 640

Proper Preface

Preface of Any Commemoration

For the grace and virtue manifest in [N. and all] your saints, who have been the chosen vessels of your love, and the lights of the world in their generations.

Provenance

ECUSA 1979 / ACNA 2019

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

First given to Anglicans by the Episcopal Church's 1979 prayer book, this collect prays the ancient truth of the communion of saints: the Holy Spirit knits the living and the departed into one fellowship of love and prayer. The 1979 book offers it in both contemporary and traditional language, and an earlier devotional source may lie behind it.