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
Blessing
Prayers

Palm Sunday — Liturgy of the Palms

We praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. On this day he entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph, and was hailed as King by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his way. Sanctify these branches with your blessing, we humbly pray, that they may be for us signs of his victory. Grant that we who bear them in his Name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Palm SundayLent & Holy Week

Provenance

Episcopal BCP 1979

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This prayer over the palm branches is a 20th-century composition, first appearing in the 1979 American Book of Common Prayer, which brought back an ancient custom that Cranmer's Reformation prayer books had set aside: blessing the branches the congregation carries in procession, echoing the crowds who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem.