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

Week Starting May 8-14

Proper 1

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers, and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace to keep your commandments, that we may please you in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Deus, in te sperantium fortitudo, invocantibus nostris adesto propitius, et, quia sine te nihil potest mortalis infirmitas, gratiae tuae praesta semper auxilium, ut, in exsequendis mandatis tuis, et voluntate tibi et actione placeamus.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 615

Provenance

Gelasian, c. 550–750

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in the Anglican tradition, this collect has been offered at the opening of summer worship since Cranmer's first prayer book in 1549. Its Latin original, drawn from the early medieval sacramentaries, voices a conviction the Church Fathers stamped on the liturgy: left to ourselves, we cannot do anything genuinely good; the grace of God is not a supplement to our goodness but its very source.