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 October 30-November 5

Proper 26

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, as we live among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

BCP 2019, p. 622

Provenance

Leonine, c. 500-600

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in this collection, drawn from the Verona Sacramentary – the earliest surviving Roman liturgical book – and, on the leading reconstruction, composed amid the turmoil of fifth- or sixth-century barbarian invasions. The Verona manuscript records it for Ascension Day; it asks not for escape from ordinary life but for the freedom to live it without being enslaved to what is passing away.