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

The Third Sunday of Easter

Almighty God, you gave your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and an example of godly living: Give us grace thankfully to receive his inestimable benefits, and daily to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; 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. 612

Proper Preface

Preface of Easter

But chiefly are we bound to praise you for the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; for he is the true Paschal Lamb, who was offered for us, and has taken away the sin of the world; who by his death has destroyed death, and by his rising to life again has won for us everlasting life.

Provenance

Cranmer 1549

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

A prayer Cranmer composed himself for the 1549 prayer book, pairing two truths at the heart of the Christian faith: that Christ's death is the atonement for sin, and that his life is the pattern for our own. For nearly five centuries it has been prayed in English, first on Good Shepherd Sunday and now in Eastertide.