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

Tuesday of Holy Week

O Lord our God, whose blessed Son gave his back to be whipped and did not hide his face from shame and spitting: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; 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. 607

Proper Preface

Preface of Holy Week

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. For our sins he was lifted high upon the Cross, that he might draw the whole world to himself; and by his suffering and death he became the author of eternal salvation for all who put their trust in him.

Provenance

American Episcopal, c.1892

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This prayer's roots go back to the American Episcopal Church's 1892 prayer book revision, where it was appointed for Wednesday of Holy Week. The ACNA 2019 revised and reassigned it to Tuesday. Its language is woven almost entirely from two scripture passages: Isaiah's Third Servant Song, in which the suffering Servant gives his back to those who strike him, and Paul's assurance in Romans 8 that present suffering is incomparable to the glory still to come.