Almighty God, you have not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; grant that we, who for our evil deeds deserve to be punished, by the might of your grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
↻Turn your device to see the Latin (medieval/Sarum spelling; classical spelling would read "quaesumus... ut... nostrae actionis... tuae gratiae") original
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
This prayer takes a line from Psalm 103 (God does not deal with us as our sins deserve) and joins it to one of the oldest prayers still said in English: the historic collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, which goes back through Cranmer's prayer book to a Latin prayer said in Rome well over a thousand years ago.