Commontide

For Guidance

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices; that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Commontide
Collect
Prayers

Week Starting July 17-23

Proper 11

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Deus, qui omnipotentiam tuam parcendo maxime et miserando manifestas, multiplica super nos gratiam tuam, ut, ad tua promissa currentes, caelestium bonorum facias esse consortes.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 618

Provenance

Gregorian, c. 700

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest collects in Anglican worship, this prayer traces to an early medieval Latin oration prayed in Rome and Gaul by at least the 7th century. Its central claim is elegantly paradoxical: God's greatest exercise of almighty power is not conquest or punishment but mercy, the restraint that spares and the compassion that commiserates.