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
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Collects

Week Starting September 11-17

Proper 19

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Dirigat corda nostra, quaesumus, Domine, tuae miserationis operatio, quia tibi sine te placere non possumus.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 620

Provenance

Gelasian, c. 750

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in the Anglican tradition, this collect reaches back to the early medieval Roman church, appearing in the Gelasian Sacramentary around 750 AD. Thomas Cranmer translated it for the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549; in 1662 the revisers made its petition more explicit by naming the Holy Spirit as the one who directs our hearts, the form all subsequent prayer books have kept.