Commontide
Proper 20
O Lord, you have taught us that without love, all our deeds are worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you; grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
BCP 2019, p. 620
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
Cranmer composed this prayer from scratch for the first English Prayer Book in 1549, weaving together five Pauline and Johannine texts into a single sentence petitioning the Holy Spirit to pour into our hearts the gift of charity, "the bond of peace and of all virtues." It has stood virtually unchanged in Anglican prayer books for nearly five centuries.