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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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Collect
Collects

Saint John the Evangelist

Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light; that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Ecclesiam tuam, Domine, benignus illustra: ut beati Ioannis Apostoli tui et Evangelistae illuminata doctrinis, ad dona perveniat sempiterna.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 625

Proper Preface

Preface of Christmas

Because you gave Jesus Christ, your only Son, to be born for us; who, by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary his mother, was made truly man, yet without the stain of sin, that we might be cleansed from sin and given the right to become your children.

Provenance

Gregorian, c.700

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This prayer for the feast of Saint John the Evangelist (December 27) is one of the oldest collects in Anglican worship, drawn from the Roman sacramentary tradition and carried into Cranmer's first prayer book in 1549. Its central image – the Church illumined by John's teaching so that she walks in the light and arrives at eternal life – directly echoes the light-theology that saturates John's Gospel and First Letter.