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
Collects

The Eighth Sunday of Epiphany

Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness keep us, we pray, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in mind and body, may accomplish with joyful hearts those things which belong to your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude: ut mente et corpore pariter expediti, quae tua sunt, liberis mentibus exsequamur.

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Original-language source · public domain

BCP 2019, p. 604

Proper Preface

Preface of the Lord’s Day, or of the Epiphany

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.

Provenance

Gelasian, c. 750

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

One of the oldest prayers in regular Anglican use, this collect descends from an eighth-century Roman service book and entered English worship in 1549 when Cranmer translated it for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. Its compact petition – that God clear every obstacle so we may do his work unencumbered – has accompanied Christian prayer for well over a millennium.