Blessed fountain of life, I praise you for your living breath in me! Bless my life with growth in grace, and increase my knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lengthen my patience, strengthen my soul in humility and zeal, and set my heart and mind on things above. I hunger and thirst for your righteousness. Heavenly Father, feed me with the living bread of your Word, teach me to do what pleases you, lead me by your gracious Spirit, and renew your holy image within me. I ask and hope through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom we have received all the fullness of your grace. Amen.
Source: Freely modified from a prayer by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) in Prayers Ancient and Modern, p. 238 (August 25).
Original in traditional English:
O Thou ever blessed fountain of life, I bless Thee that Thou hast infused into me Thine own vital breath, so that I am become a living soul. It is my earnest desire that I may not only live, but grow; grow in grace, and in the knowledge of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May I grow in patience and fortitude of soul, in humility and zeal, in spirituality and a heavenly disposition of mind. In a word, as Thou knowest I hunger and thirst after righteousness, make me whatever Thou wouldest delight to see me. Draw on my soul, by the gentle influences of Thy gracious Spirit, every trace and every feature which Thine eye, O heavenly Father, may survey with pleasure, and which Thou mayest acknowledge as Thine own image. I ask and hope it through Him of whose fulness we have all received — Amen.
For over 150 years, Bright’s Ancient Collects has been a standard resource for classic Christian prayers. The New Ancient Collects is a complete revision and refreshing of all the prayers in Bright’s Ancient Collects with updated language.
Since 2017, The New Ancient Collects has been available as one of A Collection of Prayers’ publications. In 2025 the cover was updated to match some more recent publications.
Again, I haven’t posted many new prayers in the last year. It has been an active year with publications and with ACOP’s materials being used in an expanding circle.
Because Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei were some of last year’s top hits, I wrote a series on the Western Rite. That series will be the basis of a chapter on the Western Rite in an upcoming book on worship and faith formation.
The chief views continue to be from English speaking countries (U.S., U. K., Canada and Australia), but there is growing usage from the Philippines, India and South Africa.
Links to A Collection of Prayers
WordPress lets me see referrers, that is, other websites that have a link to A Collection of Prayers. The biggest referrers are the Christian spirituality website www.christianity.com and a liturgy website www.liturgies.net, followed by individual ministries, churches, and even some denominational websites.
The past year was more quiet on A Collection of Prayers because of commitments in my work.
In 2024 I published Prayers Ancient Made Modern through Lulu, and also made it available for free in PDF, Word and ePub formats. Because of public domain content, to publish it through Amazon, I had to make it an annotated edition. Footnotes with short biographies of the authors appear the first time that author’s prayers appear in the book. Also, all prayers from Prayers Ancient and Modern have been revised or reworked. This book is getting closer to being my best seller, sometimes equaling the sales of Prayers from the Ancient Celtic Church.
The Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod used psalm prayers from two of my books (Sarum and Mozarabic) for a worship conference that focused on psalms. These reproducible sheets may also be available in book form in the future.
Crossway Publishers is about to release their Sing! hymnal in September 2025, and they are using nine prayers from my books as filler for some white spaces in their book.
An Episcopal monastic movement, anamcharafellowship.net, contacted me about using prayers from my Celtic and Sarum books in their breviary (private publication) as part of their daily devotions and liturgy of hours.
I’ve also been contacted by Eerdmans about an upcoming prayer anthology, Prayers from the Cloud, that will also include my translation of the Lorica of St. Fursey.
Other devotional publishers have also contacted me about using A Collection of Prayers and some of my books as a source. Congregations of many denominations and individuals have contacted me for permission to use prayers from the website or from my books in works for public or private devotions. I am always happy to share my work–which is what A Collection of Prayers is all about.
Each book includes directions for downloading and finding passwords to unlock the downloadable files. Download package now includes an HTML page with links to import prayers directly into Christian Worship: Service Builderwith no copying or pasting.
Today a tomb holds him who holds the creation in the hollow of his hand; a stone covers him who covered the heavens with glory. Life sleeps and hell trembles, and Adam is set free from his bonds. Glory to your eternal plan, whereby you have accomplished all things, granting us an eternal Sabbath, your most holy Resurrection from the dead. What is this sight that we behold? What is this present rest? The King of the ages, having fulfilled the plan of salvation through his passion, keeps Sabbath in the tomb, granting us a new Sabbath. To him let us cry aloud: Arise, O Lord, judge the earth, for measureless is your great mercy and you reign forever. Come, let us see our Life lying in the tomb, that he may give life to those that in their tombs lie dead. Come, let us look today on the Son of Judah as he sleeps, and with the prophet let us cry aloud to him: You have lain down, you have slept as a lion; who shall awaken you, O King? But of your own free will you rise up, who willingly gives yourself for us. O Lord, glory to you!
Source: Mattins, Holy Saturday, Orthodox, Oxford Book of Prayer 653, slightly modified.
Prayers Ancient Made Modern (Annotated) is now available through Amazon.com. The price of the paperback edition is reduced to $12.50 for the 2024 Christmas season.
This collection of prayers for daily use has been gathered from many sources, ancient and modern. It has historical interest, and the literary quality has been carefully considered, but the primary object is to nourish the spiritual life. As the design is to provide a brief selection for every day, in many cases a portion only of a long prayer is given, or it is condensed by omission, but alterations have been made as sparingly as possible. Fourteen centuries of prayer, aspiration, and praise unite here in one harmony of devotion. Mary Wilder Tileston, from the Preface to Prayers Ancient and Modern
The book Prayers Ancient and Modern was also published under the title Great Souls at Prayer. Mary Wilder Tileston made a revised edition in 1928 in which she removed about a quarter of the prayers from the 1897 edition and added newer prayers. This revision is based on the 1897 edition to give preference to ancient prayers.
All the prayers in this edition have been modified, some more freely than others. Most I revised in such a way that they remain direct quotes of the originals.
In all the revision and overhauling, I tried to keep some of the language and spirit of the originals. Prayers Ancient and Modern is available and downloadable from Google Books and from Archive.org if readers wish to compare this book with the original.
In this annotated edition, a short biography or explanation of the source is given the first time that author or source appears in this book. If no annotation of author or source is given for a prayer, consult the Index of Authors. Biographies and explanations are condensed from Wikipedia, archive.org, and other sources.
Prayers Ancient Made Modern (Annotated) now has no substituted prayers. Every prayer from the 1897 edition of Prayers Ancient and Modern is now reproduced in modern English.
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us: but thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that be penitent, according to thy promises declared unto mankind, in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy name. Amen.
Almighty and merciful God, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. O Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare those who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to the world in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And grant, O merciful God, for his sake, that we may live a holy, just, and humble life to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
Source: The Worship Sourcebook, first edition, 2004, p. 90, Book of Common Prayer, (1552) alt., public domain.
Rite Two in the Book of Common Prayer (1979) has a streamlined version of the prayer:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) adapted the confession:
Most merciful God, we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
Lutheran Worship (1982) and Lutheran Service Book (2006) have also adapted the confession:
Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
Christian Worship: Hymnal (2021, WELS) has also adapted the confession in a manner closer to the BCP original:
Almighty and merciful Father, we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed what we have devised and desired in our hearts. We have offended you and sinned against your holy law. We have done those things that we should not have done, and we have not done those things that we should have done. Have mercy on us, Lord! Spare us, forgive us, and restore us, according to your promises in Christ Jesus.
PLEASE NOTE: This entry includes copyrighted texts, used under fair use in reviews or reference materials. To reprint or use these materials, contact the respective publishers.
Augustine was a bishop who lived in Hippo, a city in North Africa on the Mediterranean. He came to faith and was baptized at age 31 after living a wild life and even spending some time in the Manichaean cult. He became one of the most influential writers in the early church and is considered one of the great ‘Doctors of the Church.’ The Christian Church remembers Augustine on August 28.
Hear, Lord, my prayer;
do not let my soul faint under your discipline,
do not let me faint in confessing to you all your mercies,
for you have drawn me out of all my most evil ways,
that you might be my delight
above all the allurements which I once pursued;
that I may most entirely love you,
and clasp your hand with all my affections,
so that you may still rescue me from every temptation,
even to the end.
For lo, O Lord, my King and my God,
I give for your service whatever useful thing my childhood learned,
that I speak, write, read, reckon for your service.
For you granted me your discipline,
while I was learning vanities;
and my sin of delighting in those vanities you have forgiven.
Lord Jesus, healer and Savior, bring health and unity to your people in their families. Provide for all their needs with your abundance. Bring health and strength to your people in their weakness. Bring growth in wisdom, strength in faith and spirit, and growth and strength in body to children everywhere. Watch over the hearts of the weary and burdened, and direct them to cast their cares on you, that they respond to life’s troubles with patient endurance, and put away anxiety and anger. Give your people useful work that serves the good of others, and provide for all our needs. Lift and bind your people everywhere in the bonds of holy love and prayer. Uplift, strengthen, and heal us all; you live and reign, now and forever. Amen.
Source: Paul C. Stratman, August 4, 2024, from an online request.
A Collection of Prayers 