A Collection of Prayers

For Spiritual Light

Almighty God,
in you there is no darkness at all.
Give us your eternal light.
When we cannot see the way before us,
may we continue to put our trust in you,
that under your guidance and protection
we may be kept from falling this day,
and finally, by your mercy,
enter into our rest;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Unknown
Source of this version: Freely modified from Service and Prayers for Church and Home, Ed. Wilbur Patterson Thirkield, Methodist Book Concern, 1918

Original in traditional English:

ALMIGHTY GOD, in whom is no darkness at all, grant us thy light perpetually, and when we cannot see the way before us, may we continue to put our trust in thee, that so being guided and guarded, we may be kept from falling this day, and finally, by thy mercy, enter into our rest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You Lay Bare our Sins

O God,
you lay bare our sins
when we cloak them with empty excuses,
and in your compassionate wisdom
you remove all doubt
from things uncertain,
and bring forth to light
what was hidden.
When our evil
has been brought home to our conscience,
sprinkle on us the dew of your mercy
and make us white as snow.
Help us amend our lives,
turn your face from our sins,
blot out all our iniquities
and renew our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that rejoicing in his indwelling,
we may continually open our lips
to declare your praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Mozarabic
Source of this version: Freely modified from A Century of Collects, [27] selected and translated by Atwell M. Y. Baylay, 1913.

Meditations for the Days of Holy Week

These short meditations may be used as personal devotions, school devotions, or devotions at the beginnings of church meetings.

Monday of Holy Week

Verses and Prayer

All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way,
but the LORD has laid on him the guilt of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Almighty God, grant that in our failures and weaknesses we may be restored through the passion and intercession of your only-begotten Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Reading: Matthew 22:41-46

On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus taught in the Temple courts and was challenged by his enemies.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’?” “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” No one was able to answer him a word, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (EHV)

Prayer

O God, Son of God, you took on yourself our nature and suffered death on the cross for us. By your Passion you have set us free from eternal death. Preserve us in your grace; through your mercy, O our God, you are blessed, and live and govern all things, now and forever.
Amen.

Blessing

The LORD is good to all. His compassion extends over all he has made. (Psalm 145:9)
Amen.

Tuesday of Holy Week

Verses and Prayer

He was pierced because of our rebellious deeds. He was crushed because of our guilt.
The punishment to bring us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

Almighty and everlasting God, grant us grace as we meditate on the passion of our Lord that we may there find the forgiveness of our sins; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Reading: Matthew 24:36-51

On Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus taught in the Temple courts and instructed his disciples about faithfulness.

“No one knows when that day and hour will be, not the angels of heaven, not even the Son, but only the Father. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be when the Son of Man returns. In fact, in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the very day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not realize what was coming until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man returns. “At that time two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. So be alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: If the master of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. You also need to be ready for this reason: The Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect him. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing this when he returns. Amen I tell you: He will put him in charge of all that he has. But if that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will return on a day when he does not expect it and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him in two and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (EHV)

Prayer

Blessing

May your mercy, O Lord, be on us, even as we wait confidently for you. (Psalm 33:22)
Amen.

Wednesday of Holy Week

Verses and Prayer

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent in the presence of her shearers, so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

Almighty God, grant that we who are continually afflicted because of our evil deeds may be freed by the passion of your only-begotten Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Reading: Matthew 26:1-16

On Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus may have rested. Matthew gives us a flashback to Jesus being anointed at Bethany and Judas beginning his plot.

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days it will be the Passover, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. They plotted together how to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the Festival, or else there might be a riot among the people.” When Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman approached him holding an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. But when his disciples saw this, they were upset and said, “Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor.” Jesus was aware of this and said to them, “Why are you causing trouble for this woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. You are always going to have the poor with you, but you are not always going to have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Amen I tell you: Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.” Then one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on Judas was looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. (EHV)

Prayer

Blessing

Blessed be God, who has not turned aside our prayer or turned aside his mercy from us! (Psalm 66:20)
Amen.

_____________

All Scripture is taken or modified from The Holy Bible: Evangelical Heritage Version.

The opening prayers are the Historic Collects for the days of Holy Week, freely modified from The Lutheran Hymnal.

The closing prayer is a Mozarabic Collect for Holy Week.

For Holy Week

O Father, most merciful,
in the beginning you created us,
and by the passion of your only Son
you created us anew.
Work in us now,
both to will and to do what pleases you.
Since we are weak and can do no good thing by ourselves,
grant us your grace and heavenly blessing,
that in whatever work we engage
we may do all to your honor and glory.
Keep us from sin
and empower us daily to do good works,
that as long as we live in the body
we may always perform service to you.
Since you have given us pardon of all our sins,
after our departure receive us to eternal life;
through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: St. Anselm, eleventh century
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

Passion Sunday

In some traditions, the Sunday of Holy Week is called Passion Sunday, and the Sunday service features a reading of the whole passion history from one of the gospels. The following prayers may be used as the Prayer of the Day, or as a prayer before or after the reading of the Passion Sunday Gospel.

A (with the Gospel: Matthew 26:1—27:66)

Merciful Father, your only Son fulfilled the Scriptures, bore our sins, and was forsaken so that you would not forsake us because of our sins. Turn your ear to us, come quickly to our rescue, and be our rock and our fortress; through Jesus Christ our Lord.*

B (with the Gospel: Mark 14:1—15:47)

Lord Almighty, you hear the needy and do not despise your captive people. Your only Son prepared all things so that he could offer himself as a sacrifice for sin by his passion and death. Keep us mindful of your great love that we may live as your free people; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C (with the Gospel: Luke 22:1—23:56)

Merciful Father, your only Son endured betrayal, mockery, injustice, suffering and death to deliver us and save us. In your unfailing love hear our cries for mercy and fill us with your love, that we become strong in heart and hope in you in good times and bad; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

*The long termination may be used with these prayers if desired: “through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

Prayers of the Early Church and Prayers of the Middle Ages

We have just completed uploading the prayers of two books, Prayers of the Early Church and Prayers of the Middle Ages, both edited by J. Manning Potts. Both are in the public domain.

At Christian Classics Ethereal Library, the books can be viewed online, or can be downloadable in different ebook formats such as plain text or THML/XML.

Prayers of the Early Church from CCEL (Project Gutenberg has more ebook formats.)
Prayers of the Middle Ages from CCEL (Project Gutenberg has more ebook formats.)

In Prayers of the Early Church, Potts lists no sources, but only mentions,
“The prayers have been collected from many old books of prayers and devotional materials.” Bright’s Ancient Collects seems to have been one of his sources.

In Prayers of the Middle Ages: Light from a Thousand Years, Potts does list sources:

“Some of the books which have been most valuable are Prayers of the Ages, compiled by Caroline S. Whitmarsh; Of the Imitation of Christ; Great Souls at Prayer, arranged by Mrs. Mary W. Tileston; The Cloud of Witness, by Hon. Mrs. Gell; Prayers, from the collection of the late Baron Bunsen; A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages, compiled by Selina Fitzherbert Fox; Prayers We Love to Pray, arranged by Edward Leigh Pell; Morning Readings, compiled by Frank M. Rich; Prayers of the Saints, by Cecil Headlam; Prayers Ancient and Modern, compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston; Ancient Collects, by Rev. William Bright; Prayers, Massachusetts Council of the Church Service League; Theologia Germanica; The Cloud of Unknowing; His Words of Admonition and Praises of God, by St. Francis of Assisi; Common Prayers for Family Use, by Westcott.”

In A Collection of Prayers, these two books are given their own ‘categories,’ and can be viewed at the links below:

For Consolation

O most sweet and loving Lord,
you know my weaknesses,
and the needs I endure.
You know how many evils and sins I am involved in;
how often I am weighed down, tempted, and disturbed by them.
I ask for your consolation and support.
I speak to you, for you know all things,
to you all my inward thoughts are open,
and you alone can perfectly comfort and help me.
You know what things I stand in most need of.
Behold, I stand before you poor and naked,
calling for grace, and imploring mercy.
Refresh your hungry supplicant,
kindle my coldness with the fire of your love,
enlighten my blindness with the brightness of your presence.
Do not let me go away from you hungry and dry,
but deal mercifully with me,
as you always deal wonderfully with your saints.

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

For You, O Lord

Lord, what is my confidence which I have in this life?
Is it not you, O Lord, my God,
whose mercies are without number?
Where has it ever been well with me without you,
or where could it be ill with me when you were present?
I would rather be a pilgrim on earth,
than possess heaven without you.
Where you are, there is heaven;
and where you are not, there is death and hell.
There is no one who can help me in my needs,
but only you, my God;
you are my hope, you my confidence.
Although you allow temptations and adversities,
yet you order all these to my advantage.
In my trials you should be loved and praised no less
than if you filled me full of heavenly comfort.

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

My Salvation and My Redemption

In confidence of your goodness and great mercy, O Lord,
I draw near to you,
as a sick person to the healer,
as one hungry and thirsty to the fountain of life,
a creature to the creator,
a desolate soul to my own tender comforter.
Behold, in you is everything I can or should desire.
You are my salvation and my redemption,
my hope and my strength.
Bring joy, therefore, to the soul of your servant;
for to you, O Lord,
have I lifted my soul.

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

Prayer for Psalm 14

Most wise God,
look upon our foolish world with mercy.
Preserve your truth among us,
enlighten us with the wisdom of your Word,
and deliver us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Paul C. Stratman, 2018

May be used under a a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.