7th Century – Page 22 – A Collection of Prayers

Collect for Purity

Prayer Book Bible Reading Book Of Common Prayer

Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may love you completely,
and rightly magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: 11th-century Leofric missal, also attributed to the Gregorian Sacramentary (7th Century)

Source of this version: Modified from 1980 Alternative Service Book via wikipedia.com

Traditional English:

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Book of Common Prayer

Latin:
Deus cui omne cor patet et omnis voluntas loquitur: et quem nullum latet secretum: purifica per infusionem sancti spiritus cogitationes cordis nostri: ut te perfecte diligere et digne laudare mereamur, per dominum nostrum iesum christum filium tuum qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate eiusdem spiritus sancti deus, per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

This prayer has its own page on wikipedia.

Variant:

…of your Holy Spirit, that every thought and word of ours may begin from you, and in you be perfectly completed, through Christ our Lord. (The Catholic Prayer Book, 1984, 1986)

Sarum version begins:

O God, unto whom all hearts be open…

Prayer to the Christchild

O good Jesus,
the Word of the Father,
brightness of the Father’s glory,
whom angels desire to behold;
teach me to do your will,
that guided by your good Spirit,
I may come to that blessed city
where there is everlasting day
where all are of one spirit;
where there is certain security
and secure eternity
and eternal tranquility
and quiet felicity
and happy sweetness
and sweet pleasantness;
where you,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit
live and reign,
now and forever.

Source: St. Gregory, d. 638

Source of this version: Modified from http://catholictradition.org/Christmas/christ-child13.htm

A Prayer for Peace

antifonariodelec3b3n1 O God, you are peace eternal.
Your gift is peace.
You have taught us
that your children will be called peacemakers.
Pour out your peace into our souls
that all discord may vanish away,
and that we may forever love and seek
the things that bring your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Mozarabic Sacramentary (Also attributed to the Gelasian Sacramentary)

Source of this version: Ancient Collects, and Other Prayers, ed. William Bright, 1902, p. 82 #4, also in Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1953.

Graphic: Mozarabic manuscript from the Cathedral of Leon, from Wikimedia Commons.

A Prayer for the Spirit’s Intercession

antifonariodelec3b3n1 Lord Jesus Christ,
you are faithful in all your words
and holy in all your works.
We do not know what we ought to pray for.
Grant that your Spirit may intercede for us,
sanctify us with his gifts here,
and crown us with blessedness
in the life to come;
through your mercy, O God,
blessed forevermore.
Amen.

Source: Mozarabic Sacramentary

Note: This prayer is based on Romans 8:26

Graphic: Mozarabic manuscript from the Cathedral of Leon, from Wikimedia Commons.

Without Stumbling or Stain

antifonariodelec3b3n1

Grant us, O Lord, to live this day in gladness and peace,
without stumbling and without stain,
that reaching the evening victorious over all temptation,
we may praise you,
the eternal God,
for you govern all things,
and are praised
now and forever.

Original Source: Mozarabic Liturgy

Also found at: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/S&S_Prayers.htm

Variant:

Let our prayer, O Lord, come before Thee in the morning. Thou didst take upon Thee our feeble and suffering nature; grant us to pass this day in gladness and peace, without stumbling and without stain; that reaching the even-tide without any temptation, we may praise Thee the Eternal King: through Thy mercy, O our God, who art blessed and dost live, and govern all things, world without end. Amen.—Mozarabic Liturgy

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/potts/prayermiddle.vi.pr30.html

Also found in Ancient Collects, and Other Prayers, ed. William Bright, 1902, p. 8 #1

And in Prayers Ancient and Modern by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 354 #2

Graphic: Mozarabic manuscript from the Cathedral of Leon, from Wikimedia Commons.

A Sarum Blessing (5)

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d May the eternal God
bless and keep us,
guard our bodies,
save our souls
and bring us safe to the heavenly country,
our eternal home,
where Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit reign,
one God for ever and ever.

Source: Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: Ministry at the Time of Death, Church of England, https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/pastoral/funeral/attimeofdeath.aspx

Variant:

May the eternal God
bless and keep us,
guard our bodies,
save our souls,
direct our thoughts
and bring us home,
where Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit ever reign,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.