Almighty God,
our heavenly Father,
you have committed to your holy Church
the care and nurture of your children.
Enlighten with your wisdom
those who teach and those who learn,
that rejoicing in the knowledge of your truth,
they may worship you
and serve you
from generation to generation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Source: Freely modified from A Book of Collects in Two Parts, John Wallace Suter and John Wallace Suter, Jr., Milwaukee: Morehouse Publishing, 1919.
Father,
give completeness to beginners,
understanding to the little ones,
and help to those who are running their course.
Give sorrow to the negligent,
fervor to the lukewarm,
and to the mature a true humility,
for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Source: Iranaeus of Lyon
Source of this version: Composite, mostly from Prayers of the Early Church, ed. J. Manning Potts, The Upper Room, Nashville, Tennessee, © 1953 (Public domain in the U.S.) and Glimpses of the Divine: A Spiritual Anthology for Use on Every Day of the Year, Cyril Bulley, Sussex Academic Press, 1994
“and to the mature, a true humility,” most translations render this line “and a good consummation to the perfect” Glimpses of the Divine has “and to the perfect a true humility.”
