Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, kindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Da nobis, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut qui nova incarnati Verbi tui luce perfundimur, hoc in nostro resplendeat opere, quod per fidem fulget in mente.
↻Turn your device to see the Latin original
Preface of Christmas
Because you gave Jesus Christ, your only Son, to be born for us; who, by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary his mother, was made truly man, yet without the stain of sin, that we might be cleansed from sin and given the right to become your children.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
One of the oldest prayers in the Anglican inheritance, this collect began as the opening prayer of the Christmas dawn Mass in ancient Rome, celebrated at the Basilica of Sant'Anastasia as the first light of December 25 broke. Its central image – Christ as a new light suffusing the world – echoes the opening of John's Gospel, and it did not enter any English Prayer Book until the American revision of 1928.