Commontide
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Original-language source · public domain
BCP 2019, p. 605
Preface of Lent
You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast; that, fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by your Word and Sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which you have prepared for those who love you.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
A prayer said on this Sunday for more than a thousand years, opening with the honest admission that we have no power within ourselves to help ourselves. Set down in Latin in the early medieval church and carried into England through the Sarum Missal, it was translated by Thomas Cranmer for the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549.