Commontide
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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.
This prayer appears in more than one place in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
Thomas Cranmer wrote this collect for the very first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, replacing a medieval Latin emphasis on fasting with a direct plea for new and contrite hearts drawn from Psalm 51. Its opening phrase echoes the ancient Ash Wednesday introit already sung in Sarum churches, a text from the Wisdom of Solomon.