Commontide
O God, almighty and merciful, you heal the broken-hearted, and turn the sadness of the sorrowful to joy: Let your fatherly goodness be upon all whom you have made. Remember in pity all those who are this day destitute, homeless, elderly, infirm, or forgotten. Bless the multitude of your poor. Lift up those who are cast down. Mightily befriend innocent sufferers, and sanctify to them the endurance of their wrongs. Cheer with hope all who are discouraged and downcast, and by your heavenly grace preserve from falling those whose poverty tempts them to sin. Though they be troubled on every side, suffer them not to be distressed; though they are perplexed, save them from despair. Grant this, O Lord, for the love of him who for our sakes became poor, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
BCP 2019, p. 663
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
A prayer for anyone who feels poor, forgotten, or worn down by sorrow. It was composed for the Anglican Church in North America's 2019 Book of Common Prayer, but nearly every phrase in it is older: its body was already being prayed by American Anglicans in 1928, and its opening and closing images come from a related 1979 prayer. No individual author is named or claimed.