5 traditional prayers for teachers, and 8 passages from the Bible to pray with them. Choose one, read it aloud, or print it as a card to keep.
Almighty God, we beseech thee, with thy gracious favour to behold our universities, colleges, and schools, that knowledge may be increased among us, and all good learning flourish and abound. Bless all who teach and all who learn; and grant that in humility of heart they may ever look unto thee, who art the fountain of all wisdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, our heavenly Father, who hast committed to thy holy Church the care and nurture of thy children; Enlighten with thy wisdom those who teach and those who learn, that, rejoicing in the knowledge of thy truth, they may worship thee and serve thee from generation to generation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things both in heaven and earth; we invoke thy blessing upon the proceedings in which we are now engaged. We pray especially for thy protection upon those who, leaving their school days behind, are about to go forth to meet the sterner duties of maturer life. Let thy mercy ever be with them. Direct them in all their doings with thy most gracious favor and further them with thy continual help; and grant that, thou being their ruler and guide, they may so pass through things temporal that they lose not finally the things eternal. Bless, we pray thee, our public schools, and all institutions of learning, their officers, teachers and pupils; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Incomprehensible Creator, the true Fountain of light and only Author of all knowledge: vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, to enlighten our understandings, and to remove from us all darkness of sin and ignorance. Thou, who makest eloquent the tongues of those that want utterance, direct our tongues, and pour on our lips the grace of Thy blessing. Give us a diligent and obedient spirit, quickness of apprehension, capacity of retaining, and the powerful assistance of Thy holy grace; that what we hear or learn we may apply to Thy honor and the eternal salvation of our own souls.
Angelic Doctor St Thomas, prince of theologians and model of philosophers, bright ornament of the Christian world and light of the Church; O heavenly patron of all Catholic schools, who didst learn wisdom without guile and dost communicate it without envy, intercede for us with the Son of God, Wisdom itself, that the spirit of wisdom may descend upon us, and enable us to understand clearly that which thou hast taught, and fulfil it by imitating thy deeds; to become partakers of that doctrine and virtue which caused thee to shine like the sun on earth; and at last to rejoice with thee for ever in their most sweet fruits in Heaven, together praising the Divine Wisdom for all eternity. Amen.
From the Raccolta (1910)
Also on St Thomas Aquinas Prayer
6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6, King James Version
9Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
1 Kings 3:9, King James Version
1I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
2 Timothy 4:1-5, King James Version
1My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
James 3:1, King James Version
14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16, King James Version
12Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
1 Timothy 4:12-16, King James Version
5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7, King James Version
3I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 5For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Philippians 1:3-6, King James Version
Start with "Prayer for Schools, Colleges, and Universities" and pray it each day, with Train Up a Child (Proverbs 22:6) to read alongside it.
Both. They come from Catholic prayer books, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Protestant and Lutheran collections and the Bible. Most can be prayed by any Christian.
Yes. Where a prayer says "N." or "thy servant", put in the name of the person you are praying for.
They keep the words of the older prayer books and the King James Bible, the words generations have prayed. "Thee" and "thou" are the old familiar forms of "you".