Prayers of Gratitude
Thanksgiving is the part of prayer most easily skipped. These prayers are for deliberately naming what has been given.
They range from grace before meals to fuller prayers of thanksgiving after an answered prayer or a hard season finally ended.
35 prayers
- A General Thanksgiving (Book of Common Prayer)
Written by Bishop Edward Reynolds for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, this is the classic Anglican thanksgiving, said at Morning and…
- A Prayer for a Newborn Child
A prayer of thanksgiving and blessing at a birth, closing with the Aaronic Blessing of Numbers 6. Christians have blessed newborns from the…
- A Prayer for Daily Work and Provision
Drawn from the Book of Common Prayer's collect "For Every Man in His Work," this prayer treats ordinary labour as a genuine vocation rather…
- Blessing for a Birthday
A blessing of thanksgiving for another year of life and a prayer for the year to come.
- Blessing of a Garden
A blessing over a garden, asking fruitfulness of the soil and peace for those who tend it.
- Blessing of Animals and Pets
A blessing for pets, working animals, and livestock, traditionally prayed on the feast of St. Francis.
- Blessing of Fields and Crops
A Rogation-tide blessing over farmland and crops for a fruitful harvest.
- Blessing of the Harvest
A thanksgiving blessing over the gathered harvest and the food set on the table.
- Canticle of the Sun (Canticle of the Creatures)
Composed by St. Francis of Assisi in 1225, near the end of his life and while nearly blind. It is generally considered the earliest…
- Collect for Christmas Day
The Prayer Book collect for the Nativity, said throughout the twelve days of Christmas. It moves from Christ's taking our nature to our…
- David's Prayer: Who Am I, O Lord God
David sits before the Lord after being told his house will endure, and can only ask, 'Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house?' It is…
- Glory to God for All Things (Akathist)
An akathist composed in the Soviet labour camps, associated with Metropolitan Tryphon of Moscow and with Fr. Grigory Petrov, who died in…
- Grace After Meals
The traditional Catholic table blessing said at the end of a meal, paired with the Grace Before Meals. Its second half turns the household…
- Grace Before Meals
The Benedicite table blessing is one of the most widely prayed Christian prayers in the world, said before meals in Catholic homes for many…
- Luther's Morning Prayer
Written by Martin Luther for his Small Catechism (1529) as part of his instructions for how the head of a household should teach the family…
- Morning Offering
Popularized by the Apostleship of Prayer in the 19th century. Its logic is simple and transformative: rather than setting aside a few…
- Morning Prayer of St. Macarius the Great
The first of the morning prayers in the Orthodox prayer book, attributed to St. Macarius the Great (c. 300–391), a father of Egyptian…
- Prayer After Confession
A traditional thanksgiving prayed after absolution, while performing one's penance. The Church has always paired sorrow with gratitude:…
- Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester
St. Richard of Chichester, an English bishop, is said to have prayed these words on his deathbed in 1253. The prayer was little known…
- Prayer of Thanksgiving (Coptic Agpeya)
The Prayer of Thanksgiving that opens every hour of the Agpeya, the Coptic Orthodox book of hours, and every Coptic liturgical service. Its…
- Psalm 100 — Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord
The Jubilate, sung at Anglican Morning Prayer as an alternative to the Te Deum and set countless times by church composers. Six verses of…
- Psalm 103 — Bless the Lord, O My Soul
A psalm of David and one of Scripture's fullest meditations on divine mercy. It is prayed daily at Orthodox Matins as one of the "Typica"…
- Psalm 116 — I Love the Lord, Because He Hath Heard My Voice
Part of the Hallel sung at Passover — very likely among the psalms Jesus and his disciples sang after the Last Supper. Its question, 'What…
- Psalm 34 — I Will Bless the Lord at All Times
Written, the title says, when David feigned madness before Abimelech and escaped. Its line 'O taste and see that the LORD is good' entered…
- Psalm 40 — He Brought Me Up Also Out of an Horrible Pit
A psalm of rescue and of glad obedience — 'Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me' — quoted in Hebrews of Christ's…
- Psalm 8 — How Excellent Is Thy Name
A night psalm of wonder: David looks at the moon and stars and asks what man is that God should be mindful of him. The letter to the…
- Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven)
The Regina Caeli is one of the four seasonal Marian antiphons, dating to at least the twelfth century, and legend holds that Pope St.…
- Te Deum Laudamus
An ancient Latin hymn of praise dating to the fourth century, traditionally ascribed to Sts. Ambrose and Augustine though most likely…
- Thanksgiving After Communion (St. Thomas Aquinas)
The Gratias tibi ago, printed in the Roman Missal among the prayers of thanksgiving after Mass. Aquinas wrote it for his own use; the…
- The Common Table Prayer
The best-known table grace in Lutheran and wider German-American Protestant households, appearing in print by the eighteenth century and…
- The Daily Examen of St. Ignatius
A structured evening review drawn from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1548). Ignatius considered it the one practice a…
- The Doxology (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow)
Written by Anglican bishop Thomas Ken in 1674 as the closing verse of his morning and evening hymns for the scholars of Winchester College.…
- The Glory Be (Doxology)
The Glory Be, or Gloria Patri, is one of the oldest prayers in continuous Christian use, with roots in the doxologies of the early Church…
- The Magnificat (Mary's Song of Praise)
The Magnificat is Mary's song of praise spoken at the Visitation, when she greeted her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:46-55). It echoes the song…
- The Song of Hannah (Canticle)
Hannah's thanksgiving after the birth of Samuel, the model on which Mary's Magnificat is built: the bows of the mighty broken, the hungry…