After offering his praises to the “Ineffable Creator,” Thomas Aquinas writes in his “Prayer Before Study:”
Pour forth a ray of Your brightness into the darkened places of my mind;
disperse from my soul the twofold darkness into which I was born: sin and ignorance.You make eloquent the tongues of infants; refine my speech and pour forth upon my lips the goodness of your blessing.
Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret, and eloquence in speech.
May You guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion. You Who are true God and true Man, Who live and reign, world without end. Amen.
This version is quoted in Richard Hughes Gibson and James Edward Beitler’s Charitable Writing: Cultivating Virtue Through Our Words [affiliate link]. This prayer serves as a frame when approaching the writing task.
If you were to write a prayer for your work, what would you ask for? What do you need? What do you hope for as outcomes? Where could you use help?
