Intercession as Daily Habit

Within the structure of Anglican Morning and Evening Prayer, this prayer typically appears among a small cluster of intercessory prayers said after the creed and the Lord's Prayer, positioned so that the daily office moves from praise and confession of faith into concrete concern for the needs of others before closing with thanksgiving, a sequence that liturgical scholars describe as moving worshippers outward from their own devotion toward the wider world before the service ends. Its use has remained largely confined to the daily office rather than the communion service, distinguishing its liturgical role from prayers such as the Collect for Purity that belong specifically to the eucharistic rite.

Clergy reciting the daily office privately, a practice historically expected of Anglican priests whether or not a congregation was present, would have said this prayer as a matter of routine discipline, which partly explains why prayers of this kind, general in application and moderate in length, proliferated within the daily office tradition even as much longer or more elaborate prayers remained reserved for major services. Its continued inclusion in many contemporary Anglican prayer books, sometimes in updated language, testifies to the ongoing value provinces have placed on having a short, comprehensive intercessory option available for daily use.