A Prayer Before Study

When our lives become more hectic and intense with the pressure of papers and exams, the need for prayer is more obvious (even if it is harder to come by). This prayer has survived the test of time, and you may wish to offer it each time you study.
—Jeff Barneson, Graduate & Faculty Ministries campus staff worker

Ineffable Creator . . .

You are proclaimed
the true font of light and wisdom,
and the primal origin
raised high beyond all things.

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.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Published in the Raccolta #764, Pius XI Studiorum Ducem, 1923.
[Adapted by permission from the Graduate & Faculty Ministries Web site.]