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Summary
- The Prayer for Generosity (“Lord, teach me to be generous … to give and not to count the cost”) is credited to St. Ignatius of Loyola but not found in his writings; its oldest known attribution to him is in a French book of 1897.
- King David’s words at the temple offering, “all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:14), are among the offertory sentences of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
- Traditional prayers for charity are quoted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (the Quinquagesima collect) and the 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers.
- Short prayers cover the offering, a small gift, online giving, money, fear of not having enough, time, noticing need, giving in secret, giving without judging, mercy and a cheerful heart.
- Jesus judged the poor widow’s two mites the largest gift “for all they did cast in of their abundance” (Mark 12:44); “It is more blessed to give than to receive” is quoted by Paul in Acts 20:35.
- Scripture promises a return to givers (Luke 6:38; Proverbs 19:17) but also says to lend “hoping for nothing again” (Luke 6:35) and places the reward “at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Deuteronomy 15:11; 1 Chronicles 29:9, 14; Proverbs 19:17; Matthew 5:45; 6:3; 10:8; 25:35–36; Mark 12:44; Luke 6:35–36, 38; 14:13–14; 21:1–4; Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:6–8; 1 Timothy 6:18; 1 John 3:17). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Mahoney, Jack, SJ. “A Mysterious Ignatian Prayer.” Thinking Faith, 17 February 2012 (text of the Prayer for Generosity; Iparraguirre’s and Munitiz’s findings on its origin). https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20120217_1.htm
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Offertory sentences, Holy Communion, pp. 72–73; Collect for Quinquagesima, p. 122; Articles of Religion, Article VI, p. 604. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. The Corporal Works of Mercy, p. 22; “For the gift of Charity,” p. 169. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
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