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Summary
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer has a prayer “For Rain,” a prayer “In Time of Dearth and Famine,” a thanksgiving for rain and a prayer “For Fair Weather” when rain will not stop.
- The Catholic prayer for rain, “O God, in whom we live, and move, and are,” is the English form of the Latin prayer the Roman Ritual appoints for its procession for rain.
- The traditional Catholic litany for rain is the Litany of the Saints with an added petition for “fitting rain”; Anglicans pray the Great Litany, and the Orthodox pray “for abundance of the fruits of the earth” at every Divine Liturgy.
- First Kings 18:42–45 records Elijah praying bowed to the ground on Mount Carmel while his servant looked for rain seven times; James 5:17–18 says “he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain.”
- Solomon’s prayer (1 Kings 8:35–36), Jeremiah 14 and Zechariah 10:1, “Ask ye of the LORD rain,” are the Bible’s other main rain prayers.
- Seven short prayers cover cracked ground and low wells, farmers and ranchers, people short of water, repentance, waiting, a church praying together and heavy rain.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Genesis 9:15; Deuteronomy 11:14; 32:2; 1 Kings 8:35–36; 17:1; 18:1, 42–45; 2 Chronicles 7:13–14; Psalm 147:8; Isaiah 41:17; Jeremiah 14:1, 4, 7, 22; Hosea 6:3; Habakkuk 3:17–18; Zechariah 10:1; Matthew 5:45; 6:31, 33; Acts 14:17; 17:28; James 5:16–18). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. The Litany, p. 57; Prayers and Thanksgivings, “For Fruitful Seasons,” p. 39, “For Rain,” “For Fair Weather” and “In Time of Dearth and Famine,” pp. 40–41; Thanksgivings, “For Rain,” p. 51. 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. Occasional Prayers, “For Rain” and “For Fair Weather,” p. 167; “The Litany of the Saints,” pp. 260–262. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888/page/167/mode/1up
- Rituale Romanum. Tours: A. Mame et Filii, edition approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 1906. Title IX, chapter 6, “De processione ad petendam pluviam,” pp. 296–297. https://archive.org/details/ritualeromanum00cath
- Mershman, Francis. “Rogation Days.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13110a.htm
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Divine Liturgy, the Great Litany, p. 81, and the prayer of the Liturgy of St. Basil, p. 110. https://archive.org/details/cu31924029363128
- Easton, M. G. “Rain.” Easton’s Bible Dictionary, 1897. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Easton%27s_Bible_Dictionary_(1897)/Rain
- “Prevent (v.).” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/prevent
