Prayer Before Writing or Preaching

"O ineffable Creator, who has wisely appointed nine choirs of angels, setting them above the heavens in marvelous order, who has wonderfully established the parts if the universe, who is the fountain of light and wisdom, the First Cause, shed upon the darkness of my mind the light of your love and remove from me the twofold darkness of sin and ignorance in which I was born. You who make eloquent the tongues of babes, instruct my tongue, pour the grace of your blessing upon my lips. Give keenness in understanding, retention in memory, facility in preaching and interpreting sublime realities, and a wide vocabulary as well. Inspire my beginning, direct my progress, bring all to an end, you who art true God and man, who livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen."

~St. Thomas Aquinas 
(Translation from An Aquinas Reader, ed. Mary T. Clark)

St. Thomas Before the Cross, by Sassetta.

Panel, 1423; Pinacoteca, Vatican.