Luther’s daily prayers
From the Small Catechism, 1529 · a minute or two each
Four prayers: on waking, at bedtime, before a meal, after a meal. Pray the one for now; you do not need the others.
Read aloud uses your device’s own voice, not a recording of a person.
Morning
When you get up. Luther suggests making the sign of the cross and saying:
May the will of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be done! Amen.
Then, kneeling or standing, the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, and if you like, this:
My Heavenly Father, I thank You, through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, that You kept me safe from all evil and danger last night. Save me, I pray, that you will keep me safe today from every evil and sin as well, so that all I do and the way that I live will please you. I put myself in your care, body and soul and all that I have. Let Your holy Angels be with me, so that the evil enemy will not gain power over me. Amen.
Then go to your work with joy.
Evening
At bedtime. The sign of the cross, and:
May the will of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be done! Amen.
Then the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, and if you like, this:
My Heavenly Father, I thank You, through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, that You have protected me, by Your grace. Forgive, I pray, all my sins and the evil I have done. Protect me, by Your grace, tonight. I put myself in your care, body and soul and all that I have. Let Your holy angels be with me, so that the evil enemy will not gain power over me. Amen.
Then go to sleep straight away, and gladly.
Before a meal
With folded hands. Luther has the household say Psalm 145:15–16, then the Lord’s Prayer, and then:
Lord God, Heavenly Father, bless us and these gifts, which we receive from Your generous hand, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
After a meal
Folded hands again. Luther has the household say a few verses of thanks from the Psalms, then the Lord’s Prayer, and then:
We thank You, Lord God, Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, for all Your blessings. You live and rule forever! Amen!
Translated by Robert E. Smith for Project Wittenberg (1994, revised 2004) from the German in the Triglot Concordia (1921), and placed in the public domain by the translator. Printed as published, with one doubled comma corrected. The instructions in red are our summary of Luther’s. The whole translation at Project Wittenberg.