Apologist's Evening Prayer
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.
- C. S. Lewis
in Poems (ed. Walter Hooper 1964)
The Catholic Apologist's Daily Prayer
Ineffable Creator, who from the treasures of your wisdom, have
established three hierarchies of angels, have arrayed them in
marvelous order above the fiery Heavens, and have marshaled the
regions of the universe with such artful skill, 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
blessings. 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