Rogation Monday
Posted on May 11, 2026 by under
Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (NKJV)
2:1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Devotion
Today begins what the Church calls Rogationtide. These are the three days leading up to the Festival of the Ascension of our Lord. These are days marked by prayer and fasting. Historically, these prayers focused on asking our Lord for His blessing upon the planting and harvesting of crops. In farming communities these prayers for the Lord to bless their crops are especially needful, but even in non-farming communities, prayers to bless our crops serve to remind us that all of our “daily bread,” as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, is a gift of the Lord God.
St. Paul in his first Epistle to St. Timothy commends us to pray for another “daily bread.” For our daily bread includes all that we need to support this body and life, both physically and spiritually. Part of our “daily bread” is to pray for good government. St. Paul gives the reason: “we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence.” One may recognize this petition from the General Prayer prayed in the Divine Service. When we pray this petition, we are asking our Lord to make things favorable in our land so that all men may come to the knowledge of the truth of salvation in the Lord Jesus alone. For He is the one Mediator between God and men, who also grants us all of our “daily bread.” May our prayers during this Rogationtide reflect this truth.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we, who in our affliction put our trust in Thy mercy, may ever be defended by Thy protection against all adversity; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Rogate Sunday
O God, from Whom all good things do come: Grant to us Thy humble servants, that by Thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be right and by Thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
