St. Augustine of Hippo wrote this prayer around 400 AD, asking God to remove sin and replace a hardened heart with one alive to grace. Pray it this morning if you feel distant from God, or when you need the Holy Spirit’s fire to burn away what keeps you from loving him.
O Lord, who hast mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit. Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore thee, a heart to delight in thee, to follow and to enjoy thee, for Christ’s sake. Amen.
St. Augustine of Hippo, c. 400 AD
How this prayer works
Augustine asks God for two gifts: the removal of sin and the kindling of the Holy Spirit’s fire. The “heart of stone” he mentions echoes Ezekiel 36:26, where God promises to replace Israel’s unresponsive heart with a living one. Augustine knew what he was asking for because he had lived it. Before his conversion at age 32, he spent years chasing pleasure and pride, his heart hardened against God’s call.
The prayer names five movements of a converted heart: to love, to adore, to delight, to follow, to enjoy. These aren’t vague aspirations. They describe what the Holy Spirit does when he takes up residence: he turns duty into delight, obedience into joy, knowledge into love. Augustine is asking God to make him want what God wants.
Pray it slowly this morning, phrase by phrase, letting each petition settle. Or return to it when you feel spiritually cold, when prayer feels like work instead of gift. Carry it through this day.
