In many countries around the world, including the Philippines, school classes usually start with an opening prayer, which is often led by the teacher. If you are a teacher or a student tasked with leading the opening prayer but you don’t know what to say, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll share with you our sample prayer before class that you can use inside the classroom as well as online.
Prayer is a powerful way to communicate with our Creator, and to express our deepest and sincerest desires with the Lord. Prayers can be personal and private – only recited all by yourself – or public and shared with others in a group.
Many events and gatherings, such as classes in school or university, commence with a prayer wishing for a successful activity. This is often the case with Christian or Catholic educational institutions; not so much with non-sectarian and public schools. Sometimes, these events culminate with a closing prayer thanking the Lord for the successful conduct and conclusion of the activity.
An opening prayer before class is one way to humbly ask God for guidance and wisdom as you learn and study your lessons. The Catholic Church, however, doesn’t have an official prayer for classes. That is why some teachers and students improvise on the fly and come up with their own impromptu prayers before class.
But you don’t have to make your own opening prayer for your class because we have created one for you. Feel free to use our prayer inside the classroom or during online classes on Zoom or Google Meet. So without further ado, here is our simple and solemn prayer before class.
Prayer Before Class
Father, we thank you for your grace, love and mercy that has been extended to us one more time. We thank you for protecting us and keeping us in our right minds, especially throughout this pandemic.
Lord, we thank you for granting us this opportunity to come together in this fashion to increase our knowledge. Lord, you said that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask you and you will give liberally without reservation. I pray today that you grant us wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
Increase our capacity, Lord, as we learn. Give us understanding, Oh God, that we will be able to grasp whatever is being taught. May what we receive today be beneficial to our growth and development.
Lord, I pray for the one that will be imparting knowledge to us. I pray that you will bless them with the requisite skill and mastery as they seek to open up our understanding in this area.
Proverbs 18:15 tells us that the heart of the prudent gets knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. So, Lord, we look to you now for guidance and instruction.
We ask that you bless this session in every way, bless the participants, and bless the instructor. Take full control, Oh God, and may everything go according to your will and purpose in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!
Download the Prayer Before Class
If you want a copy of our opening prayer before class, click any of the buttons below to download it in Microsoft Word (.docx), Google Docs, or PDF file formats.
Feel free to print and share the prayer for personal use in your classroom or online class. If you want to share the prayer on social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), please mention Tech Pilipinas as the author and copyright owner.
How to Pray the Opening Prayer Before Class
Follow these steps when praying the opening prayer for the start of classes:
- Make the sign of the cross.
- Recite the Trinitarian formula (“in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”) while making the sign of the cross.
- Say the opening prayer in a slow, clear and solemn tone.
- Close the prayer by saying “Amen.”
- Repeat the sign of the cross and the Trinitarian formula.
Parting Words
We hope that our opening prayer before class is a big help to you in case you can’t come up with your own. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends and colleagues who might be interested to know how to start a class with a prayer. God bless!
