Dedicatory Prayer for the Provo Utah Temple

Introduction

In the dedicatory prayer of the Provo Utah Temple, President Joseph Fielding Smith pled for God to bless not only the temple but “that great temple of learning, the Brigham Young University, and all that is associated with it” (page 189). He also prayed for “all other Church schools, institutes, and seminaries” (page 189), as well as for “those who teach and study in all academic fields” (page 190).

With the completion of the Provo Utah Temple in 1972, Brigham Young University, the Missionary Training Center, and the temple formed one contiguous campus on which were located three similar but different kinds of houses of faith and learning. Commenting on this unique conjunction, then BYU president Dallin H. Oaks observed: “From the beginning of this dispensation the Lord has associated the temple, the school, and the ministry, a trio now brought together in this spot.” Looking out his office window, he would tell visitors that “these three institutions—university, mission, and temple are the most powerful combination of institutions on the face of the earth” (“A House of Faith,” BYU annual university conference address, 31 August 1977).

Almost forty years after making these remarks as BYU president, Elder Dallin H. Oaks was invited to dedicate a second temple in Provo. In his dedicatory prayer for the Provo City Center Temple, Elder Oaks again linked temple, mission, and university, including both BYU and Utah Valley University. Brigham Young University has thus been twice blessed by prophets in conjunction with the dedication of two temples.

The following excerpts are from the dedicatory prayers for these two Provo temples. The full prayers can be found at churchofjesuschrist.org/temples.

Dedicatory Prayer Excerpt

Our souls are troubled and we weep because of the wickedness of the world and the evils that abound on every hand. Out of deep concern, therefore, we pray for the youth of Zion, for the young and rising generation, for those who must now prepare themselves to bear up the kingdom in their time and season. Keep them from evil; hedge up the way so they may not fall into sin and be overcome by the world. O Lord, bless the youth of  Zion and us their leaders that we may guide and direct them aright.

We know that thy kingdom shall roll onward and that hosts of the young and rising generation shall yet stand forth in power and great glory as witnesses of thy name and teachers of thy law. Preserve them, O our God; enlighten their minds and pour out upon them thy Holy Spirit, as they prepare for the great work that shall rest upon them.

Let that great temple of  learning, the Brigham Young University, and all that is associated with it, and all other Church schools, institutes, and seminaries be prospered to the full. Let thy enlightening power rest upon those who teach and those who are taught, that they may “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”¹

Bless us, O Lord, that we may “teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom,”² as thou hast commanded. May we do so with such diligence that thy holy grace shall attend, so that we may “be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God.”³

May those who teach and study in all academic fields have their souls enlightened with spiritual knowledge so they will turn to thy house for blessings and knowledge and learning that surpass all that may be found elsewhere.

This is an excerpt from the dedicatory prayer given by Joseph Fielding Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the Provo Utah Temple on February 9, 1972.

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