In Deep
Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you
Deep peace of the gentle night to you
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you
Deep peace of Christ the light of the world to you
Deep peace of Christ to you.
CELTIC PRAYER
God Bless
God bless Thou Thyself my reaping,
Each ridge, and plain, and field,
Each sickle curved, shapely, hard,
Each ear and handful on the sheaf.
CELTIC BLESSING
Bending the Knee
I am bending my knee
In the eye of the Father who created me,
In the eye of the Son who purchased me
In the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me
In friendship and affection.
CELTIC BLESSING
Help Me if You Can
Dear God, So far today I’ve done okay.
I haven’t gossiped, or lost my temper.
I haven’t been grumpy, nasty or selfish.
But in a few more minutes, God,
I’m going to get out of bed,
And that’s when I will need your help!
Amen.
The Fire Inside
Preach the Truth as if you had a million voices.
It is silence that kills the world.
You are rewarded not according to your work or your time
but according to the measure of your love.
A soul cannot live without loving.
It must have something to love,
For it was created to love.
To the servant of God, every place is the right place,
And every time is the right time.
We are of such value to God
That He came to love among us.
We can only respond by loving God for his love.
Be who God meant you to be
And you will set the world on fire.
ST CATHERINE OF SIENA
The Journey of Life
For each of us life is like a journey.
Birth is the beginning of this journey,
and death is not the end but the destination.
It is a journey that takes us from youth to age,
from innocence to awareness,
from ignorance to knowledge,
from foolishness to wisdom,
from weakness to strength and often back again,
from offence to forgiveness,
from loneliness to friendship,
from pain to compassion,
from fear to faith,
from defeat to victory and from victory to defeat,
until, looking backward or ahead,
we see that victory does not lie at some point along the way,
but in having made the journey, stage by stage.
ADAPTED FROM AN OLD HEBREW PRAYER
Why Worry?
Pray, hope and don’t worry.
Worry is useless.
God is merciful and will hear your prayer.
Amen.
PADRE PIO, 1887–1968
Belonging
Christi Simus Non Nostri
(We belong to Christ and not ourselves.)
Illuminations
Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance wherever I am.
Fill my heart with your Spirit and your life.
Penetrate my being and take such hold of me that my life becomes a radiation of your own life.
Give me your light through me and remain in me in such a way that every soul I come into contact with can feel your presence in me.
May people not see me but see you in me.
Remain in me, so that I shine with your light,
And may others be illuminated by my light.
All light will come from you, Oh Jesus.
Not even the smallest ray of light will be mine.
You will illuminate others through me.
Amen.
ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
Prayer of Abandonment
Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do I thank you;
I’m ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
And in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you
With all the love of my heart.
For I love you, Lord,
And so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands,
Without reserve,
And with boundless confidence,
for you are my father.
CHARLES DE FOUCOULD, 1895–1916
Prayer for the Start of the Week
We pause to pray at the start of this new day and at the beginning of this brand-new week.
O God, I know that I am going to be very busy today.
Help me not to be so busy that I miss the most important things.
Help me not to be too busy to look up and see a glimpse of beauty in your world.
Help me not to be too busy listening to other voices to hear your voice when you speak to me.
Help me not to be too busy to listen to anyone in trouble, and to help anyone who is in difficulty.
Help me not to be too busy to stand still for a moment to think and to remember.
Help me not to be too busy to remember the claims of my home, my parents and my family.
Help me all through today to remember that I must work my hardest, and also to remember that sometimes I must be still.
Amen.
Walk Tall
In beauty may I walk
All day long may I walk
Through returning seasons may I walk
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk
With dew about my feet may I walk
With beauty may I walk
With beauty behind me may I walk
With beauty above me may I walk
With beauty below me may I walk
With beauty all around me may I walk
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively may I walk
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living may I walk
It is finished in beauty
It is finished in beauty.
NAVAJO INDIAN PRAYER
The Fire Inside
Let us ever make it our prayer and our endeavour, that we may the whole counsel of God, and grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that all prejudice and self-confidence, and hollowness and unreality, and positiveness, and partisanship, may be put away from us under the light of Wisdom, and the fire of Faith and Love; till we see things as God sees them, with the judgement of His Spirit; and according to the mind of Christ.
ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN