Thursday, July 22, 2010

Prayer For Sick

Heavenly Father, Giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your sick servants and give your power of healing to those who minister to their needs, that (name) for whom my prayers are offered may be strengthened in his/her/their distress and have sure knowledge of your loving care through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Divine Hours
Phyllis Tickle

Thankyou lord for color

Thank you, oh Lord, for the colors;
The crimson, the copper and golds,
and every hue in between.
Just in case my dullness may prevent the seeing
You toss them at my feet
Swirl them about my head
With a crisp, lively wind that won’t quit
‘til the fragrance of my praise is mingled,
lifted to the very throne of God!
Thank you, oh God, for Autumn.

Prayer To God

A Prayer to God

God, thank you.
I thank you, God, for always being with me, but
especially, I am grateful that you are with me
right now.

God, send your Holy Spirit upon me.
God, let the Holy Spirit enlighten my mind and
warm my heart that I may know where and
how we have been together this day.

God, let me look at my day.
God, where have a felt your presence, seen your face,
heard your word this day?
God , where have I ignored you, run from you,
perhaps even rejected you this day?

God, let me be grateful and ask forgiveness.
God, I thank you for the times this day we have been
together and worked together.
God, I am sorry for the ways I have offended you
by what I have done or what I did not do.

God, stay close.
God, I ask that you draw me ever closer to you this
day and tomorrow.
God, you are the God of my life – thank you.

This prayer was taken from What Is Ignatian Spirituality by David L. Fleming, SJ. (Loyola Press, 2008)

Prayer for Quietness & Listening

Calm Me into a Quietness

Now,
O Lord,
calm me into a quietness
that heals
and listens,
and molds my longings
and passions
my wounds
and wonderings
into a more holy
and human
shape.

Taken from Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Yoder

Prayer For The Earth

Most gracious God, creator of all good things, we thank you for planet earth and all creatures that share it.

Have mercy on us, Lord. Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned clean air and pure water. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life in the future, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction.

We who join in prayer today believe the time has come, Lord. Please guide us now, our God, at this critical moment in history, to better fulfill our role as stewards of this fragile planet. Guide the leaders of nations who (will) gather in Copenhagen (on December 6). Give them courage to set noble goals that reach beyond short-range political expediency, short-term economic profit, and short-sighted self-interest. Impress upon their conscience our sacred duty to bequeath to our children and grandchildren a healthy and thriving environment rather than a world in climate crisis.

If our leaders fail, Lord, if they fail to take the necessary action, they will violate both our trust and your calling to use their power for the common good. If they fail, every person will be affected, including generations not yet born. Rouse us all to action for we are all woven together in the fabric of creation.

This is the moment, God, when a great turning of hearts must begin. So through this prayer, we of many traditions who follow Christ — joined by friends and neighbors of many faiths – unite our hearts in a cry for change. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray in the name of Christ, through whom you have given yourself to the whole world in incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.

Amen.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Gracious and generous God we give you thanks
For the gift of life for we are made in your image,
We think of all those in whom your divine image is still distorted
We pray for your mercy and love to rest upon them
God in your mercy be with them
Caring and providing God we give you thanks
For our homes that shelter and protect us,
We think of those without shelter and water and protection today
We pray for your provision to be poured out upon them
God in your mercy be with them
Abundant and giving God we give you thanks
For our food that nourishes and strengthens us,
We thing of those without food and nourishment today
We pray that you will feed them with the bread of life
God in your mercy be with them
Loving and compassionate God we give you thanks
For our friends and family who love and comfort us in times of need
We think of those who are alone and feel abandoned
God comfort and surround them that they may sense your presence
God in your mercy be with them

Gracious and generous God
We remember all the gifts you have given us,
We remember how lavishly you have provided,
We remember how lovingly you have cared,
We remember especially that greatest gift of all,
Jesus Christ our Saviour,
And we give you thanks.
Amen

Lord Open My Eyes

Holy Spirit
Open my eyes to see what you see
and change my heart today.

Amen.

Advent Prayer

Lord God, only you can see into my heart and know 
that under all the busy-ness of my life, 
there is a deep longing to make this Advent one that welcomes you more deeply into my own life.

My heart desires the warmth of your love and my mind searches for your Light in the midst of the darkness.

Help me to be a peacemaker this Advent and to give special love to those who disagree with me. Give me the strength and courage to forgive those who have hurt me. Help me to free my heart from the prison of my anger and hurt.

Taken from “One Prayer a Day for Advent”

Advent Prayer

Pray with longing for a better world and the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

In our secret yearnings
we wait for your coming,
and in our grinding despair
we doubt that you will.

And in this privileged place
we are surrounded by witnesses who yearn more than do we
and by those who despair more deeply than do we.

Look upon your church and its pastors
in this season of hope
which runs so quickly to fatigue
and in this season of yearning
which becomes so easily quarrelsome.

Give us the grace and the impatience
to wait for your coming to the bottom of our toes,
to the edges of our fingertips.

We do not want our several worlds to end.

Come in your power
and come in your weakness
in any case
and make all things new.

Amen.

Walter Brueggeman
Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

Christ has come Christian Prayer

Rejoice, rejoice Christ our saviour has come

Cast off the works of darkness

Put on the ways of light

And clothe yourself with Christ

Put on love to surround you

Put on hope to guide you

Put on joy to sustain you

And clothe yourself with Christ

Rejoice on this dawn of righteousness

Rejoice for this day of justice

Rejoice in the prince of peace

And clothe yourself with Christ

From Christine Sine at GodSpace

Prayer For Haiti

Lord, our hearts cry out for the people of Haiti: for the millions affected, for lost loved ones, lost homes, and lost livelihoods. Lord, have mercy. Draw us together as your people to help in whatever ways we can, and we ask your grace on the emergency rescue and aid workers. Lord, have mercy. Bring relief, bring restoration, bring rescue. In Jesus’ name, amen

Contemporary Prayers

God of history and of my heart,

so much has happened to me during these whirlwind days:
I’ve known death and birth;

I’ve been brave and scared;

I’ve hurt, I’ve helped;

I’ve been honest, I’ve lied;

I’ve destroyed, I’ve created;

I’ve been with people, I’ve been lonely;

I’ve been loyal, I’ve betrayed;

I’ve decided, I’ve waffled;

I’ve laughed and I’ve cried.

You know my frail heart and my frayed history -

and now another day begins.



O God, help me to believe in beginnings

and in my beginning again,

no matter how often I’ve failed before.



Help me to make beginnings:

to begin going out of my weary mind

into fresh dreams,

daring to make my own bold tracks

in the land of now;

to begin forgiving

that I may experience mercy;

to begin questioning the unquestionable

that I may know truth

to begin disciplining

that I may create beauty;

to begin sacrificing

that I may make peace;

to begin loving 

that I may realize joy.



Help me to be a beginning to others,

to be a singer to the songless,

a storyteller to the aimless,

a befriender of the friendless;

to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,

of assurance for the doubting,

of reconciliation for the divided;

to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,

of comfort for the sorrowing,

of friendship for the forgotten;

to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,

of sweetness for the soured,

of gentleness for the angry,

of wholeness for the broken,

of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.



Help me to believe in beginnings,

to make a beginning,

to be a beginning,

so that I may not just grow old,

but grow new

each day of this wild, amazing life

you call me to live

with the passion of Jesus Christ.

Taken from Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder

Abraham's Prayer

God-

where are those promises?
when will they come?

I don’t see how this path will take me where you said we were going.

I don’t complain Lord,
but I wonder.

I trust,
I ask,
I wait
and I wonder.

Amen.

Prayer For Spring

God’s breath, will you bring
new life; birth spring buds of hope
to waiting hearts

Morning Prayer

New every morning is your love,
great God of light,
and all day long you are working for
good in the world.
Stir up in us desire to serve you,
to live peacefully with our neighbors,
and to devote each day to your Son,
our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.
Amen.

Prayer For Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Spirit Prayer

Come Holy Spirit,
enter our silences.
Come Holy Spirit,
into the depths of our longings.
Come Holy Spirit,
our friend and our lover.
Come Holy Spirit,
unmask our pretending.
Come Holy Spirit,
expose our lives.
Come Holy Spirit,
sustain our weakness.
Come Holy Spirit,
redeem our creation.

Enter our trusting,
enter our fearing,
enter our letting go,
enter our holding back.

Flood our barren spaces,
make fertile our deserts within.
Break us and heal us,
liberator of our desires.

Come Holy Spirit,
embrace and free us.

Celtic Prayer For Hospitality

We saw a stranger yesterday.
We put food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
Music in the listening place,
And with the sacred name of the triune God
He blessed us and our house,
Our cattle and our dear ones.
As the lark says in her song:
Often, often, often, goes the Christ
In the stranger’s guise.

True evangelical faith
cannot lie dormant
it clothes the naked
it feeds the hungry
it comforts the sorrowful
it shelters the destitute
it serves those that harm it
it binds up that which is wounded
it has become all things to all creatures.

~ Menno Simmons, 16th century

Prayer For Children at Risk

Father God,

We come in agreement today asking that You touch the lives of children who have never known what it is to receive affection, warm arms that offer love, or a place of safety and security.

We are sorry because we have not always opened our hearts or arms to speak and act on behalf of children at risk in order to serve them and make Your will known in the earth.

We pray that the cries of children who suffer would be heard by those who carry Your name Lord Jesus. We pray that You would send more workers into this ‘harvest field’ of millions. We pray for more intercessors, mothers and fathers to show Your love in this needy world. We pray that communities would be transformed as children discover Your love and that the world will know the good news of Your Kingdom as people work together in unity and love.

Amen.

Prayer for Neighbor

Lord-

Help me love my neighbor today:
Help me to see them
and reach out with your love
inviting your Spirit to work.

Amen.

Classic Prayer

O God, I have tasted Your goodness, and it has both satisfied me and mad me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want You; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Your glory, I pray, that so I may know You indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow You up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.
 In Jesus name.
 Amen

A prayer of thanksgiving

“Almighty, most holy, most high and supreme God, holy and just Father, Lord, king of heaven and earth, for Yourself we give thanks to You because by Your holy will, and by Your only Son, You have created all things spiritual and physical in the Holy Spirit and placed us, made in Your image and likeness, in paradise, where we fell by our own fault. And we give You thanks because, as by Your Son You created us, so by the true and holy love with which You have loved us, You caused Him, true God and true man, to be born….

And we give You thanks because Your Son Himself is to come again in the glory of His Majesty…to say to all who have known You and adored You, and served You in repentance: ‘Come all you blessed of My Father, possess the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.’ And since all we sinners are not worthy to name You, we humbly plead to You that our Lord Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, in whom You are well pleased, together with the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, may give thanks to You as it is pleasing to You and to Them, for all. Amen.”

An Indian Prayer

My grandfather is the fire

My grandmother is the wind

The Earth is my mother

The Great Spirit is my father


The World stopped at my birth

and laid itself at my feet


And I shall swallow the Earth whole when I die

and the Earth and I will be one


Hail The Great Spirit, my father

without him no one could exist

because there would be no will to live


Hail The Earth, my mother

without which no food could be grown

and so cause the will to live to starve


Hail the wind, my grandmother

for she brings loving, lifegiving rain

nourishing us as she nourishes our crops


Hail the fire, my grandfather

for the light, the warmth, the comfort he brings

without which we be animals, not men


Hail my parent and grandparents

without which

not I

nor you

nor anyone else

could have existed


Life gives life

which gives unto itself

a promise of new life


Hail the Great Spirit, The Earth, the wind, the fire

praise my parents loudly

for they are your parents, too


Oh, Great Spirit, giver of my life

please accept this humble offering of prayer

this offering of praise

this honest reverence of my love for you.

Cherokee Prayer Blessing

May the Warm Winds of Heaven

Blow softly upon your house.

May the Great Spirit

Bless all who enter there.

May your Mocassins

Make happy tracks

in many snows,

and may the Rainbow

Always touch your shoulder.

Prayer before the U.S. Senate - 1975

"In the presence of this house, Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka, and from

the directions where the sun sets,

and from the direction of cleansing power,

and from the direction of the rising un,

and from the direction of the middle of the day.

Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka,

Grandmother, the Earth who hears everything,

Grandmother, because you are woman, for this reason you are kind,

I come to you this day.



To tell you to love the red men, and watch over them,

and give these young men the understanding

because, Grandmother, from you comes the good things, good things

that are beyond our eyes to see have been blessed in our midst

for this reason I make my supplication known to you again.



Give us a blessing so that our words and actions be one in unity,

and that we be able to listen to each other, in so doing,

we shall with good heart walk hand in hand to face the future.



In the presence of the outside, we are thankful for many blessings.

I make my prayer for all people, the children, the women and the men.

I pray that no harm will come to them,

and that on the great island, there be no war,

that there be no ill feelings among us

From this day on may we walk hand in hand

So be it.

Great Spirit Prayer

"Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind,

Whose breath gives life to all the world.

Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice

Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.

Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.

Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.

Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy

Myself.

Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.

Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace

We pray to God to eradicate all the

misery in the world:

that understanding triumph

over ignorance,

that generosity triumph over indifference,

that trust triumph over contempt, and

that truth triumph over falsehood.

Jainist Prayer for Peace

Peace and Universal Love is the essence

of the Gospel preached by all the

Enlightened Ones.

The Lord has preached that equanimity

is the Dharma.

Forgive do I creatures all,

and let all creatures forgive me.

Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.

Know that violence is the root cause of

all miseries in the world.

Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.

"Do not injure any living being."

This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable

way of spiritual life.

A weapon howsoever powerful it may be,

can always be superseded by a superior one;

but no weapon can, however,

be superior to non-violence and love.

Shinto Prayer for Peace

Although the people living

across the ocean

surrounding us, I believe,

are all our brothers and sisters,

why are there constant troubles in

this world?

Why do winds and waves rise in the

ocean surrounding us?

I only earnestly wish that the wind will

soon puff away all the clouds which are

hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Christian Prayer for Peace

Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS,

for they shall be known as

the Children of God.

But I say to you that hear,

love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you,

pray for those who abuse you.

To those who strike you on the cheek,

offer the other also,

and from those who take away your cloak,

do not withhold your coat as well.

Give to everyone who begs from you,

and of those who take away your goods,

do not ask them again.

And as you wish that others would do to you,

so do to them.

Muslim Prayer for Peace

In the name of Allah,

the beneficent, the merciful.

Praise be to the Lord of the

Universe who has created us and

made us into tribes and nations,

That we may know each other, not that

we may despise each other.

If the enemy incline towards peace, do

thou also incline towards peace, and

trust God, for the Lord is the one that

heareth and knoweth all things.

And the servants of God,

Most Gracious are those who walk on

the Earth in humility, and when we

address them, we say "PEACE."

Jewish Prayer for Peace

Come let us go up the mountain of

the Lord, that we may walk the

paths of the Most High.

And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares,

and our spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation--

neither shall they learn war any more.

And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the

Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Hindu Prayer for Peace

Oh God, lead us from the

unreal to the Real.

Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.

Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in

celestial regions.

May there be peace on earth.

May the waters be appeasing.

May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and

plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent

beings bring peace to us.

May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all

through the world.

May all things be a source of peace to us.

And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all,

and may that peace come to me also.

Native African Prayer for Peace

Almighty God, the Great

Thumb we cannot evade to

tie any knot;

the Roaring Thunder that splits

mighty trees:

the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees

even the footprints of an antelope on a

rock mass here on Earth.

You are the one who does

not hesitate to respond to our call.

You are the cornerstone of peace.

Sikh Prayer for Peace

God adjudges us according

to our deeds,

not the coat that we wear:

that truth is above everything,

but higher still is truthful living.

Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,

and only that victory

endures in consequences of which no

one is defeated.

Bahai' Prayer for Peace

Be generous in prosperity,

and thankful in adversity.

Be fair in thy judgement,

and guarded in thy speech.

Be a lamp unto those who walk

in darkness, and a home

to the stranger.

Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light

unto the feet of the erring.

Be a breath of life to the body of

humankind, a dew to the soil of

the human heart,

and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

Buddhist Prayer for Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued

with sufferings of body and mind

quickly be freed from their illnesses.

May those frightened cease to be afraid,

and may those bound be free.

May the powerless find power,

and may people think of befriending

one another.

May those who find themselves in trackless,

fearful wilderness--

the children, the aged, the unprotected--

be guarded by beneficent celestials,

and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great Spirit of our

Ancestors, I raise

my pipe to you.

To your messengers the four winds, and

to Mother Earth who provides

for your children.

Give us the wisdom to teach our children

to love, to respect, and to be kind to each

other so that they may grow

with peace in mind.

Let us learn to share all good things that

you provide for us on this Earth.

Thanksgiving Prayer

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.

We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.


Iroquois Prayer, adapted

(Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace)

Marriage Prayers and Blessings

Lord, help us to remember when we first met and the strong love that grew between us.

To work that love into practical things so nothing can divide us.

We ask for words both kind and loving, and for hearts always ready to ask forgiveness as well as to forgive.

Dear Lord, we put our marriage into Your hands.

Amen.

A Prayer For Renewal

Lord, we are your people, the sheep of your flock.

Heal the sheep who are wounded.

Touch the sheep who are in pain.

Clean the sheep who are soiled.

Warm the lambs who are cold.

Help us to know the Father's love through Jesus the shepherd, and through the Spirit.

Help us to lift up that love, and show it all over this land.

Help us to build love on justice and justice on love.

Help us to

believe mightily,
hope joyfully,
love divinely.

Renew us that we may help renew the face of the earth.

Amen

Author Unknown

A Single Parent's Prayer

Lord, grant me

Time enough

to do all the chores, join in the games, help with the lessons, and say the night prayers, and still have a few moments left over for me.

Energy enough

to be bread-baker and breadwinner, knee-patcher and peacemaker, ballplayer and bill juggler.

Hands enough

to wipe away the tears, to reach out when I'm needed, to hug and to hold, to tickle and touch.

Heart enough

to share and to care, to listen and to understand, and to make a loving home for my family.

Author Unknown

A Prayer For Children

God, our Father, we pray that you will protect our children.

Keep them safe from harm and help them to grow healthy in mind and body.

Give them enough strength to keep their faith in you,

and keep alive their joy at the Birth of Jesus at Christmas time.

St. Nicholas

A Prayer For Growing Old Gracefully


Lord, Thou knowest better than I myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all; but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains; they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people; and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

Amen.

Author Unknown

A Prayer For Our Young People

God our Father, You see Your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world.

Show them that Your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following You is better than chasing after selfish goals.

Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start.

Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Author Unknown

A Nurse's Prayer

O my God, teach me to receive the sick in Thy Name. Give to my efforts success for the glory of Thy Holy Name.

It is Thy work; without Thee, I cannot succeed.

Grant that the sick Thou hast placed in my care may be abundantly blessed, and not one of them be lost because of any neglect on my part.

Help me to overcome every temporal weakness, and strengthen in me whatever may enable me to bring joy to the lives of those I serve.

Give me grace, for the sake of Thy sick ones and of those lives that will be influenced by them.

Author Unknown

A Physician's Prayer

Lord, Thou Great Physician, I kneel before Thee. Since every good and perfect gift must come from Thee:

I Pray

Give skill to my hand, clear vision to my mind, kindness and sympathy to my heart. Give me singleness of purpose, strength to lift at least a part of the burden of my suffering fellow men, and a true realization of the rare privilege that is mine. Take from my heart all guile and worldliness, that with the simple faith of a child I may rely on Thee.

Amen

Author Unknown

Family Prayer

God made us a family

We need one another

We love one another

We forgive one another

We work together

We play together

We worship together

Together we use God's word

Together we grow in Christ

Together we love all men

Together we serve our God

Together we hope for Heaven

These are our hopes and ideals

Help us to attain them, O God,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Author Unknown

A Prayer For Those Who Live Alone

I live alone, Dear Lord.

Stay by my side.

In all my daily needs,

Be Thou my guide.

Grant me good health,

For that, indeed, I pray

To carry on my work

From day to day.

Keep pure my mind,

My thoughts, my every deed,

Let me be kind, unselfish,

In my neighbor's need.

If sickness or an accident befall,

The humbly, Lord, I pray,

Hear Thou my call.

And when I'm feeling low

Or in despair,

Lift up my heart

And help me in my prayer.

I live alone, Dear Lord,

Yet have no fear,

Because I feel Your presence

Ever near.

Amen

Author Unknown

Healing Prayer At Bedtime

Lord Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, go back into my memory as I sleep.

Every hurt that has ever been done to me, heal that hurt.

Every hurt that I have ever caused another person, heal that hurt.

All the relationships that have been damaged in my whole life that I am not aware of, heal those relationships.

But, Lord, if there is anything that I need to do;

If I need to go to a person because he or she is still suffering from my hand,

Bring to my awareness that person, I choose to forgive and I ask to be forgiven.

Remove whatever bitterness may be in my heart, Lord, and fill the empty spaces with your love.

Amen.

Author Unknown

SIOUX PRAYER

Grandfather Great Spirit All Over The World

The Faces Of Living Things Are Alike.

With Tenderness, They Have Come Up Out Of The Ground.

Look Upon Your Children That They May Face The Winds

And Walk The Good Road To The Day Of Quiet.

Grandfather Great Spirit

Fill Us With The Light.

Give Us The Strength To Understand And The Eyes To See.

Teach Us To Walk The Soft Earth As Relatives

To All That Live.

~Sioux Prayer~

Ojibwa Prayer

Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds

And whose breath gives life to everyone,

Hear me.

I come to you as one of your many children;

I am weakÖI am smallÖI need your wisdom and your strength.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever

behold the red and purple sunsets.

Make my hands respect the things you have made,

and make my ears sharp so I may hear your voice.

Make me wise, so that I may understand what you

have taught my people and

The lessons you have hidden in each leaf

and each rock.

I ask for wisdom and strength,

Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able

to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

Make me ever ready to come before you with

clean hands and a straight eye,

So as life fades away as a fading sunset,

My spirit may come to you without shame.


-Author Unknown

Army Mother's Prayer

God bless my son
As he falls to sleep,
I pray this night the peace to keep.

When he wakes to start the day
I pray that love will lead the way.
If there's danger
And if there's strife,
Please send Angels to guard his life.

Keep him safe and free from fear,
Bless my soldier and keep him near.

Until he's home, Until he's safe
Bring peace to our hearts
And strength to our faith.

Army Mom
(submitted by Cale's Mom)

ARMY MOM'S PRAYER FOR HER SOLDIER SON

I Give To You, My Son
I held him as an infant; I hugged him as a boy
and through the years he has become my greatest pride and joy.

I love him more than I can say, his life more precious than my own,
but gone are the whims and notions of the little boy that I had known.

For the years have passed so quickly since the time it all began
and now he stands before me with the conviction of a man.

He wants to serve his country, he states aloud with pride
as I try to sort out the emotions that I'm feeling deep inside...

a union of the uncertain fear, which I cannot control
and the allegiance which lies deep within my patriotic soul.


I trust that my years of guidance will serve as a strong foundation
as he performs the duties requested from his beloved nation.


God please guide him as he travels to the places our soldiers have bled
and walk with him through pathways where those heroes' feet have tread.

Oh Sweet Land of Liberty, humbly I give to you, my son
praying you'll return him safely home when his work for you is done.

---Author unknown---

Army Wife Prayer

Dear Lord,
Give me the greatness of heart to see the difference between duty and his love for me. Give me understanding that I may know, when duty calls him he must go. Give me a task to do each day, to fill the time when he’s away. And Lord, when he’s in a foreign land, keep him safe in your loving hand. And Lord, when duty is in the field, please protect him and be his shield. And Lord, when deployment is so long, please stay with me and keep me strong.
Amen.

A Student's Prayer

Creator of all things, true source of Light and Wisdom, lofty source of all Being, graciously let a ray of Your Brilliance penetrate into the darkness of my understanding and take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, sin and ignorance.

Give me a sharp sense of understanding , a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.

Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations, and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.

Point out the beginning, direct the progress, help in the completion.

Through Christ our Lord.

St. Thomas Aquinas