Friday, September 28, 2012

Earth Prayers

                                                                                              Picture by Treena Duncan
O Sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,
      for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I glaze upon your full-colored beauty,
     I sense all about you
     an at-homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement,
     of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
     and the busy work of giving life
     is now completed.
I sense in you no regrets:
     you've lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever-restless,
     always eager for more mountains to climb,
     seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
     I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received,
     may I know that it's enough,
     that my striving can cease
     in the abundance of God's grace.
May I know the contentment
     that allows the totality of my energies
     to come to full flower.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.

As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
     let me also take delight
     in the abundance of the simple things in life
     which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
     may I truly apprecieate this autumn day.

~Written by, Edward Hays
From the book: Earth Prayers from around the World
Edited by Elizabeth Rothers and Elias Amidon



Thursday, September 20, 2012


— John O’Donohue 

A person should always offer a prayer of graciousness for the love that has awakened in them. Send that love out into the world to people who are desperate; to those who are starving. This love is the deepest power of prayer.
Posted by Sally McShane

Monday, September 17, 2012

Let your God love you


This poem resonates for me in my practice of Centering Prayer!
Bill 
Let Your God Love You

Be silent.
Be still.
Alone.
Empty
Before your God.
Say nothing.
Ask nothing.
Be silent.
Be still.
Let your God look upon you.
That is all.
God knows.
God understands.
God loves you
With an enormous love,
And only wants
To look upon you
With that love.
Quiet.
Still.
Be.
Let your God —
Love you.

~ Edwina Gateley

Friday, September 14, 2012

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen. 
St. Augustine prayer to the Holy Spirit

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I have learnt to love you late...

 
I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new!  I have learnt to love you late!  You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself.  I searched for you outside myself and, disfigured as I was, I fell upon the lovely things of your creation.  You were with me but I was not with you.  The beautiful things of this world kept me from you and yet, if they had not been in you, they would have no being at all.  You called me;  You cried aloud to me;  You broke the barrier of my deafness.  I tasted you and now I hunger and thirst for you.  You touched me and I am inflamed, inflamed with love of your peace.             
~St. Augustine
 
 
Posted by Sally McShane