Give My Soul a Heavenly Hush
Gail McCoig Blanton
Let me tarry as I go:
if not my feet, my heart be slow.
As I run from rush to rush
give my soul a heavenly hush —
That I may touch instead of shove,
That I may see those needing love.
In passing may I leave a glow;
of kindly words that help peace grow.
Music:
Agnus Dei( instrumental)
On Prayer
Kahlil Gibran
You pray in your distress and in your need;
would that you might pray also in the fullness
of your joy and in your days of abundance.
For what is prayer but the expansion
of yourself into the living ether?
And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing.
When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour,and whom save in
prayer you may not meet.
Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible
be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.
For if you should enter the temple for no other
purpose than asking you shall not receive:
And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted: Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.
It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.
I cannot teach you how to pray in words.
God listens not to your words save when
He Himself utters them through your lips.
And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas
and the forests and the mountains.
But you who are born of the mountains and the forests
and the seas can find their prayer in your heart,
And if you but listen in the stillness of the night
you shall hear them saying in silence,
“Our God, who art our winged self,
it is thy will in us that willeth.
It is thy desire in us that desireth.
It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights,
which are thine,into days which are thine also.
We cannot ask thee for aught,for thou knowest
our needs before they are born in us:
Thou art our need; and in giving us more
of thyself thou givest us all.
The Universal Prayer
ALEXANDER POPE
Father of all! in every age,
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
Thou Great First Cause, least understood:
Who all my sense confined
To know but this—that thou art good,
And that myself am blind:
Yet gave me, in this dark estate,
To see the good from ill;
And binding Nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will.
What conscience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,
This, teach me more than Hell to shun,
That, more than Heaven pursue.
What blessings thy free bounty gives,
Let me not cast away;
For God is paid when man receives,
To enjoy is to obey.
Yet not to earth’s contracted span,
Thy goodness let me bound,
Or think thee Lord alone of man,
When thousand worlds are round:
Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.
If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay;
If I am wrong, oh teach my heart
To find a better way.
Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught thy goodness lent.
Teach me to feel another’s woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.
Mean though I am, not wholly so
Since quickened by thy breath;
Oh lead me wheresoe’er I go,
Through this day’s life or death.
This day, be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the sun,
Thou know’st if best bestowed or not,
And let thy will be done.
To thee, whose temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies!
One chorus let all being raise!
All Nature’s incense rise!
Praying
Mary Oliver
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Music:
The Mission/How Great Thou Art-ThePianoGuys
Beannacht/Blessing
John O’Donohue
On the day when A Blessing for Beauty May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, May the wonders of the earth call you forth from all your small, secret prisons and set your feet free in the pastures of possibilities. May the light of dawn anoint your eyes that you may May the angel of memory surprise you in bleak times with new gifts from the harvest of your vanished days. May you allow no dark hand to quench the candle May the outside voices of fear and despair May you always trust the urgency and wisdom And when love finds the path to your door may you open like the earth to the dawn,and trust your every hidden color towards its nourishment of light. And may you know that despite confusion,anxiety and emptiness, your name is written in Heaven. May Divine Beauty bless you.
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours, indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
John O’Donohue
From”Beauty-The Invisible Embrace “
that you may glimpse your wild divinity.
behold what a miracle a day is.
May the liturgy of twilight shelter all your fears
and darkness within the circle of ease.
of hope in your heart.
May you discover a new generosity towards yourself, and encourage yourself to engage your life as a great adventure.
find no echo in you.
of your own spirit.
May the shelter and nourishment of all the good you have done,the love you have shown,the suffering you have carried, awaken around you to bless your life a thousand times.
May you find enough stillness and silence to savor the kiss
of God on your soul and delight in the eternity that shaped
you, that holds you and calls you.
And may you come to see your life as a quiet sacrament
of service, which awakens around you a rhythm where
doubt gives way to the grace of wonder,where what is
awkward and strained can find elegance,and where
crippled hope can find wings,and torment enter at last
unto the grace of serenity.
Prayer of the Woods
From The Portuguese
I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights,
the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun,
and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your
thirst as you journey on.
I am the beam that holds your house,the board of your
table, the bed on which you lie,and the timber that
builds your boat.
I am the handle of your hoe,the door of your homestead,the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
‘Ye who pass by,
listen to my prayer: Harm me not.
Music:
Lindsey Stirling-My Immortal- Evanescence
For the happy man prayer is only a jumble of words, until
the day when sorrow comes to explain to him the sublime
language by means of which he speaks to God.
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
A Prayer
James Russell Lowell
God! do not let my loved one die,
But rather wait until the time
That I am grown in purity
Enough to enter thy pure clime,
Then take me, I will gladly go,
So that my love remain below!
Oh, let her stay! She is by birth
What I through death must learn to be;
We need her more on our poor earth
Than thou canst need in heaven with thee:
She hath her wings already, I
Must burst this earth-shell ere I fly.
Then, God, take me! We shall be near,
More near than ever, each to each:
Her angel ears will find more clear
My heavenly than my earthly speech;
And still, as I draw nigh to thee,
Her soul and mine shall closer be.
Richard Johnson Art
A Prayer
Anne Brontë
My God (oh, let me call Thee mine,
Weak, wretched sinner though I be),
My trembling soul would fain be Thine;
My feeble faith still clings to Thee.
Not only for the Past I grieve,
The Future fills me with dismay;
Unless Thou hasten to relieve,
Thy suppliant is a castaway.
I cannot say my faith is strong,
I dare not hope my love is great;
But strength and love to Thee belong;
Oh, do not leave me desolate!
I know I owe my all to Thee;
Oh, TAKE the heart I cannot give!
Do Thou my strength–my Saviour be,
And MAKE me to Thy glory live.
Vlmadimir Volegov Art
THE DOUBTER’S PRAYER
Anne Bronte
Then hear me now, while kneeling here,
I lift to thee my heart and eye,
And all my soul ascends in prayer,
OH, GIVE ME–GIVE ME FAITH! I cry.
Without some glimmering in my heart,
I could not raise this fervent prayer;
But, oh! a stronger light impart,
And in Thy mercy fix it there.
While Faith is with me, I am blest;
It turns my darkest night to day;
But while I clasp it to my breast,
I often feel it slide away.
Then, cold and dark, my spirit sinks,
To see my light of life depart;
And every fiend of Hell, methinks,
Enjoys the anguish of my heart.
What shall I do, if all my love,
My hopes, my toil, are cast away,
And if there be no God above,
To hear and bless me when I pray?
If this be vain delusion all,
If death be an eternal sleep,
And none can hear my secret call,
Or see the silent tears I weep!
Oh, help me, God! For thou alone
Canst my distracted soul relieve;
Forsake it not: it is thine own,
Though weak, yet longing to believe.
Oh, drive these cruel doubts away;
And make me know, that Thou art God!
A faith, that shines by night and day,
Will lighten every earthly load.
Morning Prayer
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Let me to-day do something that shall take
A little sadness from the world’s vast store,
And may I be so favoured as to make
Of joy’s too scanty sum a little more.
Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend;
Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need,
Or sin by silence when I should defend.
However meagre be my worldly wealth,
Let me give something that shall aid my kind –
A word of courage, or a thought of health,
Dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.
Let me to-night look back across the span
‘Twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say –
Because of some good act to beast or man –
“The world is better that I lived today.”
After Prayers, Lie Cold
by C. S. Lewis
Arise my body, my small body, we have striven
Enough, and He is merciful; we are forgiven.
Arise small body, puppet-like and pale, and go,
White as the bed-clothes into bed, and cold as snow,
Undress with small, cold fingers and put out the light,
And be alone, hush’d mortal, in the sacred night,
-A meadow whipt flat with the rain, a cup
Emptied and clean, a garment washed and folded up,
Faded in colour, thinned almost to raggedness
By dirt and by the washing of that dirtiness.
Be not too quickly warm again. Lie cold; consent
To weariness’ and pardon’s watery element.
Drink up the bitter water, breathe the chilly death;
Soon enough comes the riot of our blood and breath.
Music:
Yiruma – River Flows in You
MAY YOU ALWAYS FEEL LOVED
Sandra Sturtz Hauss
May you find serenity and tranquility in a world
You may not always understand.
May the pain you have known and
conflict you have experienced
Give you the strength to walk through life
Facing each new situation with courage and optimism.
Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding
Will always be there, even when you feel most alone.
May you discover enough goodness in others
To believe in a world of peace.
May a kind word, a reassuring touch, a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
And may you give these gifts as well as receive them.
Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.
Teach love to those who know hate,
And let that love embrace you as you go into the world.
May the teaching of those you admire become part of you,
So that you may call upon them.
Remember, those whose lives you have touched
And who have touched yours are always a part of you,
Even if the encounters were less than
you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter that is more important than it’s form.
May you not become too concerned with material matters,
But instead place immeasurable value on
the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see the beauty and love in the world around you.
Realize that each person has limitless abilities,
But each of us is different in our own way.
What you may feel you lack in one regard
May be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
May become one of your strengths in the future.
May you see your future as one filled
with promise and possibility.
Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.
May you find enough inner strength to determine
your own worth by yourself,
And not be dependent on another’s judgement of your accomplishments.
May you always feel loved.
Beannacht / Blessing
by John O’Donohue
On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
Michael & Inessa Garmash Painting
Young Life Cut Short
by Unknown Author
Do not judge a song by its duration
Nor by the number of its notes
Judge it by the richness of its contents
Sometimes those unfinished are among the most poignant…
Do not judge a song by its duration
Nor by the number of its notes
Judge it by the way it touches and lifts the soul
Sometimes those unfinished are among the most beautiful…
And when something has enriched your life
And when it’s melody lingers on in your heart.
Is it unfinished?
Or is it endless?
Music:
MICHEL PEPE – Infinie Tendresse
John Atkinson Grimshaw painting
I am praying again, Awesome One.
Rainer Maria Rilke
You hear me again, as words
from the depths of me
rush toward you in the wind.
I’ve been scattered in pieces,
torn by conflict,
mocked by laughter,
washed down by drink.
In alleyways I sweep myself up
out of garbage and broken glass.
With my half-mouth I stammer you,
who are eternal in your symmetry.
I lift to you my half-hands
in wordless beseeching, that I may find again
the eyes with which I once beheld you.
I am a house gutted by fire
where only the guilty sometimes sleep
before the punishment that devours them
hounds them out into the open.
I am a city by the sea
sinking into a toxic tide,
I am strange to myself, as though someone unknown
had poisoned my mother as she carried me.
here in all the pieces of my shame
that now I find myself again,
I yearn to belong to something, to be contained
in an all-embracing mind that sees me
as a single thing.
I yearn to be held
in the great hands of your heart –
oh let them take me now.
Into them I place these fragments, my life,
and you, God – spend them however you want.
John Atkinson Grimshaw painting
Enlarge my heart, God,
George Appleton
Enlarge, my heart, God,
to the dimensions of your heart,
O limitless Love.
Let nothing be thought
common or unclean
which thou hast cleansed.
Let no one be thought
too exalted, so that
I only respect
but do not love.
Let nobody be regarded
as too humble, so that
I patronise or despise.
Let none be thought
as of little value
and written off,
for each is dear to Thee
with his own potential
and his own hope
and his own heartbreak.
Let me say to each with Thee,
“O man greatly beloved”
infinitely and eternally
dear to Thee.
O Lord Love,
enlarge my heart
to the dimension of Thine.
Max Nonnenbruch Art
Accept me, my lord, accept me for this while.
Let those orphaned days that passed without thee be forgotten.
Only spread this little moment wide across thy lap,
holding it under thy light.
I have wandered in pursuit of voices that drew me
yet led me nowhere.
Now let me sit in peace and listen to thy words in
the soul of my silence.
Do not turn away thy face from my heart’s dark secrets, but burn them till they are alight with thy fire.
Rabindranath Tagore
Wlliam henry Margetson Art
A Prayer For Courage
Rabindranath Tagore
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
But to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
But for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield,
But to my own strength.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
But hope for the patience to win my freedom.
Grant me that I may not be a coward,
feeling your mercy in my success alone,
But let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure.
Prayer lyrics
by Hayley Westenra
originally composed and performed
by Secret Garden
Hush, lay down your troubled mind
The day has vanished and left us behind
And the wind, whispering soft lullabies
Will soothe, so close your weary eyes
Let your arms enfold us
Through the dark of night
Will your angels hold us
Till we see the light
Sleep, angels will watch over you
And soon beautiful dreams will come true
Can you feel spirits embracing your soul
So dream while secrets of darkness unfold
Let your arms enfold us
Through the dark of night
Will your angels hold us
Till we see the light
symphonylove 