This page is for sharing helpful prayers and resources. Apologies for any broken links to external sources.

Prayers

Teresa's Bookmark by St. Teresa of Avila
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing;
God only is changeless.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.

A prayer from Thomas Merton, OCS
My Lord God, 
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end. 
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it. 
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. 

Collect for Our Lady of Cana from The Community of the Mother of Jesus
O Lady of Cana, at the wedding feast you saw they had no more wine, and you took this concern you saw to your beloved Son. Please pray with me as  I bring to Jesus the concerns I have for the neighbors who are in need. I place before your Son the hungry, the sick, the homeless, the lonely old, and the lonely young, those who are out of work, suffering abuse, or dying. I especially wish to pray for….(here mention your prayer)….. May Jesus, who changed the water into wine, touch them and change their sadness into joy. May the love of your Son help them to always know that they are dearly loved by God. Amen.

A 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

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

A Morning Meditation by Richard Rohr, OFM, February 26, 2024
God is the constant Interlocutor with the soul.  
This voice so constant and insistent, you do not know how to differentiate it from  
yourself.  YOU are so in charge here, that what you choose the voice to be, is what it is!
You are always calling the shots. 
YOU know this voice so much, you take it as a given and for granted.  
It cannot be taught, because teaching is about what you don’t know.  
You know this voice as your own interior dialogue about everything,
so it really cannot be taught. It can only be heard.  
When I can just stop and enjoy this interlocution, it is an ENJOYMENT.  
When I refuse to recognize or honor this voice, it is an ABSENCE.  
You really do not have to try hard, nothing perfect needs to be done.  
God leaves you (the soul) in charge of what it wants—all the way to heaven and hell.  
It is a rather total surrender on God’s part. And on yours!  
Why would you resist this?  
Why not let it be Love!  
For you and everything else.