prayer

Today’s Poem: Evening Prayer by Karin Boye

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Evening Prayer

Karin Boye

No time is like this one,
the evening’s final, silent hour.
No sorrows burn any longer,
no voices crowd any more.

Then take now into your hands
this day that is past, like a token.
For I know: into good you will turn
what I have held or broken.

Evilly I think, evilly I act,
but all things you heal and cleanse.
My days then you transform
From gravel to precious stones.

You must lift, you must carry,
I can only leave all things behind.
Take me, lead me, be close to me!
Show me what you next may intend!

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Today’s Poem: Prayer Magic by Amelia Wire Holmes Aaron

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Prayer Magic

Amelia Wire Holmes Aaron

Last night I prayed
Softly, peacefully, and still,
No strain, no grief, no disbelief,
No doubting of His will,

Last night I prayed
Softly for His strength,
Since I am weak.

Then with peace-of-mind
Worries and stress left behind
I quietly fell asleep.

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Today’s Poem: Prayer of St. Francis

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Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. He’s my favorite saint and I say his prayer each morning and evening.

Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Today’s Poem: A Prayer by Max Ehrmann

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A Prayer

Max Ehrmann

Let me do my work each day; and if the darkened hours of despair overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me in the desolation of other times.

May I still remember the bright hours that found me walking over the silent hills of my childhood, or dreaming on the margin of a quiet river, when a light glowed within me, and I promised my early God to have courage amid the tempests of the changing years.

Spare me from bitterness and from the sharp passions of unguarded moments. May I not forget that poverty and riches are of the spirit. 

Though the world knows me not, may my thoughts and actions be such as shall keep me friendly with myself.

Lift up my eyes from the earth, and let me not forget the uses of the stars.  Forbid that I should judge others lest I condemn myself. 

Let me not follow the clamor of the world, but walk calmly in my path.

Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am; and keep ever burning before my vagrant steps the  kindly light of hope.

And though age and infirmity overtake me, and I come not within sight of the castle of my dreams, teach me still to be thankful for life, and for time’s olden memories that are good and sweet; and may the evening’s twilight find me gentle still.

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Today’s Poem: And Thou Art One by Pat O’Cotter

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And Thou Art One

Pat O’Cotter

And Thou art One–One with th’ eternal hills,
And with the flaming stars, and with the moon,
Translucent, cold. The sentinel of noon
That clothes the sky in robes of light and fills
The earth with warmth, the flowering fields, the rills,
The waving trees, the south wind’s elfin rune,
Are One with Thee. All nature is in tune
With Thee, O Father, God–and if one wills
To humbly walk the fragrant, leaf-strewn path
And kneel in reverence ‘neath the vaulted sky,
Hearing the hymnals of the waving trees
And prayers of the soughing winds–what hath
He less of heaven in him than we, who cry,
“God in our creeds doth dwell and not in these?”

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Today’s Poem: A Prayer by Max Ehrmann

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A Prayer

Max Ehrmann

Let me do my work each day; and if the darkened hours of despair
overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me
in the desolation of other times.

May I still remember the bright hours that found me walking over
the silent hills of my childhood, or dreaming on the margin of a quiet
river, when a light glowed within me, and I promised my early God
to have courage amid the tempests of the changing years.

Spare me from bitterness and from the sharp passions of unguarded
moments. May I not forget that poverty and riches are of the spirit.
Though the world knows me not, may my thoughts and actions be
such as shall keep me friendly with myself.

Lift up my eyes from the earth, and let me not forget the uses of the
stars.  Forbid that I should judge others lest I condemn myself.
Let me not follow the clamor of the world, but walk calmly in my
path.

Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am; and keep ever
burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of hope.
And though age and infirmity overtake me, and I come not within
sight of the castle of my dreams, teach me still to be thankful for
life, and for time’s olden memories that are good and sweet; and
may the evening’s twilight find me gentle still.

Source

Today’s Poem: On Prayer by Czeslaw Milosz

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On Prayer

Czeslaw Milosz

You ask me how to pray to someone who is not.
All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge
And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,
Above landscapes the color of ripe gold
Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.
That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal
Where everything is just the opposite and the word ‘is’
Unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned.
Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately,
Feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh
And knows that if there is no other shore
We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.

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Today’s Poem: Prayer by Piet Hein

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Prayer

Piet Hein

Sun that givest all things birth
Shine on everything on earth!

If that’s too much to demand
Shine at least on this our land!

If even that’s too much for thee
Shine at any rate on me.

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Today’s Poem: A Prayer by Patience Worth

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A Prayer

Patience Worth

That peace which passeth understanding;
That peace which clings an unopened lily;
That peace which hangeth like a garment
About a mountain peak;
That peace which slippeth between the morning
And the night like a phantom thing;
That peace which is the quietude, the communion,
The infinite power of rest;
That peace which hovers about an infant’s eyes,
Encompass me!
For I am weary, and my soul crieth out.
Let Thine encircling arms enfold me.
Let me rest my head upon Thy bosom,
And learn from Thy mute lips, contriteness,
And silence before oppression.

Source

The Secret ~ A Poem by Ralph S. Cashman

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The Secret

Ralph S. Cashman

I met God in the morning
    When my day was at its best,
And his presence came like sunrise
    Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered,
    All day long he stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
    O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered,
    Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
    Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
    With a keen remorse of mind,
When I too had loosed the moorings,
    With the Presence left behind.

So I think I know the secret,
    Learned from many a troubled way:
You must seek him in the morning
    If you want him through the day!

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