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I have collected prayers for many years; wherever I travel, I listen for the prayers that bring comfort and connection to the people I meet.  I love the prayers that reflect tradition, where the words have been held in generations of hearts, but equally, I am drawn to those that are shaped and personalized by individual supplicants. Below is a sampling of what inspires me in daily life and comforts me during dark nights. My prayers and my art go well together. I treasure my rosaries, with their symbolic beads that thread my prayers together during special seasons and circumstances, and when I knit, I weave my prayers into my stitches, to imbue my work with a love that is deeper and larger than I might realize. My spiritual life is strengthened by the traditional prayers I repeat just as it is deepened by the unscripted conversations I have with the Divine; through my prayers I learn from my fellow humans, as well as from God.

My spiritual practices, in turn, ground my prayer life; they set me up for the day, bring order to my work, then clear it all away so I can slip into sleep. Many of my practices involve the prayers that follow while others attend to my connections with my Self and my fellow humans. They are the little things I do, the words I whisper, the ways I attend to my body, the promises I keep. I pray, I write, I love…. these simple acts repeated day after day, shape my soul and determine my Path.

If nothing else, I dedicate my day, I look within to see what matters by writing three pages in longhand (Morning Pages), then clear it all away by saying goodnight to Mother Mary at the end of the day. Sweet, simple threads to lead me home…

Glass400Invocation from the Mass of St. Julian

In the name of God the Creator, and of God the Redeemer, and of God the Holy Mother Spirit, Amen.

I will kindle my fire this day in the name of the Holy Angels of Heaven, in the name of Raphael, guardian of Air, in the name of Michael, guardian of Fire, in the name of Gabriel, guardian of Water, in the name of Uriel, guardian of Earth, without malice, without jealousy, without envy, without fear, without terror of anyone under the Sun.

Oh God, kindle thou in my heart within, a Flame of Love to my neighbour, to my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all, from the lowliest creature that lives to the Name that is highest of all. Amen. (author unknown)

Aramaic Our Father from the Mass of St. Julian

Oh God, Father, Mother of the Cosmos, You create all that moves in Light.
Come, enter into the Bridal Chamber of our hearts and prepare us for your marriage of power and beauty.
Unite the crowd within in a vision of passionate purpose as Your Light joins with our Spirits.
Grant what we need each day in the Bread of Knowing You.
Untie the knots within so that we may heal our heart’s simple ties to others.
Let us not enter into forgetfulness, the delusion of false appearances, for out of You, the astonishing Fire, the Birth into Glory, returning, ever burning, Light and Song to the Cosmos, Amen, Amen, Amen. (author unknown)

Glory Be

Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son and the Holy Mother Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen. (personal adaptation)

Image12Hail Mary Mother

Hail Mary, full of grace , the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among woman and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother God, pray for us now and in our hour of need. Amen. (personal adaptation)

Hail Mary Magdalene

Hail Mary, full of wisdom, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is thy Bridegroom, Jesus. Holy Mary Magdalene, Blessed sister, pray with us now and throughout our lives.Amen (adaptation by Carol House and Kimberly Saward)

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen (traditional)

Mary600Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Amen

Surrender Affirmation

God, I am turning this day over to you. Your will, not my will, be done. Please guide me to do the right thing, and to stay on my path in your service, and to do so with love. Amen (from The Source of Miracles by Kathleen McGowan)