Happy to share this prayer that came into my inbox today. I feel like we need this helpful reminder from time to time. Blessings on your week ahead and Go Eagles!

Pray for Peace

Pray to whomever you kneel down to:
Jesus nailed to his wooden or silver cross,
his suffering face bent to kiss you,
Buddha still under the bo tree in scorching heat,
Adonai, Allah. Raise your arms to Mary
that she may lay her palm on our brows,
to Shekhinah, Queen of Heaven and Earth,
to Inanna in her stripped descent.

Then pray for the bus driver who takes you to work.
On the bus, pray for everyone riding that bus,
for everyone riding buses all over the world.
If you haven’t been on a bus in a long time, 
climb the few steps, drop some silver and pray.

Waiting in line for the movies, for the ATM,
for your latte and croissant, offer your plea.
Make your eating and drinking a supplication.
Make your slicing of carrots a holy act,
each translucent layer of the onion, a deeper prayer.

To Hawk or Wolf, or the Great Whale, pray.
Bow down to terriers and shepherds and Siamese cats.
Fields of artichokes and elegant strawberries.

Make the brushing of your hair
a prayer, every strand its own voice,
singing in the choir on your head.
As you wash your face, the water slipping
through your fingers, a prayer: Water,
softest thing on earth, gentleness
that wears away rock.

If you’re hungry, pray. If you’re tired.
Pray to Gandhi and Dorothy Day.
Shakespeare. Sappho. Sojourner Truth.

When you walk to your car, to the mailbox,
to the grocery store, let each step
be a prayer for our legs,
that we do not intentionally hurt anyone else’s legs.
And if you are riding on a bicycle
or a skateboard, in a wheelchair, each revolution
of the wheels a prayer as the earth revolves:
less harm, less harm, less harm.

And as you work, typing with a new manicure,
a tiny palm tree painted on one pearlescent nail,
or delivering soda or drawing good blood
into rubber-capped vials, or twirling pizzas–

With each breath in, take in the faith of those
who have believed when belief seemed foolish,
who persevered. With each breath out, cherish.

Pull weeds for peace, turn over in your sleep for peace,
feed the birds, each shiny seed
that spills onto the earth, another second of peace.
Wash your dishes, call your mother, drink wine.

Shovel leaves or snow or trash from your sidewalk.
Make a path. Fold a photo of a child in need
around your Visa card. Scoop your holy water
from the gutter. Gnaw your crust.
Mumble along soundlessly, stumbling
your prayer through the streets.

This week I share some words of wisdom on the power of prayer, from Julian of Norwich. These pearls of wisdom made their way into my inbox today, as a reflection for Mark’s Gospel, first chapter, versus 29-39. Enjoy and blessings on your week ahead!

“Very early before dawn, Jesus… went off to a deserted place, where he prayed”

Prayer unites the soul to God, for though the soul may be always like God in nature and in substance restored by grace… Then prayer is a witness that the soul wills as God wills, and it eases the conscience and fits us for grace. And so Jesus teaches us to pray and to have firm trust that we shall have it; for Jesus beholds us in love, and wants to make us partners in his good will and work..And so the soul by prayer is made of one accord with God.

…For the whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of God to whom we pray, wonderfully rejoicing with reverent awe, and with so much sweetness and delight in God that we cannot pray all except as God moves us at the time. And well I know that the more the soul sees of God the more she desires God by grace.