The air smells good

Lord, the air smells good today, straight from the mysteries
within the inner courts of God.
A grace like new clothes thrown
across the garden, free medicine for everybody.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,
the first blue violets kneeling.
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being, drunkenly
forgetting the way back.

~Rumi

Say quietly to God

Say quietly to God: "Now, Thee alone I seek. Send what is best."
~Sri Gyanamata

O Lord

O Lord,
I am caught in that moment of half-light,
the breathless point of balance between sun and moon.
As I bid farewell to the cold purification of the night,
in that same movement, I fling wide my arms
to be embraced by the warmth and glory of the sun,
knowing that in due time I will bow to the receding light
and open my arms to darkness once again.

Thus, O Lord, You come into our lives,
in the blaze of splendour, the certainty of Your presence,
in the times of aridity and isolation, even to the point of despair.

Throught this continuing journeying, from the zenith of midday to the depths of midnight
and back to the blinding noontide, we grow towards You,
the true light, that shines like the sun beyond darkness, forever.

~Ishpriya R S C J

In Praise of Atum

In a place open to the sky,
facing west at the hour of sunset
or east at sunrise,
I pray that the cosmos be flung open to me
and that all nature
may receive the sound of my psalms.
Open, great earth,
and trees, silence your waving boughs,
for I am about to sing
the praise of the One and All.
Justice, praise the just through me.
Goodness, praise the good through me.
Selflessness, praise the All throught me.
It is Your words
that through me sing Your praises -
for all comes from You
and all returns to You.
Accept these pure offerings of speech
from a heart and soul uplifted.
You of whom no words can tell,
no tongue can speak,
and only silence can declare.

~The Hermetica

This is a day of change

Ice mountain melted
ages ago
and made this ridge,
this place of changes.

Now we are rooted in it,
we of the old ones,
we of the new ones from afar,
oat grass meadow, Douglas fir thicket,
we are rooted in the ridge of changes in the time of changes.

The winds carry strange smells, this is a day of change.

Great ones above and below, bless us!
O shining One above, feed us with your light!
O soft ones, sky darkeners, wash us with your raindrops!
O powers above us, bless us with your gifts,
for we reach up to you,
branching wood and sap.

O Earthmother from whom we grow,
sandy gravel into whom our roots branch wood and sap deep down,
bless us in our night-sleep, in our death and decay.

Bless us, dark earth as we give back
that which we have received
as we make a forest of blessing a ridge of blessings
for the future to grow upon.

~Chinook Psalter

Now Talking God

Now Talking God
With your feet I walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind thinks
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me
hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
That beautiful trail.

~Native American Prayer

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day -
and to her soil: rich, rare, and sweet
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf
and fine root-hairs; standing still through wind
and rain; their dance is in the flowing spiral grain
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent
Owl at dawn. Breath of our song
clear spirit breeze
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets,
freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk;
self-complete, brave, and aware
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to Water: clouds, lakes, rivers, glaciers;
holding or releasing; streaming through all
our bodies salty seas
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the sun: blinding pulsing light through
trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where
bears and snakes sleep - he who wakes us -
in our minds so be it

Gratitude to the Great Sky
who holds billions of stars - and goes yet beyond that -
beyond all powers, and thoughts
and yet is within us -
Grandfather Space
The Mind is his Wife

so be it

~Gary Snyder

O Sacred Season

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher
For I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.
As I gaze upon hour full-colored beauty,
I sense all about you
An at-homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement,
Of full barns and harvested fields.
The cycle of growth has ceased,
And the busy work of giving life
Is now completed.
I sense in you no regrets:
You’ve lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever-restless,
Always eager for more mountains to climb,
Seeking happiness through more and more possessions.
As a child of my culture,
I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received;
May I know that it’s enough,
That my striving can cease
In the abundance of God’s grace.
May I know the contentment
That allows the totality of my energies
To come full flower.
May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.

As you, O autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,
Let me also take delight
In the abundance of the simple things in life
Which are the true source of joy.
With the golden glow of peaceful contentment
May I truly appreciate this autumn day.

~Edward Hays

O Holy One

O Holy One, I ran through the fields and gathered flowers of a thousand colors -
And now I pour them out at Your feet.
Their beauty and their brightness shout for joy in Your Presence.
You created the flowers of the fields and made each one far more lovely
than all the skill of man could design.
Accept my joy along with theirs,
this field of blossoms at Your feet
Holy One
as the wind blows through these flowers
till they dance in the ecstasy of creation,
send Your Spirit to blow through my being
till I too bloom and dance with the fulness of Your life.

~Ishpriya

Gentle Goddess

Gentle Goddess,
who never asks for anything at all,
and gives us everything we have,
thank you for this sweet water,
and your fragrance.

~Lew Welch

Prayer of Abandonment

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,

For you are my Father.

~charles de foucauld

Here I am

Here I am, Father, listening for Your voice. My inner ears are open. I have no requests, no demands, no hopes, no ambitions. I do not ask You to do anything You are not already doing. I await Your word of grace.

~Joel Goldsmith

Oh my Beloved Adonai

Oh my Beloved Adonai
You are alive for me today.
Seeing the wind caress
the branches
Of the trees
I am delivered by Your grace into the infinity
of Your existence.

- Ronald Bedrick

O love, O pure deep love,

O love, O pure deep love, be here, be now.
Be all; worlds dissolve into your stainless endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with you brighter than cold stars;
Make me your servant, your breath, your core.

~Rumi

With your feet I walk

With your feet I walk
I walk with your limbs
I carry forth your body
For me your mind thinks
Your voice speaks for me
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
I am immersed in it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.

american indian - navajo

House made of dawn

House made of dawn.
House made of evening light.
House made of the dark cloud.
House made of male rain.
House made of dark mist.
House made of female rain.
House made of pollen.
House made of grasshoppers.

Dark cloud is at the door.
The trail out if it is dark cloud.
The zigzag lightning stands high upon it.
An offering I make.
Restore my feet for me.
Restore my legs for me.
Restore my body for me.
Restore my mind for me.
Restore my voice for me.
This very day take out your spell for me.

Happily I recover.
Happily my interior becomes cool.
Happily I go forth.
My interior feeling cool, may I walk.
No longer sore, may I walk.
Impervious to pain, may I walk.
With lively feelings may I walk.
As it used to be long ago, may I walk.

Happily may I walk.
Happily, with abundant dark clouds, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant showers, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant plants, may I walk.
Happily, on a trail of pollen, may I walk.
Happily may I walk.
Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.

May it be beautiful before me.
May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful below me.
May it be beautiful above me.
May it be beautiful all around me.
In beauty it is finished.
In beauty it is finished.

~Navajo Chant

Blessed be you

Blessed be you, harsh matter, barren soil, stubborn rock:

you who yield only to force, you who cause us to work

if we would eat.

Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion:

you who, unless we fetter you, will devour us.

Blessed be you, mighty matter, irresistible march of evolution,

reality ever new-born: you who, by constantly shattering

our mental categories, force us to go ever further and further

in our pursuit of the truth.

Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time,

boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations:

you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards

or measurements reveal to us the dimensions of God.

Blessed be you, impenetrable matter: you who, interposed

between our minds and the world of essences, cause us to languish

with the desire to pierce through the seamless veil of phenomena.

Blessed be you, mortal matter: you who one day will undergo

the process of dissolution within us and will thereby take us

forcibly into the very heart of that which exists.

You who batter us and then dress our wounds,

you who resist and yield to us,

you who wreck and build

you who shackle and liberate,

the sap of our souls,

the hand of God,

the flesh of Christ:

it is you, matter, that I bless.

~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit,
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.

~Hildegard of Bingen