The themes in these four ancient prayers are timeless and can used today to bring peace into your life and to help you along on your spiritual journey.
Make Me an Instrument of thy Peace has been well loved by many people. Francis of Assisi wrote it. Francis gave up the wealth of his family to live in extreme poverty, preaching, labouring and serving the needy. Many stories have grown up around Francis, including his preaching to the birds and his love for animals.
Patrick of Ireland wrote The Breastplate. He was the major influence in bringing Christianity to Ireland. At the age of 16 Patrick was captured by Irish pirates and kept as a slave for six years. When he tended his master’s herd he learnt to pray. “I used to stay in the and on the mountain, and before the dawn I would be aroused to prayer, in snow and frost and rain…because then the spirit was fervent within”.
The Jesus prayer has often been used as a breath prayer, where the first line is breathed in and the second line breathed out. It then becomes a continuous prayer in the background of daily living. Based on the words of the blind beggar healed by Jesus, this prayer has traditionally been used as a basis for meditation by Eastern Orthodox monks.
The Prayer for Protection was a short inscription found on a Roman house in Turkey. It can be used as a daily prayer asking for God’s protection as you leave your home to go into the wider world, and as you return home, that all who come within would be under the protection of God’s love.
Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of thy 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;
And 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.
The Breastplate of St Patrick
I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, his might to stay
His ear to hearken to my need
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.
I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, the One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation;
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word,
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
The Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Have mercy on me a sinner!
Prayer for Protection
May the Lord of the powers in his mercy protect us as we go in and out.
