Summer Prayer of Inner Peace

Our inner sanctuary of peacefulness often diminishes in the flurry of summer’s social activities, with endless tasks remaining unfinished at home, the return from vacation to numerous deadlines and pressures of work. When this happens, our internal direction and sense of purpose easily upends itself. If we lack attentiveness, our ability to live out of our best self tends to lessen. Now is the time to restore an awareness of the magnificent temple within us where the Spirit of Peace abides. We can return to this calm, abiding presence whenever we deliberately choose to do so. May the following prayer be a source of remembering and tending to this indwelling gift. 

Peaceful Presence, 

Grant me the courage to slow down the hurried pace of life in order to be mindful of your ever-present guidance and assistance, especially when I try to go it alone.  

Restore my perception of the inherent joy that awaits me in each day if only I turn toward you with a recognition of your vibrant energy moving through me.  

Awaken me to a keener awareness of your light-filled presence within my being, especially when life fills with shadows of sadness and the cloudiness of concerns.  

Show me how you are dwelling in those places of my life where I’ve forgotten to welcome you with an open heart of acceptance and hospitality.  

Interrupt my self-defeating schemes and desires so I have a keener sense of how they lead me further from you and obliterate inner peace. When you move me toward change and deeper relationship with you, show me where my resistance to that growth-filled invitation resides.  

Enliven my physical senses to the beauty and wonder of ordinary moments and a resounding gratitude for your presence within those moments.  

Shake free what keeps my thoughts and feelings imprisoned in anxiety and useless fretting.  

Draw me into the stillness essential for your serenity to dwell in my being, and lead me into times of solitude, even if you have to drag me there.  

Come, tickle my mind and heart into restored peacefulness so I more readily and wisely welcome you to the home of my heart. 

Rupp, Joyce. Prayer Seeds (pp. 160-161). Ave Maria Press. Kindle Edition.