augustine – Page 5 – A Collection of Prayers

My Heart Rests in You

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 Almighty God,
you care for me as if you thought of me alone,
and you care for all as if all were one.
I see the things of this earth pass away,
and I see other things take their place,
but you remain forever.
Therefore, my God and Father,
to you I entrust all I have received from you,
for then, I can lose nothing.
You, O Lord,
have made me for yourself,
and my heart can find no rest
until it rests in you.
Amen.

Source: Augustine

Source of this version: Freely modified The Hymnal and Order of Service, The Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod, 1925, p. 680 #3

Note: Many published prayers attributed to Augustine contain some form of the words “our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Give Me the Strength to Seek You

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 Lord,
my God,
my one hope,
hear me,
that I be not unwilling, through weariness,
to seek you,
but that I may always ardently seek your face.

Give me the strength to seek,
since you have made me in order to find you,
and have given me the hope of finding you more and more.

My strength and my weakness are known to you:
preserve the one
and heal the other.

My knowledge and my ignorance are known to you:
where you have opened to me,
receive me as I enter;
where you have closed to me,
open to me as I knock.

May I remember you,
understand you,
love you.

Increase these things in me
until you have wholly renewed me.

Source: St. Augustine

Source of this version: http://www.marypages.com/SaintAugustinus.htm

Also found here: http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20021011_agostino-trinity_en.html

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Will You Guide Me?

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 Father, I am seeking:
I am hesitant and uncertain,
but will you, O God,
watch over each step of mine
and guide me?

Source: St. Augustine

Source of this version: http://www.christiancollegeguide.net/article/Guide-Me-God

Also found here: http://www.stjames-coorparoo.org.au/prayer-augustine-on-prayer.html

And here: http://getupwithgod.com/god/sunday-prayer-12/

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

A Prayer of the Dying

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 O Lord, you suffered all things for me.
Prepare me for your coming again,
that I may be found where you want to find me.
Yours is the glory and the kingdom
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever.
Amen.

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Source of this version: Freely paraphrased from several versions.

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Clasp Us Close

Come, Lord, work upon us,
set us on fire and clasp us close.
Be fragrant to us.
Draw us to your loveliness.
Let us love, let us run to you.

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Source of this version: http://www.thebreadboxletters.com/2013/08/be-fragrant-to-us.html

“Be fragrant to us” may be a reference to Song of Songs 1:3
“Let us run to you” may be a reference to Song of Songs 1:4

Breathe in Me

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit,
that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,
that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,
to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,
that I always may be holy.
Amen.

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Source of this version: https://prayerandverse.com/2016/05/17/make-me-holy/#more-2147

Also found here: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1116

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Thanks Leads to Praise

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 O my God,
let me, with thanksgiving, remember,
and confess to you your mercies on me.
Let my bones be drenched with your love,
and let them say to you, ‘Who is like you, O Lord?’
You have broken my bonds,
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
And how you have broken them, I will declare;
and all who worship you, when they hear this, shall say,
“Blessed be the Lord, in heaven and in earth,
great and wonderful is his name.“

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Source of this version: Modified from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/confess.ix.i.html

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

The Voyage of Life

220px-sandro_botticelli_050

Blessed are your saints, O God and King,
who have traveled over the tempestuous sea of this mortal life,
and have made the harbor of peace and happiness.

Watch over us who are still in our dangerous voyage;
and remember such as lie exposed to the rough storms of trouble and temptations.
Frail is our vessel, and the ocean is wide;
but as in your mercy you have set our course,
so steer the vessel of our life toward the everlasting shore of peace,
and bring us at last to the quiet haven of our heart’s desire,
where you, O our God, are blessed,
and live and reign for ever and ever.

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Source of this version: Modified from http://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/catholic/guidance/prayer-for-protection.aspx#stAJR5WhwHibqWSQ.99

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Keep Watch, Dear Lord

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 Keep watch, dear Lord,
with those who wake,
or watch or weep this night,
and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick,
give rest to the weary,
sustain the dying,
calm the suffering,
and pity the distressed;
all for your love’s sake,
O Christ our Redeemer. Amen

Source: Attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430

Source of this version: http://parishofcrawley.org/?page_id=54

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Late Have I Loved You

220px-sandro_botticelli_050 Late have I loved you,
Beauty so ancient and so new,
late have I loved you!

Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong,
I, misshapen.
You were with me but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being
were they not in you.

You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance,
I gasped, and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.

Source: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430, Confessions, X, 27

Source of this version: http://www.deeper-devotion.net/augustine-confessions.html

“Now I pant for you” may be a reference to Psalm 42:1

“I tasted you” may be a reference to Psalm 34:8

Graphic by Sandro Botticeli from Wikipedia.com.

Another version, freely modified from Prayers of the Early Church, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1953

For Illumination

Late have I loved you,
Eternal Truth and Goodness.
Late have I sought you, my Father!
But you did seek me,
and when you shined forth on me,
then I knew you and learned to love you.
I thank you, my Light,
that you have shined on me,
and taught my soul what you wanted me to be,
and turned your face in pity to me.
You, Lord, have become my Hope,
my Comfort, my Strength, my All!
In you my soul rejoices.
The darkness vanished from before my eyes,
and I saw you,
the Son of Righteousness.
When I loved darkness, I did not know you,
but wandered on from night to night.
But you led me out of that blindness.
You took me by the hand and called me to you,
and now I can thank you,
and your mighty voice which has penetrated to my inmost heart. Amen.