Prayers of Love

May the Lord of Love protect us
May the Lord of Love nourish us
May the Lord of Love strengthen us
May we realize the Lord of Love.
May we live with love for all:
May we live in peace for all.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

~ The Upanishads

Thy lovingkindess, O Lord, is in the heavens;
Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.
Thy righteousness is like the mighty mountains;
Thy judgments are like the great deep;
Man and beast Thou preservest, O Lord.
How precious is Thy lovingkindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge in the shadow
of Thy wings.
They are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of
Thy house;
And thou makest them drink of the river of Thy
pleasures.
For with Thee is the fountain of life;
In Thy light do we see light.

~ Psalms of David 36:5-12

To the Divine, exalted Kami, I humbly offer my prayers.
Teach me to live with a pure and sincere heart.
Grant me perseverance and that my heart be genuine,
childlike and true.
Grant that I stay on the path of sincerity and truth.
Grant that I be strong and diligent at my deeds.

~ Shinto Norito

Make your heart like a lake with a calm still
surface and great depths of kindness.
Without opening your door,
you can open your heart to the world.

~ Lao Tsu

Waking up this morning I smile
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
And to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Lord, make me an instrument of your 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.
Amen.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

O Lord, grant us to love Thee; grant that we may love
those that love Thee.
Grant that we may do the deeds that win Thy love.
Make the love of Thee to be dearer to us than ourselves,
than our families, than wealth, and even than cool water.

~ Muhammad

Just as a man with a great thirst longs for refreshing water,
So does my soul have a deep longing for the sight of the Lord.
Like an arrow, love of the Lord has pierced my heart.
Only the Beloved Lord knows my pain and what
suffering is mine.
I will accept as my companion anyone who can tell me
a tale of my Beloved Lord.
So, come all my friends,
Let us join together in praise of the Lord,
And follow the instructions of the most patient True Guru.
O Lord, Nanak asks that you but fill his one desire:
That I may behold Thee, and my body and soul find peace!

~ Guru Ram Das

And though I behold a man hate me, I will love him.
O God Father, help me, Father!
O God, Creator, help me, Father!
And even though I behold a man hate me,
I will love him.

~ Prayer of a Dying Man, Dinka, Sudan

Great Spirit, high above and below us,
Great Spirit, everywhere within,
Your love is everything that we’ve looked for.
Your power is where the worlds begin.

May our hearts soar as high as the eagle.
May our trust be as strong as a stone.
May our vision be as vast as the ocean.
May we never believe we are alone.

For all our blessings we give thanks.
Teach us the sacred and the true.
Help us to find our way back home
Into our hearts with you,
Into our hearts with you.

Great Spirit, far below and beyond us,
Great Spirit, in the planet’s core,
Let me not ask for what I want,
But let me give much more.
Yes, let me give much more.

Oh Mitakuye Oyasin Aho

~ From the Prayer of Handsome Lake,
Lenape Spiritual Teacher and Prophet

Why am I thirsting for love
When love is the base of my being?
Why am I looking for shelter
When joy overwhelms my seeing?

Why am I hungry for friendship
When the best friend is always around?
Why do I seek words of comfort
When pierced by the sweetest sound?

Why am I blind and deaf?
Why am I dull like a stone?
Why am I stupid and stranded?
Why do I feel so alone?

Lord, make me hear and accept;
Lord, make me see and perceive;
Lord, make me feel where you are –
Lord, help me to receive.

Lord, you are wonder to see;
You fill my every need –
Sound for the ears, joy for the heart,
The food on which I feed.

~ Roger Lesser

Lord, may we love all your creation,
All the earth and every grain of sand in it.
May we love every leaf, every ray of your light.
May we love the animals, you have given them the
rudiments of thought and joy untroubled;
Let us not harass them, let us not deprive them of
their happiness, let us not work against your intent.
For we acknowledge that all is like an ocean, all is
flowing and blending, and that to withhold any
measure of love from anything in your universe
is to withhold that same measure from you.

~ Fyodor Dostoevsky