Weekly Peace Prayer

for July 14, 2026

prepared by
Sister Carmel Little, CSJP ‍

Weekly, members of our Congregation, associates, staff, friends, and family throughout the United States and the United Kingdom pray for peace. Some gather in groups, while others pray in solitude using the prayer on this page, composed by Carmel Little, CSJP.

If you would like to view the livestream of the prayer service at St. Mary on the Lake in Bellevue, Washington, please visit this page on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Scroll down to view the video player.

Constitutions:
In solidarity with our sisters and brothers
we engage in human labor as a means of sustenance.
We recognize the value of leisure
as contributing to restoration and wholeness. 
In these ways we come to share
in the creative power of God.  #54

Leisure
What is this life if, full of care,
We have not time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance. 

A poor life this, if full of care, 
We have no time to stand and stare.
William Henry Davies

Prayer: A Summer Blessing  
Blessed are you, summer,
season of long days and short nights,
you pour forth light from your golden orb,
energizing the earth and calling forth growth.

Blessed are you, summer,
With your generous gift of heat.
Your warm breath animates creation,
encouraging all growing things
to stretch toward the sun.

Blessed are you, summer,
you call us into playfulness,
encouraging us to pause from work.
You renew our spirits
‍ ‍Joyce Rupp.

Quiet Reflection

Reading:  Mark 6:30-31
The apostles returned to Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and what they had taught. Jesus said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile”       

Reading:
We must sit down every day, not to be busy with thoughts or plans,
but to sit and wait.
For What?  Our souls.  But soul is not programmed.  One has to wait for it to appear,
and when it does, it brings its own agenda.
‍ ‍All the Days of my Life, Iona Center, California

A Summer Blessing                          
Blessed are you, summer,
season of long days and short nights,
you pour forth light from your golden orb,
energizing the earth and calling forth growth.

Blessed are you, gracious season of summer,
you surprise us with a variety of gifts from the earth.
We, too, gaze into the earth of ourselves,
beholding gifts waiting to be honored.

Blessed are you, summer,
host of a star that shines with passion.
Sun-soaked, we reach for your energy
that drives us upward and onward.

Blessed are you, summer,
with your firefly evenings
you minister to the child in us.
You feed our hunger for beauty.
‍ ‍Joyce Rupp

Quiet Reflection

Prayer:
God of creation, God of the seasons.
Bless your creatures with seasons of delights.
Grant us wisdom to know that there is a time to play, 
A time to cease from our labors,
A time to sense majesty in the blue sky,
Richness in the green grass.
Love in faithful friends, 
And joy in our being. Amen   
James Vanden Bosch (excerpt)