Weekly Peace Prayer

for July 28, 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:
Personal prayer deepens our desire
to be united with God in faith,
enabling us to see God’s presence and action
in our lives and in the world. 
We commit ourselves to daily personal prayer.  #29

Reading:Psalm 46
Be Still and Know that I am God.

Silence
But the silence in the mind
is when we live best, within
listening distance of the silence
we call God.  This is the deep
calling to deep of the psalm-
writer, the bottomless ocean
we launch the armada of
our thoughts on, never arriving.

It is a presence, then,
whose margins are our margins;
that calls us out over our
own fathoms.  What to do but
draw a little nearer to
such ubiquity by remaining still?
‍ ‍R.S. Thomas

Quiet Reflection

Reading:‍ ‍Prayer‍ ‍
“To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him into a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. … Although it is important and even indispensable for the spiritual life to set apart time for God and God alone, prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts —beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful —can be thought in the presence of God. … Thus, converting our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer moves us from a self-centered monologue to a God-centered dialogue.”
‍ ‍Henri Nouwen

Waiting for the Kingfisher 

Prayer is like watching for the
Kingfisher.  All you can do is
Be where he is likely to appear, and
Wait.
Often, nothing much happens;
There is space, silence and
Expectancy.
No visible sign, only thee
Knowledge that he’s been there,
And may come again.
Seeing or not seeing cease to matter,
You have been prepared.
But sometimes, when you’ve almost
Stopped expecting it,
A flash of brightness
Gives encouragement.
‍ ‍Ann Lewin

Quiet Reflection

Prayer:
Come Spirit of wisdom and love,
Source of all good,
teach us your truth              
and guide our actions
in your way of peace.  Amen        
‍ ‍Pax Christi USA, As printed in Good News
‍ ‍from the Missions Office Seattle Archdiocese

Blessing:
May God bless us with peace. May God uphold us with grace.
May God send us into the world to be a presence of peace in all that we do.
Amen.