In the rush and noise of life, as you have intervals, step within yourselves and be still. Wait upon God and feel his good presence; this will carry you through your day's business.

William Penn (1644-1718)

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!

Reclothe us in our rightful mind;

In purer lives your service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

Drop your still dews of quietness

Till all our strivings cease:

Take from our lives the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of your peace.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

0 Lord, my God, grant us your peace;

already, indeed, you have made us rich in all things!

Give us that peace of being at rest,

that sabbath peace, the peace which knows no end.

St Augustine (334-430)

0 Lord, the Scripture says 'there is a time for silence and a time for speech.' Saviour, teach me the silence of humility, the silence of wisdom, the silence of love, the silence of perfection, the silence that speaks without words, the silence of faith.

Lord, teach me to silence my own heart that I may listen to the gentle movement of the Holy Spirit within me and sense the depths which are of God.

(Sixteenth Century)

Whoever truly loves you, good Lord,

walks in safety down a royal road, far from the dangerous abyss-

and it he so much as stumbles, you, 0 Lord, stretch out your hand.

Not one fall, or many, will cause you to abandon him if he loves you

and does not love the things of this world,

because he walks in the vale of humility.

St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

0 God, our Judge and Saviour, set before us the vision of your purity and let us see our sins in the light of your holiness. Pierce our self-contentment with the shafts of your burning love and let love consume in us all that hinders us from perfect service of your cause; for your holiness is our judgement, so are your wounds our salvation.

William Temple (1881-1944)

0 Lord our God, grant us grace to desire you with a whole heart, so that desiring you we may seek you with a whole heart, so that desiring you we may seek and find you; and so finding you, may love you; and loving you, may hate those sins which separate us from you, for the sake of Jesus Christ.

St Anselm (1033-1109)