The Prayer of St Brendan the Navigator

A prayer for the journey.

Saint Brendan “the Navigator” was a seafaring Irish monk who founded a large monastery around 577 AD at Clonfert, a small village in east County Galway, Ireland. Many fantastical tales grew up around the exploits of Saint Brendan, chief of which is his legendary quest to the “Isle of the Blessed”, a mythical island supposedly situated in the North Atlantic somewhere west of North Africa.

Amongst the stories attributed to Brendan is the following prayer. Whether or not it was penned by Brendan or a later hand matters little. It is a moving prayer, and I have found beneficial on the journey toward my own “Blessed Isle”:

Lord, I will trust You,
Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Give me faith to leave the old ways and break fresh ground with you.

Christ of the mysteries,
Can I trust You to be stronger than each storm in me?
Do I still yearn for Your glory to lighten me?

I will show others the care You’ve given me.
I will determine amidst all uncertainty always to trust.
I choose to live beyond regret, and let You recreate my life.

I believe You will make a way for me and provide for me, if only I trust You and obey.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times are still in Your hand.
I will believe You for my future, chapter by chapter, until the story is written.

Focus my mind and my heart upon You, my attention always on You without alteration.
Strengthen me with Your blessing and appoint to me the task.
Teach me to live with eternity in view.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven.
Feed me, and, somehow, make my obedience count for You.

Acknowledgements

• Image courtesy Catholic Saint Medals.
• This version of St Brendan’s Prayer is from Anna M. Townsend‘s book, “Destination Transformation: A forty-day journey to change the world” (ISBN: 1514741318) published by CreateSpace in 2015.