Prayers for Anxiety
Anxiety rarely waits for a convenient moment. These are prayers for the tightened chest at two in the morning, the dread before a phone call, the worry that circles the same thought for hours. Most of them are short on purpose — when your mind is racing, a long prayer is hard to hold.
You will find Scripture that names fear honestly, ancient prayers of trust, and prayers of the saints who wrestled with the same unrest. Pray one line slowly and repeat it. Repetition is not a failure of faith here; it is how a restless mind is taught to rest.
15 prayers
- A Prayer Before a Difficult Day
A contemporary pastoral prayer for anticipatory anxiety — the dread that arrives before an exam, a diagnosis, a court date, or a hard…
- A Prayer for Peace of Mind
A contemporary pastoral prayer woven from Psalm 46:10, Psalm 131, and Psalm 127:2. It is written for rumination — the mental loop that…
- A Prayer for Students
A contemporary student's prayer in the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas's Ante Studium and of the medieval universities, which opened each…
- A Prayer in Anxiety
A contemporary pastoral prayer shaped around Philippians 4:6–7 and Christ's words in Matthew 6. Anxiety is not treated as a failure of…
- A Prayer While Awaiting Test Results
A contemporary pastoral prayer for medical waiting — biopsies, scans, diagnoses — grounded in Christ's teaching not to be anxious about…
- All Shall Be Well (Julian of Norwich)
From the Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, the anchoress who received her visions in 1373 during a near-fatal illness — the…
- Be at Peace (St. Francis de Sales)
Drawn from the spiritual letters of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, written in the early 1600s to lay people trying to live devout…
- Novena to St. Anthony of Padua
St. Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) was a Franciscan preacher and Doctor of the Church, known for miracles during his lifetime. His novena —…
- Prayer in Time of Anxiety
A contemporary prayer for anxious nights, in the tradition of the psalms of lament, which never pretend the distress away but speak it…
- Prayer to St. Anthony for Something Lost
St. Anthony of Padua (1195–1231), a Franciscan and Doctor of the Church, gained his reputation as the finder of lost things after a runaway…
- Psalm 131 — A Quieted Soul
One of the fifteen Songs of Ascents sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem, and among the shortest psalms. Teresa of Ávila and John of the…
- St. Teresa's Bookmark (Let Nothing Disturb You)
These lines were found written on a bookmark in the breviary of St. Teresa of Ávila after her death in 1582. Teresa was a Carmelite…
- Surrender Novena (Day One)
Received by Fr. Don Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970), the Neapolitan priest whom Padre Pio told his own visitors to consult. Each of the nine…
- The Memorare
Long associated with St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the Memorare was popularized in the 17th century by Fr. Claude Bernard, who credited it with…
- The Serenity Prayer
Written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1930s and adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous, this short prayer has probably done more practical…