Prayers & liturgies

Words for the threshold

The Church has always given her people words for thresholds — for setting out, for passing through darkness, for returning with thanksgiving. What she has not yet written are prayers for those who meet God in entheogenic experience. These liturgies are a beginning: written by a priest, rooted in the tradition, and offered freely.

They are intended for lawful and pastorally responsible contexts — licensed and regulated programs, clinical research, jurisdictions where such experiences are legal, and the religious communities that hold them — and for the many hours of ordinary prayer that surround any encounter with God. Chaplains, ministers, and individuals are welcome to use and adapt them, with attribution.

A Prayer of Preparation

For the days before

To be prayed in the days of preparation — slowly, and more than once.

O God my Maker, who formed me in secret and knows what is in my depths:

I am preparing to open before you what I cannot see myself. Search me, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

Give me holy intention — that I would seek not an experience, but you; not escape, but truth; not power, but love.

Give me honest company — those who will pray for me, wait for me, and speak truth to me when I return.

Give me a quiet heart — willing to receive what you give, whether consolation or desolation, light or the dark that precedes the dawn.

Into your hands I commend my spirit; for you have redeemed me, O God of truth. Amen.

An Examen for Integration

For the days after

After the manner of the Ignatian examen. To be prayed in the evenings of the weeks that follow, with a journal at hand.

Become still. Sit in silence until your breathing slows. Remember that you are in the presence of God, who was present then and is present now.

Give thanks. Name one thing from what you experienced, or from this day, for which you are grateful — however small. Thank God for it plainly.

Review. Walk back through what you saw, felt, and heard. Do not force meaning. Ask: Where, in this, did I sense love, truth, or the presence of God? Where did I sense fear, confusion, or my own wounds speaking?

Test. The tradition is clear: not every vivid thing is from God. Hold what you received against the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. What bears this fruit, keep. What does not, entrust to God and let rest.

Resolve. Ask for one small, concrete act of love this coming day that honors what you were shown. Write it down.

Close. Our Father, who art in heaven… Amen.

A Thanksgiving after Healing

For when an old wound has begun to close

May be prayed alone, or aloud with the community that accompanied you.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and do not forget all his benefits — who forgives, who heals, who redeems your life from destruction.

Gracious God: you have touched an old wound in me, and it has begun to close. What I carried in silence, you have brought into light. What I believed unlovable, you have loved.

I do not understand all that you have done, and I do not need to. I give you thanks — for prayer, for the community that held me, and for your severe and gentle mercy.

Make of this healing not an ending but a commission: that having been comforted, I may comfort; having been forgiven, forgive; having been loved, love. Through Jesus Christ, the healer of souls. Amen.

A fuller collection — liturgies for communities, blessings for those who accompany, and prayers for difficult experiences — is being written now. Write to me if you would like to know when it is ready.