Legend has it that it was this Irish Monk who really discovered America, and that it was his journals on his travels that inspired Christopher Columbus to go out and seek the “new world.” 

Whether or not that’s true, Brendan did a great deal of journeying and evangelizing and is the patron saint of mariners and travelers–so you might keep the prayer below in your hip pocket as you head out for summer adventures.

In the midst of all the changes that are going on in my life, I have really been drawn to this prayer. The truth is we rarely find times in our lives when things aren’t changing in one way or another. St. Brendan’s prayer is just the prayer for those times when change is uncomfortable, unfamiliar and uncertain. 

Prayer of St. Brendan the Navigator

‘Help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You
to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count for You.’