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Graduation is in the news — announced in grade school, high school, college, graduate school, and community newspapers. For families and friends, it's time to congratulate our loved ones. For graduates, it marks a major transition and a new beginning. It is a perfect time for prayers.
And so we pray this news.
Prayer of One Who Is Moving On
Guardian, Guide, no pillar of cloud by day nor fire by night,
yet I sense your presence with me, God of the journey.
You are walking with me into a new land.
You are guarding me in my vulnerable moment.
You are dwelling within me as I depart from here.
You are promising to be my peace as I face the struggles
of distance from friends and security,
the planting of feet and heart in a strange place.
Renew in me a deep trust in you. Calm my anxiousness.
As I reflect on my life I can clearly see
how you have been there in all of my leavings.
You have been there in all of my comings.
You will always be with me in everything.
I do not know how I am being resettled,
but I place my life into the welcoming arms of your love.
Encircle my heart with your peace.
May your powerful presence run like a strong thread
through the fibers of my being.
— Joyce Rupp in The Notre Dame Book of Prayer by Heidi Schlumpf
Blessing for Graduate Students
Lord God,
In the midst of this honor ceremony, we thank you for all the talents and energies and perseverance that fill these graduate students. Their fine minds and hearts and bodies have accomplished amazing academic goals. As they step into the future, we ask your blessing on each one as they go forward into their respective professions.
May they treasure the best of the past as they accept the challenge of taking new steps into an unfolding future filled with people who will hope in them and depend on them.
May they exercise moral leadership in their daily easy as they face demanding responsibilities and decisions.
May they contribute in whatever way they can to the good life of all peoples — those close by and those in faraway places.
Lord God bless these accomplished women and men as they grow into fine leaders and mentors. May all their professional service — all their teaching, research, and learning — fill them with the gift of wisdom that is grace-filled and long lasting.
Finally, we ask your blessing on the families and friends and on all the professors and mentors and staff that have brought these graduates to this moment of celebration.
— Jean Lenz in The Notre Dame Book of Prayer by Heidi Schlumpf
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