How to pray for safe travel over the holiday season.
Many of us plan to travel this holiday season. To visit family. To see sights. To find a place of rest and recreation. If you are traveling—whether by planes, trains or automobiles—consider using one or more (or all!) of the following short prayers for travel:
1) For an Emmaus Road
God, You know what awaits me as I travel today. You know every bend and bump in the road, every sunbeam and cloud in the sky. So, Lord, please, make straight paths for my feet. Grant safe and successful travel. Please help me reach my destination. Save me from worry and stress. Make me patient and polite along the way. Make me kind and attentive to others and please give the blessing of somehow being helpful to someone else. And especially, Lord, make this day an Emmaus moment, that I may travel in Your company and, when I reach my destination, know You better than when I began, in Jesus’ name, amen.
2) For Friendly Skies
Father, grant me safe and successful travel today.
Be my vanguard,
rear guard,
and constant companion
as I travel.
Make smooth paths (and flight schedules) for my feet.
Let me make my connection.
Protect me from airborne infections.
See me (and my luggage) to my destination in a timely, safe and healthy manner,
in Jesus’ name, amen.
3) A Talmudic Prayer for Travel
May it be Your will, Lord, my God and God of my ancestors, to lead me, to direct my steps, and to support me in peace. Lead me in life, tranquil and serene, until I arrive at where I am going. Deliver me from every enemy, ambush and hurt that I might encounter on the way and from all afflictions that visit and trouble the world. Bless the work of my hands. Let me receive divine grace and those loving acts of kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all those I encounter. Listen to the voice of my appeal, for You are a God who responds to prayerful supplication. Blessed are You, Lord, who responds to prayer.
(The Traveler’s Prayer, prescribed in the Talmud).
4) A Traveler’s Prayer of Faith
I know, O God,
that wherever I travel,
You will be with me.
There is nowhere I can go,
no situation I can face,
that is outside Your love and strength;
and so I submit to Your care and keeping on this journey,
knowing that at all times I am safe in Your hands.
