Gaelic Prayer

I am reading the book called A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. This is a historical novel set in the 1700s. At the end of the “haying,” the main character uses a prayer that I particularly liked, so I Googled it. (Really, what did we do before Google?)

From my scattered, very short (talking three minutes, here) and spotty research, it looks like this prayer is a collection of prayers from Scottish oral tradition. A Scottish Folklorist, Alexander Carmichael, compiled some of them into a series of volumes called Carmina Gadelica (although I could be wrong about that, as well). The first of those volumes is on the internet – a nice page of Gaelic prayers (although in English).

I say the prayer from my mouth,
I say the prayer from my heart,
I say the prayer to Thee Thyself,
O, Healing Hand, O Son of the God of salvation.”

Thou Lord God of the angels,
Spread over me Thy linen robe;
Shield me from every famine,
Free me from every spectral shape.
Strengthen me in every good,
Encompass me in every strait,
Safeguard me in every ill,
And from every enmity restrain me.

Be Thou between me and all things grisly,
Be Thou between me and al things mean,
Be Thou between me and all things gruesome
Coming darkly toward me.

O God of the weak,
O God of the lowly,
O God of the righteous,
O shield of homesteads:

Thou art calling upon us
In the voice of glory
With the mouth of mercy
Of Thy beloved Son.

O may I find rest everlasting
In the home of Thy Trinity,
In the Paradise of the godly
In the Sun-garden of Thy love!