Let nothing disturb you (St Teresa)
Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.
Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation (1879), public domain.
About this prayer
Lines by St Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), traditionally said to have been found after her death written on a slip she kept in her breviary as a bookmark. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put them into English in the nineteenth century. They are prayed slowly, often learned by heart, in moments of fear or worry, and are often sung as a short repeated chant.