Pray with us
We pray for an end to human trafficking.
A Prayer for the End of Human Trafficking
Shared by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, NJ
God of freedom, beauty and truth
we believe that your deepest desire,
your most powerful energy,
is that all creation might know abundant life.
We raise our voices in anguished prayer
for our sisters and brothers,
women and girls, men and boys,
who are modern day slaves;
They are your beloved daughters and sons,
exploited sexually or forced to work
because of human violence and greed.
Fill us with your holy anger and your sacred passion
that those who are trafficked might know healing and justice;
that traffickers will come to repentance and conversion;
that all of us might live in such a way
that others are not made to pay the price
for our comfort and convenience.
Hasten the coming of the day when all people
and our precious Earth itself
will be treated, not as a commodity,
but as radiant images of your freedom, beauty and truth.
Amen. May it be so.
We pray for the alleviation of poverty in its many forms: hunger, homelessness, lack of health care, unemployment…
Grow Your Kindness in Me
Shared by the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, IA
Teach me to understand, Lord.
Teach me what it is to be thirsty
hungry
fearful
lonely
sick
imprisoned.
Teach me what it is to
lose everything.
Teach me what it is to
lose hope.
Let my new understanding
grow your kindness in me …
grow your mercy in me …
grow your forgiveness in me …
grow your love in me. Amen.
We pray to practice nonviolence and end hate and racism.
Pax Christi USA Vow of Nonviolence
Recognizing the violence in my own heart, yet trusting in the goodness and mercy of God, I vow for one year to practice the nonviolence of Jesus who taught us in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God…You have learned how it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy’; but I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. In this way, you will be daughters and sons of your Creator in heaven.”
Before God the Creator and the Sanctifying Spirit, I vow to carry out in my life the love and example of Jesus
- by striving for peace within myself, seeking to be a peacemaker in my daily life;
- by accepting suffering rather than inflicting it;
- by refusing to retaliate in the face of provocation and violence;
- by persevering in nonviolence of tongue and heart;
- by living conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live;
- by actively resisting evil and working nonviolently to abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the face of the earth.
God, I trust in Your sustaining love and believe that just as You gave me the grace and desire to offer this, so You will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it.
We pray in solidarity with the earth her resources.
A Prayer for Our Earth
by Pope Francis
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.
We pray for immigration reform and in support of immigrants.
Excerpt from Prayer for Conscience and Courage
by Joan Chittister, OSB
Saint Benedict of Nursia,
you instructed your followers
to welcome all guests to the monastery,
especially the poor and the pilgrim,
because in them “God is received.”
Touch our conscience
on behalf of refugees and immigrants
and give us the courage
to break ourselves open
to the uncomfortable and the unknown.
God of conscience, God of courage,
give us whatever grace we need
to work for the coming of the reign of God
now, here and always. Amen.