02 December 2008

prayer

This Franciscan prayer is so powerful. It so clearly reflects how I long to see myself and others energized to action by the pain in the world instead of paralyzed by it. May we all be blessed as we have the courage to pray this prayer for ourselves and others.


May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.


Thanks to From HIV to Home for sharing the new prayer of my heart.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing that. I've been wrestling with that exact thing, and have thought so many times recently about the "International Justice Ministries" that your dad spoke of in church. I think often of what Peter wrote about when he came back from Africa - and the church there and the oppression within government, etc. And it makes you wonder - what can I do? This prayer sums it up so beautifully - "the foolishness to believe you can make a difference in the world" - and we can. B/c God uses us. B/c we are His plan. We think (and speak) of y'all so often. Thank you for this post. I'm going to save it so we can be those people. Nothing excites nor breaks my heart more than what this prayer speaks about. Blessings and Peace. Have a Lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year, Bowersox Family!