Beautiful prayer, Vince. Thank you for posting it. These parts are most
important to me today:
> For the children, those who have lost parents,
> and for all children who have been taught this week about evil
> and who have lost all innocence in seeing the world
> that they shall inherit from us,
> Holy One, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
I visited our neighborhood firehouse today and just stood looking,
crying, reading the cards, smelling the scent of hundreds of flowers and
burning candles. There were hundred of cards to the firefighters
expressing sympathy and appreciation, including many from children that
often included drawings of two big rectangles with jagged lines at the
top. It's hard enough for adults to cope with this. Children... I pray
for them and for the caretakers trying to help them feel safe even as
they're suffering and are afraid themselves.
> For the people of Israel and Palestine,
> for the people of Kosovo and Macedonia,
> for the people of Rwanda, Congo, and Nigeria,
> for the people of Chiapas, Peru, and Columbia,
> and all people who suffer and have suffered from recent terrorism
> and found us unconcerned or oblivious or unhelpful
> because they were far away and their suffering did not concern us,
> Holy One, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
I never knew... only saw the suffering within my little tv screen (if it
was even covered here at all), only briefly felt their grief. That is
different now.
> For those in other countries
> who have expressed their grief for our suffering
> and who are praying for us and all people who hurt,
> Holy One, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
It's a great comfort to read words of concern from so many people, from
everywhere, and to find out what other people are doing during this
time, not only hearing about what's happening in workplaces, but hearing
about jonifests and movies too (especially movies that inspire waaayyy
over the top reviews :-). Anybody else seen Spielberg's "AI"? I saw it
the weekend it was released and my question afterwards was "What the
hell was that?" I still haven't been able to figure it out.
So keep the info coming, please.
Debra Shea
