Prayer for Haiti

By Patricia Brennan-Alpert

Saving God, we come to you full of sadness for the people suffering hunger and thirst, pain, fear and grief in Haiti. We pray for their relief, and for their friends and relatives living away from Haiti.

We pray that you will bless all that we send to help them. We give you thanks that we can share our strength and wealth when it is needed so badly.

We pray that you bless the intentions for good of all who are working for Haiti now.

We pray for friends and family. We pray especially for all who are burdened with illness, conflict, or addictions. Thank you God, for our material security. Where security has blinded us to our own mental, spiritual or emotional poverty, open our eyes by your commandments. Open us to the Good News.

Providing God, we thank you for our teachers and leaders and pray for your blessings on them. They lead us out of ignorance, carelessness and oppression; let us support them and forgive them their human failings. We pray for your guiding hand in the lives of all who teach.

Liberating God, we pray for people with power to influence world events. Bless their intentions. Let us remember we as individuals and as a community have power to change the world too. As David sang, “The joy of the lord is our strength”.

Loving God, you are always for the weakest, bringing good news to the poor, freeing the captives, healing the sick, liberating the oppressed. We pray to be re-inspired in our daily lives to share, to listen, to give nourishment, to love our neighbours. Whe pray to find you in our neighbours when we are in need.

Dear God, we pray for ourselves. We trust that you love us, but we struggle to understand how your love and the great suffering of the world can coexist. Bless us with courage to walk in your way when we are confronted with the great mysteries.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our brother and our teacher.

Amen