Prayer

Father

Have mercy on those who suffer in this world
Those who suffer the stench of poverty handed down from generation to generation
and those who struggle with hunger daily – crying babies and silent children, waiting and hoping.
Those who live with sicknesses and disabilities – they carry their crosses daily
Those who grieve losses we hardly can begin to imagine… loss of homes and livelihoods, loss of children and parents and loved ones – whose lives darken with tears that may never end…
Those who suffer from the acts of others – families who suffer violence in their own homes, murders, corporate rape, political oppression and wars caused by fathers

Father this world is a world of suffering --- both natural and manmade .
Father touch those that cry out your name
And touch those who do not yet know the name of the Creator
May they learn the name of a Father who blesses them and gives them hope and joy in the midst of suffering.


As we live our ordinary lives, and enjoy our ordinary days, and walk our ordinary streets, and sleep in our ordinary houses..

Father fill our hearts with compassion for the suffering in this world
Give our eyes the ability to recognize suffering and Father give us tears when we see it.

Give our lips the words to remember their suffering in our petitions to you
And give our hands and our bank accounts a way to empty ourselves for those who suffer.

Help us, Father, to pick up the crosses of those who suffer… Give us your burning desire to walk beside them and to remember the suffering of our Lord and Savior on that terrible cross. And instead of our ability to read the paper and see the news and go back to our ordinary lives, Father may we get comfortable with suffering…