Thursday, January 14, 2010

A Prayer for Haiti


a hopeful prayer for an overwhelming crisis

An injured man carries his dead daughter in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.
A Prayer for Haiti
"O Father of the poor and Mother of the oppressed: Enfold in your arms the suffering people of Haiti. Comfort those in mourning; relieve those in pain; give shelter to the homeless and hope to those in despair. Feed your people, O God, with bread both earthly and divine, and give them your water and wine. Help them bury the dead, nurse the sick and wounded, and raise their faith and dignity, for they are some of your dearest children. Silence those who falsely claim that Haiti is somehow accursed; proclaim the truth that this vibrant, creative nation still shines as a beacon of freedom throughout the Americas. And help us, the nations of the world and the people of means, to help rebuild this colorful land in the image of your Son Jesus Christ, who knows our suffering because he took our mortal pain into his own body on the Cross; then rose again to live and reign with you and the Holy Comforter. Amen"

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6 comments:

Jayne said...

Amen.

Bethany said...

Beautiful.

Evelyn said...

Amen for sure!

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

Very beautiful. Thanks.

Josh Thomas said...

One little note, Roberta:

I've since cleaned this prayer up a bit, so it no longer says "Help us help rebuild…"

One thing I haven't managed yet is to convey a proper sense of "help the Haitian people to rebuild." Those words are still eluding me.

All our prayers are imperfect, as we are mortal; I'm glad you and your followers felt this one said something worthwhile, well or ill.

Josh

Josh Thomas said...

P.S. Funny thing: Once I admitted on your blog that the prayer was still defective, God quickly gave me the words to improve it.

Isn't it "strange" how these things happen?

(You may want to copy and paste the New & Improved for Monday 2.1.10.)