Prayer for our hurting world
O Lord,
to you we come in these dark and hard times.
To you we come to explain you the pain and death
that causes the pandemic that decimates our peoples.
And we put the words of the psalmist into our mouths:
"Say to the Lord: “My stronghold, my refuge,
my God in whom I trust!”
He will rescue you… from the deadly pestilence…
He will give you refuge under his wings.
You shall not fear the terror of the night…
nor the pestilence that stalks by night,
and the plague that destroys at noonday (Ps 91,2-6).
Lord,
in you we trust at this time
that so many of our brothers and sisters,
so weak, who are sharing in their flesh
the pain of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, your Son.
Lord,
to you we come to thank you
for so many of our brothers and sisters
that bring up to date the Resurrection of your beloved Son,
giving himself up with all his strength to relieve so much pain.
We thank you for all the medical professionals
for everyone who works in hospitals,
for those who care for their sick elders at home,
for the parents and grandparents who, with patience,
explain this situation to their young children.
For the young people who mature by assuming this experience,
and draw conclusions from it for the future.
We thank you for all the public employees
and officials from our countries and cities
that make life and living together more bearable.
We thank you for the workers who make
that public transportation works,
that there are medicines in the pharmacies
and food in the shops and in the markets.
And we thank you for the working men and women
that make our lives easier in these times of confinement,
and for those who continue to work from home.
Yes, we thank you for so many signs of solidarity
and for the responsibility and seriousness
with which so many citizens face this difficult reality.
O Lord,
we are afraid of the future, and the economic consequences
that are going to result from this pandemic
that is affecting so many, many countries.
We're worried about the jobs that are going to be lost,
the workers who will have their labour rights violated,
or that their purchasing power will be reduced,
the poor and impoverished
they'll have to go through social services,
the small businessmen who will have to start over.
Lord,
we are also concerned about
the global economic situation in the coming years.
Help economic experts find ways out
viable and in solidarity with all our countries,
especially with the poorest peoples
and with less means to overcome this situation.
We also introduce you to the refugee camps,
and all those who live badly in them.
Lord, you know their precariousness.
Do not allow this pandemic to become fattening
in them, the poorest and most abandoned,
or the homeless who live on our streets,
nor in the prisoners confined in our prisons.
Lord,
we pray you for our rulers.
Let them have the wisdom that comes from you
so that they can make the right decisions,
and be sensitive to the pain of so many families
who suffer illness or the death
of their loved ones.
May they have no spurious interests
and be moved only by selfless service.
Father,
we pray for all the dead of this pandemic.
Welcome them into your loving and tender embrace
of a loving mother with the bowels of mercy.
May they rest in your peace and enjoy your presence forever.
We also pray you for their families:
give them your comfort and your love so that,
after this ordeal, they can look back at life with hope.
Father,
we finally pray you for us.
Make this difficult experience
that we now go through we know how to take advantage
so that in the future we can live life with meaning,
so that we know to reject everything that is superfluous,
so that we can make ours
the saving experience of your Son Jesus Christ
and so, knowing him, loving him and following him
as disciples who want to live their Gospel,
let us fulfil your will that our world
is truly the kingdom you have dreamed for us.
Amen.
Josep Jiménez Montejo
ECWM Assistant
24 March 2020
