NIGHT PRAYER: Wedneday 4/26

This coming weekend there will be a convention of satanists in Boston.  The gathering is subtitled "A weekend of blasphemy and remembrance." Many faith communities, including the Archdiocese of Boston, are urging their members to stay clear of the event itself and to protest by joining in prayer. I believe that's wise counsel and good advice.  

 

I see this as an opportunity for all of us to explore and elaborate on a prayer that's on our lips each time we pray the Our Father: Deliver us from evil.  

 

Apart this weekend's conventions,  I believe there's a power for evil at work in the world - every single day. always tempting us to forget that it's the LORD who is God - and that we are God's creatures, made in the divine image. I find evidence for evil in the world every single day. Where is this evil?    Drawing on Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor, no. 80) in which he drew from the Vatican II document, Joy and Hope (Guadium et Spes, no. 27) the American bishops offer these examples of intrinsic evil:

“Whatever is opposed to life itself,
    such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion,
        euthanasia or willful self-destruction;
- whatever violates the integrity of the human person,
    such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind,
        attempts to coerce the will itself;
- whatever insults human dignity,
    such as subhuman living conditions,
        arbitrary imprisonment,
            deportation, slavery, prostitution,
                the selling of women and children;
- as well as disgraceful working conditions
    where men and women are treated
        as mere tools for profit
            rather than as free and responsible persons;
- all these things and others of their like
    are infamies indeed.
They poison human society…
    they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator. "

Categorizing these evils as intrinsic means that these are deeds so evil that no circumstance can make them good.  And note well that this list is not exhaustive. In my own spirituality, I recognize the power of the evil one in the world and in my own life.  I know my own personal struggle to be more faithful as a child of God, a sibling of Jesus, anointed by the Spirit - in the face of evil that tempts me to trust and follow my own mind and will rather than to render myself vulnerable to divine wisdom and grace.

 

In that light, then, I offer you today's Night Prayer... 

 

Deliver us from every evil, Lord,

 from the power, cunning,

 scheming and wiles

 of evil at work in our world…

 

Deliver us from evil

 calling us to war, 

 to plunder and pillage,

 to kill and destroy...

 

Deliver us from evil

 feeding our hearts

 on bitterness, suspicion,

 spite and resentment…

 

Deliver us from evil

 seducing us to hate the other

 - simply for being “other”…

 

Deliver us from evil

 bending, twisting, denying the truth

 that saves us and sets us free…

 

Deliver us from evil

 excusing the slaughter of innocents

 who’ve done no harm

 and committed no wrong…

 

Deliver us from evil

 that gossips and wounds,

 stains and destroys

 the honor of someone’s good name…

 

Deliver us from evil

 seeking profit 

 by trading as product

 the gift of the human person…

 

Deliver us from evil

  denying freedom and liberty,
  preferring the shackles of power and greed… 

 

Deliver us from evil

 that ignores common sense,

 paying no mind to reason, logic,

 wisdom and truth…

Deliver us from evil

 striking with terror,

 holding and maiming

 the blameless as captive...  

 

Deliver us from evil

 that lurks in the hearts

 of those who hate and despise us...

 

Deliver us from evil

 defining boundaries  between

 them and us,

 the rich and the poor,

 the naïve and the aware,

between those who live

 in the first, the second and third worlds;

between those who believe as we do

 and those who have different beliefs

 and those who do not believe...

 

Deliver us from

 evil making its living

 off drugs and porn

 and weapons of mass destruction…

 

Deliver us from evil

 haunting and taunting

 our own pride and greed,

 our selfish desires,

 our willful and obstinate minds…

 

Deliver us from evil

 blaspheming the name

 of all that is holy, all that is just,

 all that is good and pure…

 

Lead us not into temptation, Lord,

 but deliver us, we pray,

 from the prowling power of evil

 roaming the world

 seeking the ruin of souls...

Deliver us into your mercy, Lord,

 into your grace, into your peace,

 into your pure and abiding love…

 

Deliver us, Lord:

 by the strength of your holy arm,

 through the gifts of your Holy Spirit

 through the power of hosts of angels

 and the intercession of Mary our Mother,

 Queen of peace, Gate of Heaven,

 Mystical Rose and Help of Christians…

 

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake

and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen. 

 

We Look to You by Joel Sczebel, Matt Searles

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