January 22 is the annual Day of Prayer for the Protection of Unborn Children but I made a calendar error when scheduling this post - so it comes a day late! I'm grateful to Andy Alexander, S.J. whose (italicized) reflections I've incorporated in my prayer tonight.
Lord, we thank you for calling us to share
in the life of your one human family...
We thank you for all our brothers and
sisters
and ask you to deepen the bonds of love
among us....
We thank you and pray tonight especially
for our youngest and smallest sisters and brothers
who still make their home in their mother's womb...
We hold them in prayer, Lord
and promise never to deny or ignore them...
We remember those who are living
and commend them to your protection...
We remember those who have died
and who live forever in your arms...
We pray for all who witness
to the unique and blessed humanity
of these, our youngest siblings...
We pray for all who find themselves in
unexpected, unwanted, even forced pregnancies
and we pray for those who stand by to offer
compassion, care, support and comfort...
And we pray for the consolation and healing
of all who've lost the children of their womb...
Our prayer for the protection of the unborn, Lord,
calls us to pray and to advocate
for the dignity of each human person,
at every stage of life, in every circumstance:
- for those who arrive, unwanted, at our borders;
- for any whose demands on us are unexpected,
challenging and burdensome;
- for those who live out of sight, on the margins,
with no one to champion their cause;
- and for those who are difficult to defend:
murderers on death row, enemy combatants,
and those whose own choices have ruined their lives...
Through you all things were made, Lord,
the visible and the invisible:
awake in our hearts a reverence for the work of your hands
and renew among us a readiness to nurture and sustain
your precious gift of life...
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 Cannot Measure How You Heal by John Bell
We cannot measure how you heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.
The pain that will not go away,
the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds
are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends
the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside
the memories that haunt the mind.
So some have come who need your help,
and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world
are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here
to mend the body, mind and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain
and make your broken people whole.
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