Prayer

God over all,

As we continue celebrating Black History month, we ask you to lead us further along the pathways of racial harmony and social equality. We honor the progress made by those gone before us. Yet we still have such need of your healing grace, inside and between us. So that we might love one another as you have loved us. So that we might transform our vision and shed the lies of our biases—our feeble attempts to judge and define one another. Today, tomorrow, this month and beyond, may we commit to embody the affirmation, respect, and defense of each person’s dignity. May we live truly as one human family, in all the ways you have taught us: doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with you. Amen.

Prayer

Saving God,

So many faithful servants before us longed to see your salvation. And then, in the coming of your son, human eyes beheld the very hope of deliverance. Like Simeon’s song upon seeing the Christ-child, may we too be filled with this gift of perception. May we have faith to see you in the course of our day, as we seek to extend your healing compassion to those in need. In our encounters with patients and families, as we support those threatened by poverty, as we take care of our wounded in tangible ways… Grant us the sight to see you through it all, behind every face that we serve today. Amen.

Prayer

God of harmony,

Today we honor the life of Saint Brigid, a woman of peace. In the midst of conflict, she brought harmony. In darkness, she brought light, to the downcast she brought hope. Inspire us through the example of Saint Brigid to care for those who are poor and oppressed. Open our hearts to the joy of your presence and our ears to the power of your voice. Rooted in your love and consoled by your presence, may we be instruments of peace, hope, and light for all we encounter this day and every day. Amen.

Prayer

Loving God,

It’s sad but still true: we learn from experience to wear invisible armor, to buffer the words of so many that we encounter. So many words used as weapons around us. Or even just careless words, spewed without sense, which still cause such damage and sting us in spirit. Help us be different, abounding in sweetness. As we share in the Chinese New Year this coming week, let our gifts and our mooncakes remind us to be agents of sweetness in a world that can often be bitter. In our words and our works, may we follow the footsteps of holy exemplars like John Bosco, who engaged in life-giving ministry with and for those who were poor and vulnerable, and never relinquished a sweetness of spirit. Amen.

Prayer

Sustaining Spirit,

Throughout the ages, your family on earth has endured so much adversity. And through much of our struggle, resilience was found in the gifts that you gave us from birth, as creatures made in your image: community, stories, and humor; the grace of belonging, care, and concern. Compared with such gifts, our tools and devices only take us so far. If we must continue relying on screens and buttons and batteries to maintain connection, help us never neglect the bonds of our common humanity, and the gift of your spirit within us. Give us a faith that can laugh in the midst of adversity, and the knowledge that we’ll make it together. Amen.

Prayer

Righteous God,

There are things that are wrong in our world and they ought to be right. Remind us today that it is okay to be mad when they’re not. You speak in your Word of your own righteous anger. And you showed us in person how upsetting it is to find human-made obstacles in the way of your healing. When your plans for peace are thwarted by human ambitions, when care and compassion are stifled by the hunger for power, when good help is undermined by self-serving causes… In times like these, help us avoid the many wrong ways to be angry. Lead us instead to find new and creative right ways to channel frustration in healthy directions, which will finally be fruitful for all. Amen.

Prayer

God of the ordinary,

Today we celebrate one of the Church’s most brilliant of minds: St. Thomas Aquinas. Yet, despite his great brilliance—or perhaps, precisely because of it—Thomas never let go of the concrete world around him. The real world of sense and experience. The world in which we actually live, work, and play, through laughter and tears, heartache and joy. Thank you for the wisdom he left us, which can stretch our imaginations to heaven’s heights while at the same time remind us: we are human, after all. And today may just be the day we most need to stop and put the brain away. Take care of the heart and alleviate sorrow, and thereby prepare for another tomorrow. May we do so in freedom. Amen.