Prayer

Author of life,

As our Jewish colleagues and neighbors celebrate Rosh Hashanah, we all take time to acknowledge your creative power within and above all things, especially your power over life itself. Who is like you? Humbled by your life-giving work of creation, we ask that you would hear the prayers especially of those who are sick and suffering today or otherwise longing for signs of new life in tough situations. Be merciful to them and use us to minister to them in ways that bring comfort and healing. Sustain us all with your lovingkindness, as we recommit to your mission among us today. Amen.

Prayer

Empowering God,

As we recognize Health Literacy Month this October, remind us that our work improving health literacy is a crucial way that we can honor the dignity of each person we have the privilege of serving. For all people deserve the chance to better understand, appreciate, and engage with information that is so relevant to their health and well-being. Inspire us, therefore, as health care professionals united in mission, to practice good communication and overcome barriers preventing patients and families and communities from being empowered in their decision making. As those called to bring good help to others, we pray. Amen.

Prayer

Loving God,

As we extend your compassionate ministry today, empower us to reflect your spirit of inclusion in everything we do and say. May we be truly hospitable in every encounter, with patients and families in our facilities and with neighbors in our communities. Let everyone you send us to serve feel our hearts responding to their inestimable value—for you called them into being and love them just as much as you love us. With our colleagues and partners in ministry, may we foster a culture at work that better reflects your own unconditional love, allowing people to be their true selves as we all seek to serve the common good. Amen.

Prayer

God of all,

In recognition of World Day of Migrants and Refugees, we ask you to open our eyes to see more clearly our fundamental unity, as one human family. Remind us of our solidarity as sisters and brothers across the globe, sharing a common origin and destiny, knowing that one day we all will be gathered before your throne. Until then we pray for those who lack or have been deprived of a stable dwelling in a land they call home. Let those of us who are so blessed continue extending helping hands to them, insisting that their dignity always be upheld as we serve them in tangible ways. As advocates of the sisters and brothers in need in our communities, we pray. Amen.

Prayer

Gracious God,

We acknowledge you as the source of every good gift and we praise you for the many graces you show us each day. We also admit to the confusion and pain we feel when gifts we rely on are taken away from us, especially the gift of good health. For those who are struggling today with the loss of function and vitality, help us be a community of support and healing for them as they face the challenge of sickness and disease. Along with their loved ones, may we accompany them faithfully and somehow reveal your hope and goodness even in this time of trial. As we all look to you, we pray. Amen.

Prayer

Spirit of love,

Your call to serve others entails a paradox that we get to prove true in our experience: by serving others, we somehow find ourselves the more richly blessed with abiding happiness and a job well done. As we work hard today to share your healing compassion with others, we pray that each one of our associates and leaders and partners would experience a deep sense of joy as they collectively perform so many acts of service. May our patients’ lives be blessed through so many faithful servants; and may those who serve be rewarded in knowing that, even in the smallest of gestures, they are ultimately serving you, the source of all blessing. Amen.

Prayer

Spirit of hope,

We pray today against cynicism and unite before you, inviting you to fill us with more of your hope for the world. For those who are struggling with disappointment today, give them stamina to fan into flame their own sense of hope. Use us to do so! For our colleagues and patients and their families, for our own families and wider communities, help us to avoid growing bitter when the world falls out of step with your will. Instead make us bolder, all the more eager to express and embody the love you have for all people. In the hope of your kingdom among us, we pray. Amen.