This is how you pray
And do not be like the hypocrites ...
God,
(Gift of Desperation)
Show me the path
(I believe)
Help my unbelief
(For the one who hurt me - the one who wronged me - the one who merely annoyed me)
Give them all the compassion you so freely give me
(Forgive me)
I’d tell you all my shame, but you know it already
(Forgive me)
I’m letting go
(Help me forgive)
Make me an instrument of your peace
(No justice - no peace)
Preserve life
(Turn our swords into plowshares)
Spears into pruning hooks
(Dismantle our guns)
Banish my hatred - our hatred
(Let me see love)
I pray for the grace of a rising sun
(The peace of a sunset)
The rest to rise again
(Bind up our wounds)
Come to us, and heal us.
(Heal the healers; comfort the comforters)
A still, small voice.
(That I may listen)
AMEN
This prayer was inspired by Episode 396 of the Dopey Podcast, and it was also written in honor and memory of all the lives lost to gun violence and police brutality already in 2023. Remember: Half Moon Bay. Monterey Park. Tyre Nichols. And so many, many more. May we bear witness to the injustice of their deaths and the brutality of our violent country.
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This is an amazing prayer!