When words escape us and we don’t know what to say,
This we ask, O God:
That our anguish be our prayer.
That our tears be our prayer.
That our emptiness be our prayer.
That our deepest longings and our bravest hopes be our prayer.
Because today words escape us and we don’t know what to say
But, here we are, O God.
Hear our prayer.
But leave us not where we are, O God.
Overwhelmed by hopelessness or emptiness or the violence.
Remind us again of goodness.
And, the daily grace which brushes up against our lives.
And, the bold dream of peace that lingers still.
And, in those moments, O God, awaken with us the courage and the conviction to do what we can, in whatever ways large or small, to turn back those agents of death and violence which demean and diminish and destroy so many.
Amen.