Prayers for Social Justice
to I Am the Bread of Life
For Refugees and Exiles
Lord, no one is a stranger to You and no one is ever far from Your loving care. In Your kindness watch over refugees and exiles, those separated from their loved ones, young people who are lost, and those who have left or run away from home. Bring them back safely to the place where they long to be and help us always to show Your kindness to strangers and to those in need. Amen.
For Those Unjustly Deprived of Liberty
Father, Your Son came among us as a slave to free the human race from the bondage of sin. Rescue those unjustly deprived of liberty and restore them to the freedom You wish for all men as Your sons. Amen.
For Prisoners
Father of mercy, the secrets of all hearts are known to you alone. You know who is just and You forgive the unjust. Hear our prayers for those in prison. Turn their hearts from despair and evil to faith, love, and goodness. Give them patience and hope in their sufferings, and guide them through life by Your eternal light. Help those who have been victims of their transgressions to be strong in their faith and not lose sight of Your goodness and mercy. Amen.
For Prisoners and Correction Officers
Most gracious Father, bless with Your special care all penitentiaries and homes of refuge. Look with pity on those who are housed there. Guide and protect those who have returned to the world. Grant all of them true contrition for past sins and strengthen them in their good resolutions. Lead them along from grace to grace, so that by the help of the Holy Spirit they may persevere in the ways of obedience and humility, and in the struggle against evil thoughts and desires.
Grant the Holy Spirit to those engaged in teaching and training them, that they might have a right judgment with respect to those entrusted to them. May they labor for love of You with deep humility and singleness of purpose, purity of heart and life, and true zeal for Your glory and the salvation of souls. Give them faith and love to sustain them in disappointment, love and patience toward those under them, and in Your own good time crown their work with an eternal recompense. Amen.
For Our Oppressors
Father, according to Your law of love, we wish to love sincerely all who oppress us. Help us to follow the commandments of Your new covenant, that by returning good for the evil done to us, we may learn to bear the ill-will of others out of love for You. Amen.
Prayer to Abolish the Death Penalty
God of compassion, You let Your rain fall on the just and the unjust. Expand and deepen our hearts so that we may love as You love, even those among us who have cuased the greatest pain by taking life. For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance as we fill up death rows and kill the killers in the name of justice, in the name of peace. Jesus, our Brother, You suffered execution at the hands of the state, but You did not let hatred overcome You.
Help us to reach out to victims of violence, so that our enduring love may help them heal. You strengthen us in the struggle for justice. Help us to work tirelessly for the abolition of state-sanctioned death and to renew our society in its very heart so that violence will be no more. Amen.
(remember that Jesus Himself was a victim of the death penalty)
For Social Justice
Almighty and eternal God, may Your grace enkindle in all men a love for the many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings. Arouse in the hearts of those who call You Father a hunger and thirst for social justice, and for fraternal love in deed and in truth. Grant, O Lord, peace in our days, peace to souls, peace to families, peace to our country, and peace among nations. Amen.
~~ by Pope Pius XII, taken from "Prayers for Today," published by Leaflet Missal Co.
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01/21/2006
