Sisters & Brothers

As we reflect this week on our neighbors, those from “all of Judea,” may this poem by Ted Loder be our prayer:

I Remember Now in Silence

Lord,

plunge me deep into a sense of sadness

at the pain of my sisters and brothers

inflicted by war,

prejudice,

injustice,

indifference,

that I may learn again to cry as a child

until my tears baptize me

into a person who touches with care

those I now touch in prayer:

victims of violence,

of greed,

of addiction;

prisoners in ghettos,

in old age,

in sexism;

people with broken bodies,

with broken hearts,

with broken lives

whom I remember now in silence before you

because I have too often forgotten them

in the shuffle of my fretful busy-ness.

by Ted Loder  ~ Guerrillas of Grace “Prayers for the Battle”