PRAYER

by Jennifer Giandalone

September 18, 2001

 

       Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts lift upward to you for solace, comfort and hope during our time of great need.  Our hearts are filled with sadness, confusion, and deep emotion for which we have no words.

       We pray you will bless us with patience as the coming days, weeks and months pass.  Help us to withstand the not knowing, and give us the strength to absorb what horrors unfold as our understanding of what has happened to our nation, our very beings, becomes clearer.  

       Bless us Father with flexible hearts filled with kindness.  Guide us in putting our growing anger into creative actions of assistance, comfort, and solidarity as a nation of good people seeking peace.  Help us serve as examples of goodness so that we may help our children see more than the evil that touched us September 11th.  Help us resist our own fears and prejudices so our hearts can remain open to your great love and comfort.

       Keep us mindful of our nation’s great diversity as we hear the survivors share their experiences with different accents, and faces of many colors.  We all shed tears that taste of salt.  The blood of all humanity is red.  Keep us mindful of our collective heritage in the days and months ahead.  Give us the strength to gently guide those among us whose horror at this recent attack upon innocents has led them to immediate condemnation of all unlike themselves.  Give us the words and wisdom to gently pierce any hardening hearts we may encounter in order for your love to be let in and your miraculous healing to begin.

       As women of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, it is incumbent upon us to put our homes in order.  Help each of us to make our home a safe haven for our families and our friends.  May all who enter leave replenished, nourished and comforted by the peace that exists within homes enriched by your presence.  May the strength we foster in our homes extend to our great nation as we unite in the face of terrorism.   We pray for our leaders—political, spiritual, national and local. 

       Finally dear Lord we ask that you especially comfort those family members and friends of your children who died in the face of this evil.  May the warmth and comfort of a loving nation surround these innocent victims, and may we be granted the strength to provide this comfort for as long as it may be needed.  In the days, weeks and months ahead we will become more and more aware of the depth of this tragedy and its effects on thousands of our brothers and sisters.  We ask you to remain especially close to our hearts, and uphold us as a grieving family as we bury the remains of those whose souls you now hold in your safe and loving arms.

       God bless this sisterhood.  God bless this nation.  God bless all who stand united against the evil of terrorism.

       Amen.


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