COMPASSION

Master Jesus,

I dedicate my senses anew to You this day.

Let my eyes not turn away from the ragged sadness of the weakest among us
who are suffering in hopeless poverty
which stains the glory of our earth.

I pray for those who have lost their homes
through war, illness, infirmity
or lack of honorable ways to earn a living,
and I pray that their misery will not go unseen and unrelieved.

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I pray for all ground-down desperate parents
who are heart-sick because they cannot put together the simplest hot family meals,
and who therefore put their children to bed with empty stomachs.

Let my ears hear the desperate cries
of the weary ragged children
among the wandering displaced families
who are barely existing, in hovels and shacks
and tent-shelters defacing the globe.

I pray for all who live exposed in rags
to chilling cold and scorching sun.

Let hope enflame my conscience,
and charity drive my will to help
my fellow humans in some significant way.

When I smell flowers let me remember
those who live in filth. When I smell decay
let me be reminded of the vile and sulfurous smoke of Satan and my responsibility to the poor.

When I hear music, let me not be deaf
to the agony of those suffering in hospitals,
those plagued with incurable disease,
those walking on crutches and artificial limbs, and those who cannot walk at all.

I pray for all who have terminal cancer
heart failure, and other debilitating
and painful fatal diseases.

Let me hear the desperate silent cry
of the unborn and the stillborn whose lives are terminated before they see the dawn
of one single day. May their sweetest innocence be a challenge to me.

Blessed with handshakes, loyal friends,
a partner's love and a dog's faithful companionship, let me not forget
the calloused, scarred, scabby hands,
of the poorest of the poor in our world,
my human brothers and sisters,
whose lonely days are unbearably long
and whose aching bodies are endangered, weakened, bruised and broken by unsafe
and inhuman labors, and whose spirits are darkened by too-long hours, and whose basic dignity is demeaned by unsafe and filthy working conditions, when they have work
at all.

In my life of music and humor and kind words,
let me not be deaf to the occasional dark discord between even the most devoted couples, the life-changing crack
of the judge's gavel, the notices of illness, job-termination, eviction and death,
and all the other sad news which my fellow humans are hearing at any moment.

I offer my prayer to ask You in Your mercy
to soften the devastating moments
which break human hearts.

Unite me with my human family over space
and time. Through the awesome power
of prayer, let my pleas echo backward
to the age of Adam, and rocket forward
past the age of the atom to the very last day of the last person on this earth.

May my prayers ascend like the fragrance
of holy incense to You in Your star-shining majesty on high.

Instill in me a powerful trust in all Your promises, and in the power of prayer,
and motivate me to do what I can to better
the world.

Fire my mind with a vibrant understanding
of the pain, loneliness, agony and disbelief
of many, many of my fellow human beings.
I cry to You, most merciful God,
please gather them back to You this day
and always.

Then let my voice rise in harmony
with the choruses of heaven in rapturous song
before Your throne in the eternal moment
of peace forever and forever and forever
and forever, all this I pray to You this day.

Amen

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