Prayers - Stay Hungry

1974: The back page of the last edition
of The Whole Earth Catalogue,
which was a sort of hippie bible,
advocating a return to a simpler life style.

STAY HUNGRY. STAY FOOLISH

Dear Lord, God of the hungry,
God of the foolish,
God of jesters, God of the starving,
God of all in need,
Let me heed the admonition from
the back page of the last edition
of The Whole Earth Catalogue.

Let me stay hungry always for justice
and peace, for equality, for wisdom,
for grace, for goodness,
and for the joys of heaven.

Let me hunger for purity, self-improvement,
sensitivity, graciousness and charity,
and peace throughout the whole earth.

Keep me from gluttony and obesity.

Please keep me foolish
like Saint Francis of Assisi
who has been called a "fool for God."

Let me choose simplicity over sophistication.
Francis gave up his cloak and his comfort
for a stranger.

Please let me not be inordinately attached
to cloaks and comforts and worldly goods
and distractions from You and Your work.

Let my fool's heart be simple, open, humble, kind, and devoted to Your love
and Your service and to the people of God
and those of no faith, and to all humanity.

Let me hunger for justice, for equality,
for food for the world,
for a life of sanctity
and of service to the world.

Let privilege and sophistication
not blind me to the nobility and worth
of the least of Your creatures
and every last person on planet earth.

Let me see Your face in the hungriest
and the most foolish among us.

All this I pray to you, my Lord of All,

Amen

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