Prayer For Survivors
Jesus, by becoming human you have elevated the human body to the dignity of divinity. Sadly, there are among us those whose bodies have been savaged by the very ones who have been called to serve and protect them. These crimes cry out for justice and for healing, and we raise our voices in prayer for the healing of our brothers and sisters. We acknowledge that by our silence and our blindness we are complicit in these crimes and sins, and we ask for forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, during your life on earth you were known as a healer of bodies, minds and spirits. Send your healing Spirit upon these brothers and sisters of ours that they may begin to experience some light, peace and joy in this life.
Pour your Spirit of peace into the hearts of their families - parents, brothers and sisters, spouses and children - that they may recover a sense of your presence in their lives.
And make us all more sensitive to the need to protect our children from those who might harm them that your Body here on earth may be made whole to the glory of God.
Amen.
Jesus,
We come before You, a brokenhearted people. We cry out for healing, for salving of a wound that is too pervasive for us to heal on our own.
With tears, we ask why you didn't rescue us from harm.
We still ache in the memories of flashbacks. We struggle with to view sex as beautiful. We trigger easily, though we certainly wish we didn't. We worry incessantly that our children will be victimized as we were.
Our worth in the aftermath of abuse has been violently dismantled.
And sometimes that dismantling came from the voices of Your church.
We are weary of the accusations, the minimizing, the platitudes thrown carelessly our way.
So many of Your people underestimate trauma's bite, and their misunderstanding has bled into our lives. Their actions and inaction have caused us a lot of confusion.
But this week, I read again about Your death on the cross, hanging naked in that desolate placeas you took our place.
You were misunderstood, too.
You suffered privately and publicly.
You endured mockery and tortureat the hands of those who should have heralded You.
Oh dear Jesus, You understand. You empathize. Your love is for us is robust, not merely embodied in casually-tossed words, but through justice-laden action. In Your sacrifice, You deemed us worthy. You fought for us, those who have often felt lost in the margins.
Because of the audacity of your demonstrated love, I dare to pray today for a better futurefor me, for us.
Would You continue to heal us, Lord Jesus?
Would You bring people our way who love us toward health, who empathize, listen and weep alongside?
Would you replace our anxiety, depression, and ideations with hefty doses of Your shalom?
We understand that we walk with a limp on this earth. Instead of viewing our broken gait as disqualification, help us to welcome it as sheer beauty. Because our weakness is what propels us into Your arms. We have the capacity to know You more because of the limp.
In our brokenness, we dare to ask for paradoxrenewed hearts, a resurrected story, and an eschatological perspective.
We may cry today, but one day, You will wipe away our cries.
In the liminal space between the now and not yet, give us tenacity, grit, and hearts bent toward health.
Amen.
Loving God, you are the author and sustainer of our lives. You know the anguish of the sorrowful, you are attentive to the prayers of the brokenhearted. Hear your people who cry out to you in their need; strengthen their hope in your lasting goodness.
We pray today for those who have died because of violence, of terrorism. Draw them to yourself; let your face shine upon them. May they be greeted with choirs of angels and experience your eternal peace and joy.
Be near to all those who have been touched by violence: those who have been hurt, lost their loved ones or lost their sense of security. Be for them a steady comfort and safe resting place.
Soften the hearts and steady of the minds of those who would do violence to others. May hate be replaced with love, violence with peace and darkness with your light.
Amen.
Lord, we are so sorry
for what some of us did to your children:
treated them so cruelly,
especially in their hour of need.
We have left them with a lifelong suffering.
This was not your plan for them or us.
Please help us to help them.
Guide us, Lord, Amen.
Heavenly Father,
Who loves and cares for all of your children, especially the smallest and most vulnerable, we entrust to you the lives of the many children and vulnerable adults, who have been sexually abused, and whose trust and innocence have been destroyed. Help us to hear their cries of pain and to take responsibility for so many broken lives.
We pray that within their communities and families they may find understanding and support so that with the help of your grace their wounds may be healed, and they may again know peace.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who shared our weakness in all things but sin, and lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever.
Amen.
Father,
Since your mercy has been revealed
In the tenderness of your Son Jesus Christ,
who said to his disciples:
Suffer the little children to come unto me,
we pray that your Church may be a secure home
where all children and vulnerable adults are brought closer to your Beloved Son.
May all those who have been abused
physically, emotionally and sexually by your ministers,
be respected and accompanied by
tangible gestures of justice and reparation so that
they may feel healed with the balm of your compassion.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen
Lord, forgive us our many sins.
We grieve and repent with all our hearts for having offended you, for our great failings and neglect of the young and vulnerable.
We place all of those who have been hurt by the Church in any way into your loving hands and under the protection of Our Blessed Mother.
Lord, bring peace to their broken lives and show us all the way out of darkness and into the light of your Word.
May we as the people of God be more fully human, more fully Christ-like and more fully your people, that we may see the errors of the past and go forward with renewed hope and faith in Christ and in our Church.
Amen.
Jesus, by becoming human you have elevated the human body to the dignity of divinity. Sadly, there are among us those whose bodies have been savaged by the very ones who have been called to serve and protect them. These crimes cry out for justice and for healing, and we raise our voices in prayer for the healing of our brothers and sisters. We acknowledge that by our silence and our blindness we are complicit in these crimes and sins, and we ask for forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, during your life on earth you were known as a healer of bodies, minds and spirits. Send your healing Spirit upon these brothers and sisters of ours that they may begin to experience some light, peace and joy in this life.
Pour your Spirit of peace into the hearts of their families - parents, brothers and sisters, spouses and children - that they may recover a sense of your presence in their lives.
And make us all more sensitive to the need to protect our children from those who might harm them that your Body here on earth may be made whole to the glory of God.
Amen.