Prayers for China

Weather and disaster recur in the prayers for China: typhoons, floods, dust storms and record heat, as well as building collapses. Human rights, the treatment of Uyghur Muslims, protest in Hong Kong, trade tension and the pandemic years are also named, alongside thanks for panda sanctuaries and tree planting.

Under Every Frozen Ground: Prayers for Ukraine, Gaza, Somalia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia (January 25, 2024)

Under every floor is soil, within all soil are roots—taking in nourishment in the unseen dark. Frozen though it may be, each seed holds possibility of transformation. God of transformation, we cry with the Psalmist “how long” when we look upon the suffering of your beloved people and the ways we pit ourselves against one […]

Speak, For Your Servant Is Listening: Prayers for Gaza, Ecuador, Taiwan, and US Storms (January 11, 2024)

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” – 1 Samuel 3:10 Listening God, In the beginning, you created the whole world – the stars, planets, mountains, animals, the tiniest living creatures, snow and rain, sweet-smelling flowers, beautiful rocks, and yet you […]

We Have Inherited a Garden: A Prayer for Climate Action and Our Common Home (October 5, 2023)

Future generations will never forgive us if we miss the opportunity to protect our common home. We have inherited a garden; we must not leave a desert for our children. (This quote is lifted from a joint appeal signed at the Vatican October 4 , 2023 – the feast of St. Francis of Assisi and […]

The Thinnest Silence: A Prayer About Listening for the Voice of God (September 28, 2023)

Holy One, Divine Creator, whom some name God, we pray every week for so many things: for those suffering from effects of climate change and the earthquakes, the hurricanes, the super droughts, super fires, and the super floods; for children and women abused and sold and trafficked even in our modern era of development; for […]

A Prayer on the International Day of Peace: Libya’s Flood Dead, Manipur, and Ukraine (September 21, 2023)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1 Holy One, We long to be faithful stewards of your love – to know, love, and serve you and each other with humility, wisdom and love, but God, at times, our world is full of despair that […]

Beloved One, Interrupt Us: A Prayer for Pakistan’s Churches, Maui’s Wildfires, and Silenced Women (August 17, 2023)

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and […]

Thanksgivings, Concerns, and Celebrations: Prayers for Ukraine, Kenya, and a World in Heat (July 20, 2023)

Mother God, we come to you with thanksgivings. We are grateful to be loved by You. We are grateful for hands to hold, for kindness, and for grace. We are grateful for sunshine, rain, and rainbows. We are grateful for the farmers and laborers who give us our daily bread. We are grateful for forgiveness. […]

Help Us Trust Your Unchanging Love: A Prayer for Refugees, Human Rights, and a Changing Climate (July 13, 2023)

We love you, Lord, and we’ve heard your voice… calling us to make you real and known in the world to all whom you place in our path, undergirded by prayer. How do we pray and for what? Do you hear us? Or are we asking for the wrong things? Are we too impatient or […]

Under the Same Moon: Prayers for Israel and Palestine, US Mass Shootings, and the Unrest in France (July 6, 2023)

“It shall be established forever like the moon, the witness in the sky is faithful.” – Psalm 89:37 God of moon and sun, God of rhythm and constant presence – This week around the world, we gazed upon the fullness of the same moon. Just as we gaze upon the same You – when in […]

Peace on Earth at 60: Prayers for Sudan, Uyghur Families, Nicaragua, and the Congo (June 29, 2023)

As the world marks the 60th anniversary of Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) by Pope John XXIII, the first papal encyclical intended for a universal, interfaith, and nonbelieving audience, we pause to pray for the intentions of this letter and world causes that still demand our attention: Every human being has the right to […]