peace

Pray the News 8/24/25

Opening Invocation

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:16

God of compassion, we bring into your presence all that weighs on our hearts this week, especially the human suffering and the most frightening things we see and hear of in the news daily. We gather these headlines not to dwell in despair or fear, but to bring them into the refuge of your healing presence.

Deep Focus

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
Psalm 146:7

Our hearts cry out to you for justice. God you see the people of Gaza starving to death because the government of the state of Israel won’t let food or aid in. Lord this is a travesty. The world watches in horror. Israelis and people around the world protest. The U.N. declares a famine. It is man made. Little children are dying while food waits at check points close by, held up. 2000 people including children have been killed trying to seek food at military aid stations. Oh God we need you. Our president supports this and the Israeli leader has no intention of letting Gaza live. What can we do now? Tell us. Speak, Lord. Your servants who are well fed are listening for how we can share. Your children who are dying cry out. Hear us all. Time is running out. Only you are God who hold the hearts of all and every grain of sand. Break through to us. Free Palestine. Feed Palestine. Heal Palestine. And heal the hearts of the oppressors that they will oppress, bomb and starve these people no longer. Open the way.

*Spend a few moments with the Holy Spirit now, flowing through you like gushing water to reach the ruins of Gaza, breaking every barrier, going past every tank, crossing the lines of soldiers who are blocking the way to the aid. With him, become a sweet rain of grace on the people. There is bread in your hands. Feed them all. Now let The Lord bring you the ones who need him most. Let the Spirit guide you in your prayers for them, your words to them, your touch of comfort.

Other Intercessions/Headlines to Pray Over

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners, and to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God; To comfort all who mourn
Isaiah 61:

*We give thanks to you, God of freedom and love, for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to his family. The administration is already trying to deport him to Uganda on Monday. So as we sit with our gratitude and happiness for him and his family after all he has been through, we ask that you protect him, Lord. We especially ask for the prayers of St. Michael the Archangel to shield and defend him in his path forward. Give wisdom to his lawyers and helpers. Confuse and defeat those who would harm him. Let there be justice and peace for this man and all others like him.

*We give thanks to you, Lord, that the terrible detention center of Alligator Alcatraz has been ordered to close for environmental reasons. We are so happy about this for that reason and because of the people detained in that abusive place. We all needed something good to happen and those detained need freedom and human dignity. Please continue to help them. We know there will be appeals.

*Our racist president and his administration continue their offensive against Black Americans by erasing their history and even denying it. Lift up your black children, Lord. May the truth of slavery be preserved. May the excellence of black people be lifted up and allowed to shine. May this latest wound inflicted not only on them but on our country by doing this be healed. Let nothing escape your eye. You restore all things. Restore whatever is being destroyed, in the name of all who went before who suffered slavery and racism and do still. Silence those who have set out on this erasure and denial. May the truth come roaring like a lion, defending itself.

*We pray for a free and fair election in 2026. May our country return to its Constitutional values. May we grow closer and closer to the ideals of democracy, equality and freedom.

*We bring the federal occupation of our capital city to you. We read of the threats of our authoritarian president to expand this assault on other cities who voted against him and try to give sanctuary to immigrants. We ask you to stop this, to stop it through us, the people. Show us a way to defeat this. Give light to the minds of the National Guard so they remember their commitment is to us and the Constitution. Give us all courage to do whatever we are supposed to do in the face of this frightening and infuriating turn of events.

*We pray for Epstein and Maxwells victims, that they will know healing and see justice. We pray that the media, society and the law will put their suffering first.

*For an end to wars and violence all over the world, especially in Ukraine and Gaza. May there be lasting and just peace. For this we ask the intercession of the Queen of Peace, Our Lady.

*Lord, you are close the poor and the homeless. You have said you are them. How dare we destroy what little they have and send them – where? In DC this is happening and it happens around our country. Christ have mercy on them and on us this is so wrong, especially since it’s harsh and thoughtless policies that have largely made them homeless to begin with. We have treated you like dirt, Lord. Help us set this right. We pray for all of them. Protect them and give them the peace and the love and the dignity they deserve.

Closing Blessing

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    who obey his word.
Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
    you his servants who do his will.
Praise the Lord, all his works
    everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Psalm 103: 19-22

God, in the moments when the news overwhelms, steady our spirits with the reminder that you hold the world- sun and star, nation and neighbor, beetle and bug, atom and quark, as well as our frightened hearts in your hands and that you remain you even if worlds fall. May your peace shape our hearts, your justice and love shape our actions this week. Lead us in your ways. We ask all these things in your Name, in your honor, and for love of you and our brothers and sisters. Amen

August 23, 2025 1

Praying the News of the week, August 10, 2025

Opening invocation

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.
1 John 4:7a

God of compassion, we bring into your presence all that weighs on our hearts this week, especially the human suffering we see and hear of in the news daily. We gather these headlines not to dwell in despair or fear, but to bring them into the refuge of your healing presence.

Deep Focus

We pray especially for Gaza, where a man made famine is unfolding and 217 people, many of them children, died of starvation this week. To our horror, aid continues to be blocked, and people who come for food to the military controlled aid stations are often shot. Lord, hear the cries of these people, and the cries of our own hearts against this murderous injustice in front of a seemingly helpless world. Open the way for food and medical supplies to flood into Gaza, and open the hearts of those opposed, that they might be filled with mercy.

Spend a few minutes in simple silence with God. Feel what you feel about Gaza’s situation, all of it. Let it be here for God to do something with it. Don’t worry about words. Just be as open as you can in silence and trust, letting yourself be a channel for the outflow of his divine will into this world, for his transforming love to come through you.

*You may notice a quiet change in how you feel as you do this. Even if you don’t, God remains God and you can trust he is working through you right now.

Other Intercessions/Headlines to pray over

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7

For those who live in fear of ICE, that they will be protected, treated with dignity and justice, and for those standing up for them, we pray.

Lord hear our payer.

For those detained by ICE, especially those being harmed and abused, Oh God deliver them.

Lord, Hear our prayer.

For those in the path of wildfires, that they and the fire fighters will be safe.

Lord, hear our prayer.

For Ukraine, for a just and lasting peace.

Lord, hear our prayer.

For the defeat of authoritarian leaders and governments all over the world, we pray.

Lord, hear our prayer.

For the victims of Epstein and Maxwell, that they will be heard, believed and respected. May there will be justice and restoration for them.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Jesus, you have said we must pray for our enemies, so we pray for the enemies of justice and love, that they will be truly converted in mind and heart.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Closing Blessing

Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24

God, in the moments when the news overwhelms, steady our spirits with the reminder that you hold the world- sun and star, nation and neighbor, beetle and bug, atom and quark in your hands and that you remain you even if worlds fall. May your peace shape our hearts, your justice and love shape our actions this week. Lead us in your ways. Amen.

*Reader, please feel free to add your own prayers to these in the comments if I have missed a news story that got to you this week.

August 10, 2025 0

Pools of silence that heal the world

Things are so crazy right now. The world is crazy and our lives are crazy. We all know this. My life has had a lot of what people call “drama.” Right now is no exception. As I worked on my book about St. Teresa’s Prayer of Recollection (Meeting the One who loves you; St. Teresa of Avila’s way of prayer. Scheduled to be released on her feast day, October 15,) I thought about the development of my discipline of prayer in the middle of stress and difficulties.

My discipline of daily prayer was, of course, very imperfect. I had trouble being consistent. I was, as I mention sometimes, widowed young then raising two kids alone for many years. I could hardly get a moment to eat or do the dishes when the youngest was a baby. How did I develop a contemplative life?

I was reading over again a few pages from the book Poustinia by Servant of God Catherine Dougherty last night and came across this wonderful quote from her:

Deserts, silence, solitude, are not necessarily places but states of mind and heart. These deserts can be found in the midst of the city, and in the every day of our lives. We need only to look for them and realize our tremendous need for them. They will be small solitudes, little deserts, tiny pools of silence, but the experience they will bring, if we are disposed to enter them, may be as exultant and as holy as the one God himself entered. For it is God who makes solitude, deserts, and silences holy.
Poustinia

This is what I did. I found little deserts, tiny pools and pockets of silence in the midst of my harried days, in the midst of daily tasks like folding laundry, doing dishes. I have clear memories that are precious to me of the tenderness and wisdom of God, passing by as if brushing near my cheek, touching my heart at times I was doing little things like sweeping the living room floor. There were brief but fruitful moments of silence after taking the trash out when I looked up at the night sky and smiled at God, or in the middle of cooking, working or doing dishes.

Catherine writes that when we carry out the duties of our state in life, and when we are disposed in heart to receive these moments of quietness, they will come. We will notice them like a gentle hand on our shoulder saying, “Wait just a minute.”

I was so overwhelmed as a single mom. I had a great dream, during that time though, that I went into the kitchen and Jesus was there, hair in a ponytail, wiping out my refrigerator for me. I was so grateful in the dream, and happy about it when I woke up. Maybe he meant that if I took care of my prayer when I could, he would make sure things got done, and he would be there for me when I turned to him.

I still find little deserts in my still busy life today. I have built on these moments over the years, to include quiet moments of connection with the young special needs people I work with, a quiet moment petting my dog, Joey, or listening closely to someone needing to be heard. As Catherine and all the mystics point out, the fruits of conscious contact with God spill out to contact with others. Love always moves and flows. By it’s nature it can’t keep to itself. If our prayer is authentic, it won’t even stay in it’s scheduled time and place. God will start splashing it all over our lives and the lives of others too. It has to grow, it has to flow, it has to blossom to be real.

Prayer and love of others, of service, support one another, each setting off and intensifying the colors of the other. They don’t exist without one another.

St. Teresa, S.O.G. Catherine Dougherty and St. Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) wrote extensively of how contemplative prayer actually has an effect on the growth and conversion of others. It goes out even further to change the world. We all need to take this very seriously right now. Not only do we need to be supported in these scary times by God, we also need to be his light, and as St. Teresa of Avila says, his hands and feet, his clear voice in this world that needs his compassion and love. We have forgotten these things and closed our hearts. We need conversion of heart as a people.

God has made us all connected to one another. So your moment of “found desert” while your’e waiting in line, stuck in traffic, putting gas in the car, taking a deep breath and reaching out to God, can open a window in Heaven, letting the wind of the Spirit rush in. God can work in an instant, even change everything, making our little second of love BIG.

So let’s pay attention today to our possibilities, our tiny pools of silence, pockets of inner solitude, the quietness of heart that come with God’s touch on our faces, the peace that comes from him in those moments. They are more than we could ever imagine. They will shine on us, on others, on the whole world.

“ … a silent heart is a loving heart, and a loving heart is a hospice to the world.”

Servant of God, Catherine Dougherty

July 19, 2025 1

A Litany for Mary’s Immaculate Heart

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us.

Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Heart of Mary, according to the heart of God, pray for us.
Heart of Mary, united to the Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

Heart of Mary sister of our hearts pray for us

Heart of Mary in whom the Gospel blossomed in contemplation pray for us

Heart of Mary always merciful pray for us

Heart of Mary stout and of great courage pray for us

Heart of Mary free and open for God pray for us

Heart of Mary always ready to be the first to love, to serve, to be present, pray for us

Heart of Mary in which there is room for everyone pray for us

Heart of Mary, her gracious core of love, understanding, and acceptance pray for us

Heart of Mary, freely humble and giving pray for us

Heart of Mary, never failing to love anyone pray for us

Heart of Mary seeing each one’s beauty and Godly purpose pray for us

Heart of Mary, loving and understanding each of us completely, pray for us

Heart of Mary, always seeing God, living in his presence pray for us

Heart of Mary, attentive to the Word pray for us

Heart of Mary, holding Jesus our Treasure pray for us

Heart of Mary, gifting us the Pearl of Great Price pray for us

Heart of Mary, our friend, pray for us

Heart of Mary, hearing the cries of the world, pray for us

Heart of Mary, scarred by suffering love, pray for us

Heart of Mary, strong in faith even when she did not understand what was happening, pray for us

Heart of Mary, with us in our work, one with us in all things but sin, pray for us

Heart of Mary trusting and bold like the heart of a child , pray for us

Heart of Mary drawing us to Jesus, pray for us

Heart of Mary, deepening our prayer, pray for us

Heart of Mary, accompanying us always pray for us

Heart of Mary, in solidarity with the lowly, pray for us

Heart of Mary praying that the lowly will be lifted up, the mighty de-throned, the hungry filled, the rich emptied, the proud scattered in their inmost thoughts, pray for us

Heart of Mary to be found among the least of our brothers and sisters, pray for us

Heart of Mary full of joy and always sharing it with us, pray for us

Heart of Mary, ready to laugh, of easy smiles and good humor, pray for us

Heart of Mary, drawing us after you in the fragrance of your holiness, pray for us

Heart of Mary filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom pray for us

Heart of Mary bursting with the praises of God, pray for us

Heart of Mary, drawing the Spirit to rest on God’s people, pray for us

Heart of Mary always speaking Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, pray for us

Immaculate Heart of Mary, meek and humble of Heart,
Make our hearts according to the Heart of Jesus.

Let us pray:

O most merciful God, who for the salvation of sinners and the refuge of the wretched, has made the Immaculate Heart of Mary most like in tenderness and pity to the Heart of Jesus, grant that we, who now commemorate her most sweet and loving heart, may by her merits and intercession, ever live in the companionship of the hearts of both Mother and Son, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

June 29, 2025 1

Travel by Heart

Travel by heart

June 25, 2025 0

Time Out for Peace

My sweet friend Julia, of the Focolare Movement, (the official name is “The Work of Mary”), mentioned to me once the practice they have of stopping to pray for peace at noon. Looking into this, I found out this was something a young Focolare Blessed, who had died at the age of seventeen in 1990, of bone cancer, had done every day. Her name is Chiarra Luce (meaning “clear light”). She took one minute daily at noon to pray for peace in silence.

In 2023 The Focolare Movement promoted this idea as “The Time Out for Peace Project.”

Most of us are at work at that time of day as I am. However if we can’t stop for a whole minute we can stop for a second or two.

The Church provides us with a couple of traditional prayers for noon so that we are all joining together in spirit then. One of these is The Angelus, a Marian prayer prayed for centuries at 6am, noon, and 6pm. This is why the bells of so many Catholic Churches and monasteries ring “Angelus Bells” in a pattern of three times in a row three times. These are a reminder to pray the Angelus. I love the Angelus Prayer and I try to pray it every day. If I can’t, I at least touch foreheads with Our Lady or squeeze her hand or at least pray one Hail Mary at that time. It’s a great way to touch base with her. We can dedicate the Angelus to Peace. After all Mary is the Queen of Peace.

The Angelus

The Angel of God declared unto Mary

R/. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit

Hail Mary…

Behold the Handmaid of the Lord

R/. Let it be done unto me as you have said.

Hail Mary…

And the Word was made flesh (genuflect here)

R/. And dwelt among us.

(stand) Hail Mary…

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R/. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts: that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The other prayer traditionally prayed at noon is Noon Prayer (or “Sext’) from the Liturgy of the Hours. Lest this sound complicated, there are apps for your phone so you can access this simple prayer break in this middle of the day. The Divine Office App or the Universalis App are both good. You can also access the Liturgy of Hours free online at Universalis. It’s made up of a hymn (I usually skip it), three Psalm selections, a short Scripture reading, and a brief closing prayer. It sounds long but it only takes a few minutes in practice.

I sometimes stop for a minute, and look at Jesus residing in my heart. Once I have greeted him I will tell him I am asking him for peace. Sometimes we talk about it. Other times we are quiet and I occasionally say mentally, “Peace, Lord, Peace,” or I imagine us going around the world calming fear, protecting those in danger, reconciling peoples, stopping bombs. I know I can’t stop anything but he can and he likes to have me along I think. He seems to love sharing his work with us. I see imagination as a way to focus intention and express prayer in the same way words do. We don’t need words in order to pray. Neither do we need imagination to pray, but I find it nice.

Of course you can pray for peace in whatever way you like and for however long or briefly you like. These ideas are only suggestions for anyone who wants them.

The important thing is to take time each day, preferably at noon so we can join together by heart, and the Lord will enjoy the prayers for peace crossing his earth with the sunlight like the movements of a song.

Blessed Chiara Luce, pray for us. For peace.

June 18, 2025 1

Accept in order to Resist

I, like many, have been struggling with acceptance since Nov. 5th. Ive been thinking HOW are we, how am I, going to make it through this? I’ve made some plans, thought of some things to do to assist others who will be most affected. But I realized that one thing that could help is acceptance. It sounds obvious but sometimes it takes me a while to realize that I am in non- acceptance – which is the most painful, sticky place to be. If stuck in a glue trap or a spiders web, struggle only impedes escape. I – and we- have a lot of work to do, a lot coming that we will have to deal with. If you are familiar with AA and Al-Anon maybe you will recognize this:

“The level of my Serenity is directly proportional to the level of my acceptance.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, The Big Book

We should not accept what is evil, thats not what I’m saying. But for me it’s been hard to accept that this is where we are. Trump is here along with his clown car of malignant crazies. Yes they are cruel and destructive and authoritarian, racist, “Christian” nationalist, anti planet, sexist -etcetera etcetera, everything horrible. They are. But until I can quit being shocked every day by the awful things they say and do I can’t be very useful and I certainly will be emotionally drained. I’m chuckling a little thinking of how the Twelve Steps of AA would sound applied to Trump but maybe the idea of acceptance and sorting out areas of powerlessness from areas of responsibility and possibility is a pretty good idea.

Sometimes I listen to a spiritual speaker named Tara Brach. She is Buddhist but her talks can apply to anyone. She talks about having a heart ready for anything. To have that you need acceptance of the fact of what’s here. This is here. It “belongs” so to speak. Here we are. Am I going to go into this kicking and screaming? Or can I relax and untangle the web, roll out of the glue trap, and be open to what the Spirit is asking of me in these times ? I suspect there will be many glue trap days. But I can return to the first three steps of the twelve:

That I am powerless over the fact that for the next four years this is our government, yes, of madmen. Here they are. And I admit that my inner life has become unmanageable because of my reaction to this fact.
I believe that a power greater than myself can restore me to sanity.
I become willing to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand him.

I think the 11th step is a big part of this too: I seek “through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, praying only for the knowledge of his will for me and the power to carry it out.”

I do think intercessory prayer is going to be extremely important in what we are about to encounter. So I’m adding that of course, to my 11th step plans.

Sometimes the only way out is through. So let’s go through. And let’s do it with love.

And let’s remember this is also the Jubilee Year of Hope and we are Pilgrims of Hope.

Hate did not win. Love has not died. It never will. And we belong to love. Lies cannot become truth. They never will. And we belong to truth. Our country has not been overcome by darkness. Because our country has us.

January 14, 2025 0

Pilgrims of Hope

On Christmas Eve the Holy Father knocked on a normally sealed (with bricks) door in St. Peter’s Basilica and gave it a push. Symbolically and ceremonially the holy door was opened wide, ushering in the Jubilee Year of Hope for the whole world so in need of it now.

The holy door represents Christ, who said, “I am the gate,” and “I am the Way.” He is our door, his heart open wide in welcome, beckoning for us to step in to him, to open the doors of our hearts as well, to him, and to others.

This door and this holy year are not merely a symbol and a theme, not only a call from the Pope to renew and intensify our faith, to remember hope and to give hope, though they are those things too. Something very real is happening here, a release, a flood of grace from the treasury entrusted to the Church by Jesus, and to Peter who can unlock and lock, release and forgive.

Veteran Vatican journalist Gerard O’Connell described on the podcast “Inside the Vatican,” being present for the opening of the holy door for the jubilee year 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II. He said we often talk about “ being in the now” but this felt “beyond the now.” I think he was talking about a transcendent present. “Like being in another dimension” he said. I think that sense he had points to the truth of what is actually happening as the Church opens these holy doors all over the world.

Pope Francis urges us to remember that we are a people of hope, a people on a journey, and we have confident assurance that we are on the road with and to Christ. We know where we are going though we cannot see it with our eyes.

He also asks that we turn and give hope to others who need food, shelter, freedom, human dignity, people under relentless attack in war, the refugee and the migrant, the prisoner, the poor.

He is speaking not just to individuals but to nations, urging them to work for peace and to protect human life and dignity. He calls for rich nations to forgive the crippling and impossible debts of the poor ones. He asks for the richer nations to be mindful also of ecological justice for poorer countries as well.

He wants to see restorative justice for prisoners emphasized more than the punitive emphasis we tend to favor. Francis went so far as to open a holy door in a prison (that leads to their prison chapel) and asks that society help these people have hope for their lives beyond prison.

We are called to works and an approach of mercy for all of these brothers and sisters in need of hope

We can also take advantage of the mercy and grace of this holy year by making a pilgrimage. Most of us can’t get to Rome but each diocese will announce pilgrimage sites closer we can journey to.

Here are the ones for the Diocese of Austin. For pilgrimage sites near you check your Diocesan website.

St. Mary Cathedral, Austin
Holy Cross Parish, Austin
Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Parish, Austin
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Temple
Our Lady of Wisdom University Parish @ Texas State University, San Marcos
Santa Cruz Parish, Buda
St. Joseph Parish, Bryan
St. Mary Church of the Assumption Parish, Waco
St. Mary Catholic Center @ Texas A&M University, College Station
St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Lampasas
University Catholic Center @ University of Texas, Austin

In order to receive an indulgence:

Visit and Pray at a Pilgrimage Site
Perform a work of mercy or penance
Recitation of specific prayers (If you are homebound and cannot participate in pilgrimage)

We can apply this grace and mercy of the Jubilee Year to our beloved dead to help them in their journey through eternity, for their purification. This is commonly called a “plenary indulgence.” We share spiritual goods with the dead and with the living in the Communion of Saints. So we can access the special graces of the Holy Year for ourselves as well as others.

Another thing a plenary indulgence does is release us from temporal punishment for sins that have already been forgiven. In current parlance you could think of this as the antidote to “what goes around comes around.”

This is also a year for repentance and penance. We can take advantage of the grace of this holy year by returning to confession, making amends to anyone we have hurt, amending our lives, beginning again.

It’s a year of reconciliation and forgiveness. Any forgiveness we are holding back, this year we should let go. Forgive everyone, everyone. Don’t let anything anyone detain you on your way to Christ.

We are Pilgrims of Hope. There is a renewal of Christian Joy afoot! Grab your pilgrim’s staff, put on your pilgrim’s shoes. Let’s go!

December 29, 2024 0

Holy Innocents

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the toddlers and babies killed by Roman soldiers at Herod’s orders after Joseph fled to Egypt with Jesus and Mary.

I have never liked the traditional way of describing these kids as martyrs. A martyr chooses death rather than betraying Christ. Little children suffer and die before the age of consent and from the terrible things adults do.

I also am not sure abortion is exactly the best modern comparison to what happened that day. As far as we know the tiny innocents in their mother’s womb do not have consciousness yet. I imagine them, at least early on, as in a dreamlike bliss, violently but quickly disturbed and ended by abortion. Abortion is violent and tragic in several ways. However, as Pat Benatar sang, “Hell is for children.”

This is a good day to pray for children around the world who suffer the violence and callousness of adults, especially from state sponsored terror and genocide where there is no safety, no relief, where parents cannot protect them, such as in Gaza where parents write their children’s names on their limbs in case they are killed so they can be identified, where children are orphaned, maimed, under the rubble, starving, sometimes being operated on without anesthesia if they are lucky enough to find care at all. Surely their blood cries out to the Lord. We all know the outrageous numbers. Hell is for children.

Ukrainian children suffer war as well, and I am struck by the fact that Russia is taking the children away from their parents and into Russia. It reminds me of our child separation policy during the last Trump administration; something a lot of us lost sleep over, protested but felt powerless to stop. The damage to those little ones is profound and many of them were sexually abused as well, or never reunited with their families. It’s a method of torture I believe, to do this to kids and their parents. Some of those children were nursing babies.

In many countries life is so dangerous or poverty is so great that parents are forced to flee with their children to find safety or go where life is possible only to be rebuffed and unwanted, subjected to detention or camps or sent back to the dangers they fled after an often long and dangerous journey.

In Sudán, famine threatens and children die of malnutrition as parents look on helplessly. This is happening in so many countries.

I haven’t heard what life is like for the children of Haiti as their country descends further into chaos, violence, and gang rule.

We know children are forced to fight and kill in parts of the world. Children are trafficked and live lives of nightmarish abuse.

Children are abused in their churches, schools, and families and too often the abusers are protected instead of the children.

And here in America, the leading cause of death for our children is gun violence. .

These are things adults have done or conditions the world of adults have created that massacre the souls minds and bodies of children who deserve safety and love, freedom to be kids. These are the holy innocents of our time.

This is overwhelming. What are we supposed to do? Jesus was stern about any harm done to little ones.

We need to be a part of lessening their suffering, advocating for them, of challenging the structural sin of our world, and the wrong headedness of the powers that be. Nothing will change if we don’t.

Hell is for children, but we are allied with Heaven and we hold the gift of prayer given to us by God. As we stand up for children and help as we can, God makes our prayers and actions big and far reaching. We can be everywhere he is, holding frightened children, drying tears, giving strength, transforming the world.

Holy Spirit, we pray for the Holy Innocents of our time and we dedicate this day to them. You are the comforter and the giver of life, the one who strengthens, uplifts, transforms, the Spirit of Love and Truth, Father of the Poor. Make your way through this world bringing light and nourishment and peace. Make us repent of the sins of the world and show us what we must do. Guide our prayer for every child everywhere in need of rescue and relief of sorrow and fear. May our leaders prioritize the needs and rights of children to safety and freedom and family life.

Bless every little heart on earth on this day of the Innocents.