At the start of September,/ may those who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries and other days of remembrance,/ be blessed with good health,/ safety and peace./ We pray to the Lord.
It is the weekend commemorating the September 11th terrorist attack upon our country twenty years ago/ in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington./ We ask healing for hearts that do deadly and destructive terrorist acts,/ healing for those who still mourn,/ and for those suffering the emotional and physical effects of that saddest of days./ We pray to the Lord.
As the world is increasingly marked by hopelessness,/ cynicism,/ indifference and division/ may it be transformed by the faith of true believers/ who find their joy in God./ We pray to the Lord.
Monday is Labor Day./ We pray for those who have no job,/ or whose work is dirty,/ exhausting,/ dangerous or poorly paid./ For the children who are forced to work,/ For the people who are enslaved./ For those whose work is underappreciated/ or whose work serves and sustains us./ We pray to the Lord.
Somehow recently,/ we have been given permission to doubt everything,/ suspect everyone,/ behave badly./ May the Wednesday Feast of Mary's Nativity,/ inspire us to begin again./ We pray to the Lord.
This month the Jewish world keeps the feasts of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,/ called the Ten Days of Awe./ At the same time there are new manifestations of anti-Semitism in parts of the world./ May we know the heart of Jesus,/ who taught in the synagogue and loved the Jerusalem Temple./ We pray to the Lord.
Give us strength and new resolve in all we have to do/ where energy or will is flagging,/ where we are anguished,/ confounded or not sure of ourselves./ May we be teachable./ We pray for the many people whose lives are disrupted by the hurricane of this past week./ We pray to the Lord.
