Common prayer
God Our Father, in your bounty you created heaven and earth and all that is in them.
All that you created was good. You made us in your image and called us to be co-responsible of your creation.
Have mercy on us Lord for we have sinned against You by failing to abide to your
will. Give a heart that sees the damage we have caused to our common home. We
ask you to guide us to shift our attitudes towards a culture of care.
Your Son became poor so that we, through his poverty, might become rich.
Like Him, help us with a self-giving disposition so that we are able to share the gifts
of Creation, which you have freely given to us all.
Strengthen our efforts to love, so that we overcome the boundaries in our hearts and
see all humanity as one human family.
Do not let us be indifferent to what is happening around us but send your Holy Spirit
to water our arid hearts with hope and stoke in us the flame of fraternity.
Dear God, take our hands to till ways of solidarity to set the world on fire with acts of
justice in favour of those who suffer the most, and make our minds fertile to new
forms of solidarity.
Re-enkindle in us the fire of your Love so that we hear the cry of the poor and the cry
of the Earth, longing for restoration, protection and renewal.
Heavenly Father, Creator of all that is good in us and for us, we ask You that free
and responsible leaders may guide us to live sustainably in every country, men and
women who believe that another way of living is possible.
Grant us hearts wide open to the sacredness of life that can help us discern paths of
peace from those of oppression, for us and for future generations.
Lead us in your path of love and kindness so that today we care for our common
home and for the poor together, for a better tomorrow.
Amen.