Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Because you loved us first (Henri Nouwen)


   Dear Lord, I bring before you all the people who experience failure in their search for a creative, affectionate relationship.  Many single people feel lonely and unable to sustain a friendship for a long period of time; many married people feel frustrated in their marriage and separate to go different ways; many children cannot speak to their parents; and many parents have become afraid of their children.  All around me I see the hunger for love and the inability to experience it in a deep and lasting way.

   Lord, look with favor on us, your people, and impart your love to us – not as an idea or concept, but as a lived experience.  We can only love each other because you have loved us first.  Let us know that first love so that we can see all human love as a reflection of a greater love, a love without conditions and limitations.

   Heal those who feel hurt in the most intimate self, who feel rejected, misunderstood, or even misused.  Show them your healing love and help them on the way to forgiveness and reconciliation.  Amen.

--Henri Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy:  Prayers from the Genesee

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