Prayers

In the last few days I’ve received a number of prayers and meditations in various emails that are seeking help to support people hurting from the hurricane. Here are two I liked:

This one was written by Marilyn Born, a friend from Melbourne, and is in Adán's blog:

May you see the sights without being blinded
Hear the sounds without running scared
Smell the smells without suffocating
Tend the hurt and harmed lost and dying with respect and not despair
And feel without drowning

May your tears come when needed and stay when not.
May your spirit rise after every fall
May your body move and sleep with ease
And your mind neither be haunted nor harmed.
May the mother of all that is comfort you

In the days ahead may the horrors leave more quickly
And the healing come sooner
In the weeks ahead may the poor be first
In the months ahead may the poor be first
In the years ahead may the poor be first

In the years ahead may the river be free
May the memories be no more and no less
May the careless and every evil doer be last.
May people of colour be first
May people of colour be first

This one was sent out by the Public Conversations Project:

May our eyes remain open even in the face of tragedy.
May we not become disheartened.
May we find in the dissolution of our apathy and denial, the cup of the broken heart.
May we discover the gift of the fire burning in the inner chamber of our being - burning great and bright enough to transform any poison.
May we offer the power of our sorrow to the service of something greater than ourselves.
May our guilt not rise up to form yet another defensive wall.
May the suffering purify and not paralyze us.
May we endure; may sorrow bond us and not separate us.
May we realize the greatness of our sorrow and not run from its touch or its flame.
May clarity be our ally and wisdom our support.
May our wrath be cleansing, cutting through the confusion of denial and greed.
May we not be afraid to see or speak our truth.
May the bleakness of the wasteland be dispelled.
May the soul's journey be revealed and the true hunger fed.
May we be forgiven for what we have forgotten and blessed with the remembrance of who we really are.