prayer of grief, prayer for peace

Gracious God, your children are at war. Will it never cease? 

So much hate;

so many deep wounds, old and new;

so much suffering and grief.

Let me sit with you in the dirt

as you sit with those wracked with pain.

Surely your tears mingle with theirs.

Send the water of life

to quench these fires

and in their place

light a new fire of love and hope.

We are yours

all of us -

we just don't seem to know it.

from a hymn for the Feast of the Holy Innocents

Still rage the fires of hate today

and innocents the price must pay

while aching hearts in every land

cry out, "We cannot understand!"

- Rosamond E Herklots

Hymn #246 v.3, The Hymnal 1982