Prayer Offered for August 23, 2016

Brazilian Archbishop, Dom Helder Camara is known for his quote: When I give food to the poor they call me a saint;When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.

Our prayer today is from one of his poems:

We bless you, O God, for the thirst you put in us,

For the boldness you inspire,

For the fire alight in us,

That is You in us,

You, the just.

Never mind that our thirst is mostly unquenched

(Pity the satisfied).

Never mind that our bold plots are mostly unclinched,

Wanted not realized.

Who better than You knows that success comes not from us. 

You ask us to do our utmost only,

But willingly. 

(Adatped from Dom Helder Camara, The Desert is Fertile, Orbis Book.)