July 30, 2021
Here we are at the end of July and, once again, we remember the fragility of life experienced through the pandemic of violence. The victims we are holding in prayer are: July 4: KEVIN L. HUGHES, 37, whose shot and burned body was found in a wooded area between N. Riverview Ave. and Wolf Creek July 5: INYAH FORD, 13, an innocent by-stander shot while at a birthday party on Kipling Dr. July 26: JAJUAN OLDEN, 17, whose gun-related death on Rockford Ave. is still being investigated The loss of life must be especially difficult for the family and friends of those who died so young. We remember them and pray for their healing. VIGIL PRAYER Loving God, you are the author and sustainer of life. You know the anguish of the sorrowful, you are attentive to the prayers of the broken-hearted. Hear your people who cry out to you in their need; strengthen their hope in your lasting goodness. SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 40:28-31 Do you not know or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound. Though the [young] stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. What hope do I find in this passage? PETITIONS: We pray for Kevin, Inyah and JaJuan who met death so suddenly and violently, grant them peace. We pray for their parents, relatives and friends who mourn their deaths, grant them comfort. We pray for the perpetrators of this violence, grant them justice and mercy. We pray for those who work diligently to bring safety and justice to our communities, grant them guidance and protection. We pray for our world which embraces a culture of mistrust, fear, death and disregard for the dignity of all life, grant us all a change of heart. Other prayers ... PRAYER TO END VIOLENCE: God of life, source of hope, the violence within our world, our communities, our families, indeed in our very selves, is destroying your creations. In union with the Precious Blood of Jesus, give us the strength to break the cycle of violence, to hear the cry of the blood, and make sacred again your earth stained by blood. Amen.