Synod: Guide Us to Hold in Love All Families

BY JAMES HUG S.J | October 8, 2014

The following prayer was originally read by James Hug, S.J., as part of a homily at the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse in Adrian, Michigan on October 8, 2014.

As the Synod on Families continues at the Vatican, the daily gospel for October 8, 2014 is Jesus’s response in Luke 11:1-4 to the request that he teach his disciples to pray. I would like you to join me in praying for the Synod and its work as Jesus instructed the disciples.

Father-Mother, God,

Source of all families among us today

Families with a mother and father
Single mother families, Single father families, Grandmother-led families
Married families and unmarried families,
Gay families, Lesbian families, and Bisexual families
Polygamous families
Interfaith families and families without faith, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim,

Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian, atheist families and all other manner of families on Earth

Guide us in Synod to see and hold in love all the families You hold in love.

Hallowed be Your Name

Help us all to see more clearly in all these families what hallows, honors Your name.

Guide us in Synod to celebrate and support in all families that which reflects the goodness and grace of Your Presence, Your Spirit of Love.

Your Kingdom Come

So many families are caught in war-torn areas where kingdoms clash for power,

for wealth, for religious and ideological dominance…

Your Kingdom come to bring them the peace and security they need

to grow and to thrive and to serve.

Guide us in Synod to welcome all those fleeing violence into the peace and nurturing love of our communities.

Give us each day our daily bread

You know what each of us and all our various types of families need daily

for nourishment and growth in love.

Feed us – and help us to feed each other.

Guide us in Synod to offer and provide for the care and daily bread all these different families need to survive, to grow, to thrive, to serve Your Kingdom and hallow Your name.

And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who harm us and are in debt to us

So much hurt goes on in families as we try to grow together in love.

Some of it can be forgiven and overcome – 70 times 7 times…
Some of it can no longer be healed or the life of love restored.

As we forgive, forgive us…and help us to move on into fuller, more loving life

Guide us in Synod that we may address all families in need of forgiveness and new beginnings with the compassion and courage of Jesus.

Do not subject us to the final test.

We do not know what our final test will be –

global war, world hunger, severe climate change, the disruption of nations and civilizations…

Guide us in Synod that we may find ways to foster global reconciliation and loving peace as one human family – and help us all to live and to die in Your Peace.

Amen.

James Hug, S.J.

James E. Hug, S.J., has a long history working in social ethics and social justice advocacy in the Catholic community.  He served 24 years as the President of the Center of Concern, a Washington, DC based social justice institute rooted in Catholic social tradition, working for greater economic, social, and ecological justice globally.  He holds a doctoral degree in Christian ethics from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in Christian spirituality from St. Louis University.

Fr. Hug’s research has focused on issues of faith and economic justice and he has lectured and directed workshops throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Currently he serves as sacramental minister for the Adrian Dominican Sisters and writes on issues of spirituality for social transformation in these difficult times.  His blog, “Truth that does Justice,” can be found on the website for the Dominican Center: Spirituality for Mission, www.dominicancenter.org.

Past publications have included Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret, Social Revelation: Profound Challenge for Christian Spirituality, and Tracing the Spirit: Communities, Social Action, and Theological Reflection.  Jim has also written chapters for Globalization and Catholic Social Thought: Present Crisis, Future Hope and The Pastoral Circle Revisited: A Critical Quest for Truth and Transformation.

Fr. Hug’s research has focused on issues of faith and economic justice and her has lectured and directed workshops throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. He was the editor of the Center of Concern’s “Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret, author of Social Revelation: Profound Challenge for Christian Spirituality,” and the editor of “Tracing the Spirit: Communities, Social Action, and Theological Reflection.” Jim has also written chapters for “Globalization and Catholic Social Thought: Present Crisis, Future Hope” and “The Pastoral Circle Revisited: A Critical Quest for Truth and Transformation.”