Wednesday 10 December 2014

Ebola Prayer

has invited all parishes and communities across England and Wales to hold those affected by the Ebola crisis in their prayers on the weekend of 13/14 December.

You can find prayer resources from CAFOD here, and special prayers for children here.

In particular you might like to use this heartfelt plea to the Lord from a Catholic bishop in Liberia:
God of the universe, of all creation, of all peoples;
Are you also the creator of EBOLA?
Yes, the river and not the virus.
The virus has decimated thousands in Earth's garden;
It has given birth to many hundreds of orphans, widows and widowers;
Hearts - laden with war's festering wounds - it has broken and torn apart.
Hope it swallows, faith it cripples, and love, humanity's most precious jewel, it imprisons.
The once poor economy is near extinction; the poor, your beloved friends, are hungrier and angrier.
See what Ebola has made your people to become: scum of the earth, virus carriers,
named viruses; your Ebola stricken children are being called viruses by many of your other children.
This is our cry, our story - told by people of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and beloved Liberia...
We beseech you, God Almighty, to destroy Ebola and its sources from the face of the earth forever!
Heal the painful and festering wounds of our hearts, spirits and bodies.
Give us the courage to gather the bones of lost dear ones and raise them up to life eternal.
Bless our many brothers and sisters here and abroad who are sacrificing immensely
so that some of us may live to tell our generations the tale of the EBOLA
PHENOMENON and of the goodness of God who never abandons his people.
We pray to you dear God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!
+Tony Borwah
Catholic Diocese of Gbarnga
Liberia