Prayer: The Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team Responds to the Presidential Election

The Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team came together to respond to the presidential election in the method of Prayer, Study, and Action. To say the least, this election process has been tumultuous. As people of faith, grounded in a spirituality of nonviolence, we hope this three-part message will bring healing, insight, and just action. Today we share our Prayer. Wednesday we will share our Study. Friday we will share our Action.

A Prayer for Understanding and Integrity in the Voting Process

Oh God of Creation,

As citizens of a nation possessing and exerting tremendous power and influence — both in the human community, and on the planet You so lovingly created‎ — help us to remember that our individual votes have tremendous consequences.

Help us to remember that we are casting our vote not only for ourselves, but for the billions of other beings in the world whose lives will be directly‎ affected by our nation’s election results.

May we be keenly mindful that the decisions made by the leaders we elect will affect so many:

• The afflicted children in Flint, Ramallah, Aleppo, ‎and Abuja
• The migratory monarch, the African elephant, and the pollinating bee
• The towering canopies and deep underground roots of Your ancient forests, and the birds, insects, primates, and other animals that inhabit them
• The war-weary people of Honduras , Syria, and the Philippines, struggling against violence and corruption
• The pika, the polar bear, and the darting fish of Your coral reefs, whose habitats are rapidly vanishing
• The desperate refugees fleeing violence, now languishing in prisons of our making
• The unarmed people of color gunned down in the favelas of Rio, the streets of Cleveland and Baltimore, and the shantytowns of Johannesburg; and
• All others with whom we share Your planet.

Let us cast our votes with prayerful discernment, humility, compassion, and in witness to Your love for all creation.

And let us each do what we can to ensure that our Sisters and Brothers who are eligible to vote — especially those lacking in power and access — are encouraged and permitted to do so, absent interference, intimidation, threat, and violence.

In the name of Jesus, who cast His lot with the weak and the oppressed – Amen.