Prayer for Healing of the Nation
Note: We are reprinting this prayer for national healing and reconciliation, at the request of Davao Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Cap all a.
( To be prayed on bended knees)
HEAVENLY Father, our nation is wounded in its soul. Our people’s wounds are deep and wide. These wounds are the dislike of and hatred for drug addicts, drug pushers, drug lords, and criminals, the senseless disregard of the due process of law, the violent killing of mere suspects, the crass taking of the law into one’s hands, the lustful greed in the hooded killers on motor bikes and the uniformed cops driving red-blinking police cars, the baseless claim of self- defense, the inhuman disrespect for life from womb to tomb, and the unjust socioeconomic-political system that tolerates all these to happen.
Lord, on bended knees, we, too, confess that our souls and spirits are wounded by our anger and desire for revenge. Yes, we are angry because our loud protests and public outrage in print and social media have fallen on deaf ears. Our souls are nourishing some remorse and regret that we have been so blindly mesmerized by the colorful language of candidates that we appeared agreeing, without thinking, that anything is fine as long as it works even if it is illegal and immoral. Our souls are nourishing irresponsible suspicions and rash judgments on the real perpetrators of the crimes only to realize
later that we, too, have been remiss in the systematic formation of our people’s moral conscience, an awareness that the devil, who is pure spirit, can enter our minds without passing through five senses and deceiving millions of us, making us lie even to ourselves. We are wounded by our disunity and hopelessness that imprison our hearts and weaken our willpower.
Most of all, Heavenly Father, we are wounded by our stark ignorance that we, too, are responsible for the existence and perpetuation of the systems that promote, condone, and abet these social wounds in the soul and spirit of our people. For all these, Lord, we are deeply sorry and beg your mercy and forgiveness.
God of power and mercy, since our collective efforts at peaceful protests, and even our church leaders’ vigilant silence, have proven seemingly fruitless, we come to you for help. Yes, Lord, we come to ask for healing as proposed by our incoming President. Heal our souls and our spirits of all the violent animosities that weaken our society and our life. Give us light, give us strength, give us courage to believe and to trust in you. Make us realize that in each of us from every walk of life there is an inherent and inborn goodness. You planted this goodness and it is not and cannot be erased by our sin and crime. This is our reason for hope.
Heavenly Father, we beg you to give us your healing touch. Touch the hardened hearts of criminals, drug addicts, drug pushers, drug lords, law enforcers, law officials, and the hearts of us all. Open them to the healing power of your love and compassion. Give the grace of courage to the sincere eyewitnesses of crimes but not to the so- called whistle blowers with vested interest. Awaken in us all a collective consciousness and will to support those that are urgently needed by the witnesses and the grieving families of victims. Convert us to you and to one another. Reconcile us to you and to one another through sincere repentance and forgiveness. For without forgiveness, there is no future for our nation, our country and our people.
In this year of mercy and compassion, give us courage and strength to make reparation for our sins and crimes by means of voluntary acts of penance and self-sacrifice symbolized by your cross. We believe that when these are offered together with your own sacrifice on the cross, they can save us, heal us, and restore us to your friendship (“by his wounds we have been healed” 1 Peter 2:24). Make us destroy the evil in the system by the power of goodness in us all who are within the system, the goodness that is rooted in you alone.
We make this humble prayer together with the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, so that as one united family in the bond of love, we may all experience the soothing joy of your presence and the healing balm of your love, you who live and reign with the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.