A Prayer for Healing Action in the World
Upon hearing the heartwrenching and horrifying news of the shooting assault on the Tree of Life Jewish congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we asked Rabbi Ted Falcon of the Interfaith Amigos for a response. He immediately wrote back to share his reflections with us.
And so we pray this news …
Blessing always calls us to the immediacy of the present moment; it is an invitation to mindfulness. In the case of hearing terrible news, we are invited to share blessing in this form:
“Blessed are You,
Eternal One our God,
Universal Presence,
the True Judge.”
Something bringing pain and suffering has occurred that is outside of our control, and we are asked to be fully present to that pain with energies of blessing.
As the consistent rhetoric encouraging greater polarization and demonization of the “Other” has flooded our country and our world, explosions of violence can hardly be a surprise. While many identify the slaughter of innocent Jewish people in Pittsburgh as a Hate Crime, it is also Domestic Terrorism, and needs to be labeled as such. Anti-Semitism is clearly on the rise, but so is Islamophobia along with racial and gender discrimination. We need to do all we can to change the energies overtaking us.
So our prayers must encourage us to open more fully to the unlimited resources of Love and Oneness behind our individual identities, and express those resources more consistently and more loudly through our words and actions. Our prayers are only real when they stimulate healing actions in the world.
What are the healing actions that are ready now to be expressed through you?
