All of us

A prayer-homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 17, 2025

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10, Hebrews 12:1-4, Luke 12:49-53

This weekend, I was humbled and honored to represent the Church of St. Anselm at a Community Day of Prayer in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. The devotional celebration was sponsored by a variety of churches in Monmouth County; it was coordinated by St. Thomas AME Zion Church and their pastor, the Rev. Danica L. Frink.

I was one of seven preachers called upon to lead the attendees in a prayer for specific needs. Again: humbling, yet uplifting.

In light of today’s Gospel, in which Jesus declares that siblings may well lash out tooth-and-nail against each other, I’d like to share this in lieu of a regular homily. Please pray it with me, should it move you.

A Prayer for Families

Together, let us pray in the name of the Father, our Creator, the perfect parent;

And the Son, our Savior, the most obedient and generous child;

And the Holy Spirit, our source of Wisdom and Grace, who completes the divine family of three persons in one God.

Dear God Who Is Love, Dear God who loves, Dear God who showers us, your children, with only goodness and light because you do only those things that spring from infinite love, we thank you for hearing us and answering us. Hearing us and answering us every hour of every day of the lives you bestowed on us.

We know you hear us and answer us, and always give us what we need. We know you hear us and answer us, and always give us those things we ask for when they are in our best interest.

For you promised that if we knock, you will open, and if we ask, we shall receive.

O Lord, we know you are a great protector. A great protector, as only a parent can truly be.

A great provider, as only a parent can truly be.

You provide us with our daily bread, whether that bread is food, drink, clothing, shelter, warmth or the beauty of Creation and the colors of the changing seasons.

You provide us with the people in our lives who turn our dwellings into our homes.

Loving God, you give us the gift of families. Loving God, you bless us with your support through the men and women and girls and boys you weave into our lives.

Lord God, you give us the power to create families of blood relatives, kinfolk and ancestors who give roots and branches to our family trees, family trees that grow strong and tall and proud, reaching up to your heavenly skies.

Lord God, you connect us with the sisters and brothers from the four corners of our precious yet fragile Earth, the blood relatives we may have never met and may never meet. Black or White, young or old, rich or poor, each a unique masterpiece created in your image and likeness … Dear God, you show us how alike we are. Dear God, you remind us we are all children of Adam and Eve, members of one race, the human race.

And, Lord God, in your infinite wisdom you send us the friends we cling to, the friends we include in the families we make. Thank you for our spouses and partners. Thank you for friends in need. Thank you for the friends we see only once a year but who are nearly as dear to us as you are, O Divine Center of Our Lives.

Yes, Lord, you have showered us in abundance. We are rich because of you.

But now, Heavenly King, we must knock. At this time, we must ask. Please open and grant, as your Son said you would.

All-seeing God, you know the ups and downs of life can put pressure on your children’s families. Sometimes, Lord, a handful of ill-chosen angry words can drive a wedge between family members or even split families into full-on estrangement. We know it is your will that all humankind should live in harmony and peace, and we know that your love and wisdom live in the family home.

Grant, we pray, that, as you promised humankind when you spoke through your prophet Ezekiel, you will give us new hearts and a new spirit energized by faith, hope and charity. O great healer, where there is anger in families, graciously remove stony hearts from those in conflict and give them natural hearts, hearts made from and made for love.

And, Lord, when your heavenly peace and abundant love bind our families together, bind those families that you yourself gave us, then make it so that selfsame peace and charity may flow to and through every member of our worldwide family.

Gracious God, may family love bring your heavenly kingdom to Earth.

Amen.

Alleluia.

Amen.