SHANNON CRAIGO-SNELL

Merciful God, bless nurses who care for people without judgement. Without asking if someone is wealthy or worthy, without declaring someone undeserving of care due to choice or circumstance, nurses tend the sick and wounded. They offer concrete help and kindness. In this they reflect Your own compassion for humanity. Their actions stand as a rebuke to the notion that healthcare is for some, but not all. May loving nurses receive back the good they have given, tenfold. May

God of Mercy, I give thanks for Congressman Joe Kennedy III, who is resisting the legislation that would strip healthcare from millions of people in the United States. He testified to the biblical commands to care for those in need. He named and rejected the willful manipulation of Scripture into a justification for greed and malice. Thank you, God, for truth-tellers. Please continue to inspire Congressman Kennedy. Let his example be a goad to other representatives. May his f

God of Wisdom, bless women who work for justice, offer compassion, and love fiercely. Bless those who create, explore, learn, teach, and enact the noblest values of humanity. Let the breath of Your wisdom bind them together as co-conspirators for mercy and justice. Holy God, grant them power. Amen.

Merciful God, bless all 100 U.S. senators, who signed a letter asking the current administration for "swift action" to find those who are threatening Jewish communities. This effort is little, and it is late, but it is something, and I give thanks. Grant these senators a firm will for the common good; hinder the temptations to partisanship and political self-preservation. Inspire compassion and strengthen courage. Give them a sense of responsibility and resolve, as well as

God of Grace, bless the schoolteachers who tell the truth about our country's past so that we might have a better future. Give them patience and gladness in their classrooms, support in their communities, and expansive influence in our society. Amen.

God of Peace, I pray tonight for activist millennials. While there are many forms of internal diversity within the category of a generation, some broad generalizations hold. For millennials in the United States, life has always been complex and ambiguous. Technology, globalization, postmodernism, shifting standards of authority, changing institutional structures--along with many other factors--make simplicity and certainty hard to come by. Millennials are often savvy navigato

Holy God, please bless Stephen Colbert. One of the great strengths of Roman Catholic theology is a global perspective that refutes nationalism and rejects discrimination against immigrants. It is only logical that when the current administration came after immigrants, a Catholic public theologian like Colbert would come out swinging. Colbert's fearless attacks on the current administration are not about partisanship or political preferences. They are a continuation of his c

Eternal God, I am thinking tonight of people who are long-time justice workers who are not at the forefront of the most visible struggles of the day. Some of them are unable to be as active as they would like because they are tending to pressing matters close to home, like caring for a child, grieving a loss, dealing with illness, or making ends meet. Others have been steadily living compassion for years, in ways that are rarely in the news. Chaplains, counselors, anti-pov

Mighty God, I pray for all the congregations around the country who are committed to providing sanctuary for immigrants in danger of deportation. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have had guidelines that they would not enter into "sensitive locations"--such as hospitals, schools, and houses of worship--to remove immigrants for deportation. Churches have offered sanctuary to many over the years, providing a haven of safety, time to search for alternatives, and a p

Mighty God, bless every person who makes the effort to stay informed about politics. It would be easier to look away or to pretend that things are fine. It would be easier both for the residents of the U.S. and for those who seek excessive power. In this context, reading, watching, or listening to legitimate news sources on a regular basis is an act of resistance. Democracy depends upon informed citizens, and faithfulness requires that we acknowledge the suffering of our neig