At this time our anxious hearts are receiving
an endless barrage of troubling news.
We are daily aware of more grief and suffering
than we can respond to and more
than we can engage with compassion.

But you, O Jesus
carried the full weight of the suffering
of a broken world when you hung upon
the cross, and you carry it still.

Guard us from shutting down our empathy
or walling off our hearts because of the
flood of suffering.

You have many children in many places
around this globe. Move each of our hearts
to compassionately respond to those needs
that intersect our actual lives, that in all places
your body might be actively addressing
the pain and brokenness of this world. Amen