God of all people,
We bring before you all who work for the fullness of justice,
All who long for the widening of welcome
To which your Gospel calls us:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Displaced God.
Born in flight to parents anxious and weary,
Born anew in those who flee oppression, leaving home and loved ones
behind,
And staking their lives on the hope of abundant life, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Journeying God,
Turned away over and over again
By our world’s collective fear of the stranger, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Uprooted God,
Suspended in the endless uncertainty that is the daily life of the migrant,
we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
Waiting God,
Waiting today with all who suffer separation from home and the
familiar,
Waiting for safe return,
Waiting for war’s end,
Waiting for justice to be restored, we pray:
Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome!
God of all people,
Stir us to holy anger over the wounds of our world.
Move us to action for justice
Until the fullness of welcome is fulfilled in our midst
And the problems that cause migration—
The poverty, the fear, and the suffering—
Are confronted by all people of good will
And transformed by the power of compassion.
Amen!
(Adapted from Sister Chris Koellhoffer Immaculate Heart of Mary)