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    • Jun 21, 2018
    • 17 min read

Prison Challenges

Updated: a day ago

Prayers


“OH MOTHER OF THE STAIRS”

A prayer for all prisoners with Covid-19

You inherited a title from our first mother, Eve, and, as the

New Eve, you are even more the mother of all the living, loving To call out to all to take the steps to life, to enter from whatever Turning point and to take the rail, the rhythm of life and prayer And to ascend, step by step, holding on as you are helped to hold On and to rise, and rise again, rising in the company of others.

Oh Joseph, as you worked you saw who was lost and looking around,

And you prayed, whether in words or gestures, dedicating your

Difficulties to turning boys and girls, youths, old men and women,

To your wife, Mary, who stands by the entrance to the stairs,

Calling to all who would pass on by to stop, to falter just in time,

And to follow the turning up, and to avoid the turning down.

Oh Mother of the Stairs, let not those who are on the money-go-round

Stay stuck on the cutting edge, getting caught up in the swirling

Down and round, round and down until, either fished up or flat

Against the possibility of the water-fall, taking them beyond the Edge of returning, descending without drowning, falling as they Fail, failing as they fall, faster now, unless netted before the end.

Oh Lord, you have descended to hell and you have ascended

To heaven, you know the way down and you know the way up;

And, indeed, you know all the steps in between and all the

Stops and starts and changes of direction, encouraging all

Who are going down to come up and all who are going up to

Continue up, and even as they go to help others to rise with them.

You knew imprisonment and you turned it into an opportunity

For the salvation of the world; you knew the isolation of being

Intensely alone and again you turned it into an opportunity

For the salvation of the world; you knew the utter worn-out-ness

Of carrying your cross and bearing afflictions for others and you

Turned it into an opportunity for the salvation of the world.

Help all who are imprisoned bear the burden of illness, isolation, Even estrangement, turning their cross into opportunities to shed Addictions, to see in their lives your Son’s walk with them to the Resurrection, to turn around and see the goodness of God coming Towards them, arms outstretched, bringing the healing love that Loves to heal, turning them up-wards to go up the stairs with help.

Oh Mother of the Stairs, gather your children from all walks of life,

All points of the earth, all peoples of the world, all times of life,

Whether poor or rich, victim or violent, alone or as part of a gang,

Turning what is misused to a good use, scheming into helping,

Gang members into friends, taking into giving, causing harm

Into helping to heal – being saved into showing others the stairs.

by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism



A Prayer for Prisoners

Lord, you are close to those who are most alone.

Be present to our brothers and sisters in prison

who suffer from the coronavirus.

In their dark hours, be a light of hope.

In their sad plight, stir us to compassion.

In their daily routine, stir the kindness of their guards.

In their physical struggles, pour out a healing balm.

Lead them and us, one day, home to you. Amen

by Father Louis Cameli Profiles in Catholicism


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