Prayer for Peace- and curiosity

Yesterday I prayed this prayer at an inter-faith prayer for peace.  I was invited explicitly as a Roman Catholic lay minister and was expected/invited to pray from that perspective.  I found it deeply challenging to speak from my perspective as a liberal feminist lay Roman Catholic but also I didn't want to add layers of confusion to anyone who wasn't familiar with diversity within the Catholic tradition.

As you can read, or pray, or find, I didn't push at all with gender language or reinterpretation in a challenging way.  But I feel like I was authentic and moreover- I really am coming to believe that curiosity about one another might be a real source of bringing people together.

Lord God,


You are ever curious about all people.



As the gospels share,

in your living on earth you were always wanting to take in those around you for who they were.



When you met the sick, or ostracized.

When you met the oppressed or unknown.

When you met minorities or the unwelcome

Even when you met the powerful and elite.



You took the time to sit.
To welcome.

To talk.

To know people.



In the spirit of your curiosity about people of all kinds

May we become like you.

Embracing others out of a deep desire to know them.

To understand.

To move away from our preconceived notions.

And to become people of peace.



In the spirit of taking risks to be with people

May our gathering today inspire future conversations.

Depth of understanding

Richness in friendship.



In the spirit of your living, dying and rising

May we become people

Committed to love.

Prophetic in word.

Authentic in our striving for peace.



We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.


-Written by Rachel Doll O'Mahoney