Prayer for the World February 18, 2026
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Light in our Darkness
Introduction
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a time of lengthening days, when each day we experience increasing light in the midst of darkness. Today as ashes are placed on our foreheads in the shape of a cross, we are reminded of our humanness, its limitations as well as its promise in Jesus. Let us pray for one another as we enter this Lenten journey, an opportunity for spiritual renewal leading to the celebration of New Life and Jesus’ Resurrection.
Song: Stay With Us…Light in our Darkness
Stay with us O Lord Jesus Christ, night will soon fall. Then stay with us O Lord Jesus, Christ. Light in our darkness.
Reflection Material
Jeus has said, in the Sermon on the Mount: Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. A word for this passionate expression of grief or sorrow is Lamentation. Fr. Brian Massingale spoke at length of the importance of lamentation in his keynote address at the Annual Gathering of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
Lament, then, transforms bystanders into witnesses. … BUT—and this is the key—lament becomes the prelude to action and change. As Brueggeman noted … unvoiced pain precludes the acceptance of the new. Without lament over loss, the new is received only as a threat. Grieving and lamenting the loss of the present prepares us for the arrival of the new. Lamenting allows us to greet the arrival of the new as a gift, not a threat. Paradoxically, lament prepares the way for new beginnings. Lament frees the imagination for legacy and gift.
Quiet Reflection
What do I lament personally?
What do I lament as a citizen of the U.S.?
Lamentations
We lament a world that benefits “us” at the expense of “them.”
We hope for a future where the good of one benefits all.
We lament the devastation that we have wrecked upon the earth, our common home.
We hope for a new awareness of and commitment to ways of protecting and healing the earth.
We lament the marginalization and/or oppression of people who are gay.
We hope for a new acceptance of those who may be different from us.
We lament the thinking that makes immigrants and Black people falsely responsible for the plight of white working-class people.
We hope for the day when all will work for the welfare of all, no matter the color of their skin or country of origin,
We lament what each of us have lost personally and communally.
We hope for the gift of grace and renewal that each of us needs.
Prayer
Jesus, you are the Light of the World.
You have created me as a little light to bless others.
May I, as the song goes, “Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine…everywhere I go.”
Let me not hide my light under a bushel basket, but glorify you
by shining brightly to guide, warm, heal, and love others.
Quiet Reflection
Song: Stay With Us
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