A Sense of Proportion and Humility

In the light of continuing events in Haiti and wherever people suffer elsewhere in the world, complaints about temporary power outages or the demands of college professors can seem vanishingly petty. If no one has asked you, please go to the Web site for the International Committee of the Red Cross or the Clinton Foundation, or UNICEF, and make a donation. Even a dollar can buy water, a snack, or a bandage for a hurting human being; you can probably afford more than a dollar, which means you have the chance to make an even bigger difference.
Isn't that what we're here for, to make a difference in the lives of the people around us?
This prayer was delivered to staff and student mailboxes this morning at St. Martin's University:

A Prayer After the Earthquake in Haiti

Lord, at times such as this,
when we realize that the ground beneath our feet is not as solid as we had imagined, we plead for your mercy.

As the things we have built crumble about us, we know too well how small we truly are on this ever-changing, ever-moving, fragile planet we call home.
Yet you have promised never to forget us.

Do not forget us now.

Today, so many people are afraid.
They wait in fear of the next tremor.
They hear the cries of the injured amid the rubble.
They roam the streets in shock at what they see.
And they fill the dusty air with wails of grief and the names of missing dead.

Comfort them, Lord, in this disaster.
Be their rock when the earth refuses to stand still, and shelter them under your wings when homes no longer exist.

Embrace in your arms those who died so suddenly this day.
Console the hearts of those who mourn,
and ease the pain of bodies on the brink of death.

Pierce, too, our hearts with compassion, we who watch from afar, as the poorest on this side of the earth find only misery upon misery.
Move us to act swiftly this day,
to give generously every day,
to work for justice always,
and to pray unceasingly for those without hope.

And once the shaking has ceased,
the images of destruction have stopped filling the news, and our thoughts return to life’s daily rumblings, let us not forget that we are all your children and they, our brothers and sisters.
We are all the work of your hands.

For though the mountains leave their place and the hills be tossed to the ground, your love shall never leave us, and your promise of peace will never be shaken.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
now and forever. Amen.

Copyright © 2010, Diana Macalintal. Permission is given to reprint.