Source of our common being, you have called us through the prophets of every great religion to a higher love- a love that treats all of your children with compassion and justice.
Give us that higher love.
May our personal affections grow until we can feel the fearful heartbeats of immigrant mothers cradling infants in flimsy and dangerous crafts seeking to escape even greater dangers back in their homelands.
Melt the stony heart of this nation until we can feel the bewilderment of those fleeing the results of our own exploitative foreign policies- who come to our border believing we are the land of the free- only to end up in privately run detention camps that draw profit even from the worst of human suffering.
We pray for those crowded onto buses and used as pawns in cruel political stunts intended to stir up anti-immigrant hatred. Shatter the walls of our closed minds and hearts with images of the unmarked graves of beautiful human beings who perished crossing dangerous terrain in their desperate pursuit of safety, freedom and dignity.
May this nation open its arms to the displaced members of our human family. May we realize the hypocrisy in calling yesterday’s refugees “pilgrims” and today’s refugees “illegals.” May we realize when we reject the sojourner as our sibling we reject our common parent as well.
May this nation leave our wretched throne of hoarded wealth, and learn to embrace our entire human family. May we learn to share this planet fairly with all. Common parent of us all, save us from the ghettoes of sect, class or nation.
Give us a higher love.