Lord, as you know, sometimes we are not free to choose;
we find ourselves caught up in a cycle of impulses.
We ask you for the grace to discern life’s callings.
Together with the farmers, market gardeners and livestock farmers whom the drought is putting to the test,
grant that we may choose solidarity.
Together with the elderly who suffer from loneliness and a lack of consideration,
grant that we may keep them within a spirit of brotherly fellowship.
With the ever-growing number of peoples who see rising within their midst
racist ideologies that threaten the future,
grant us the grace to choose fraternity without exclusion.
With the advocates of integral ecology who are devising
new ways of living in simplicity, ready to pay the price,
grant us the grace to allow ourselves to be challenged.