Prayer for Truth and Reconciliation
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| Image credit: https://traditionalnativehealing.com/native-healing-circle-and-smudging |
(Reproduced from St Elizabeth Seton Facebook page. At this time the author of this prayer is unknown to us. We will be happy to give a full attribution on receiving information about the origins of this prayer.)
God, our Creator,
we pray for all the lives impacted by the Residential Schools program for First Nations, Inuit and Metis children that swept across our country and continues to affect the lives of all Indigenous peoples:
For all the children who did not return home, may they rest in your peace and love.
For all survivors, may they find healing, sanctuary, and peace.
For all intergenerational trauma survivors, may they find hope in their grief, solace in their fear, and compassion in their anger.
We ask that you bless these lives and walk with them in their healing.
Watch over them, love them, guide them.
We pray for the priests and nuns, religious communities, Church leaders, and others who were involved in the genocidal agenda of the Residential Schools and other systems, that they seek truth and justice, no matter how painful. May they come to recognize their errors, repent of their failure to extend God's love, and seek to make amends to all Indigenous communities and families.
We pray for all non-Indigenous Canadians that they will have the courage and wisdom to find, face, and act upon, the truths of Indigenous peoples' history in our country.
We are sorry for the times we remained silent. Help us find the strength to correct our harmful actions, and inactions, against Indigenous peoples. Help us hold space for those grieving and hurting because of Residential Schools and their intergenerational effects. Help us be humble and kind, not 'flushed with anger', but filled with your deep and divine mercy.
Holy Spirit, we ask for your guidance, your wisdom, and your courage to love truth, and speak the truth with love. Teach us, as First Nations, Inuit, Metis and non-Indigenous peoples, who we are as your beloved daughters and sons. Amen.