Praying for those driven away

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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 05 July 2023
Genesis 21:5, 8-20 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'>   Matthew 8:28-34
Photo by author, sunset at Tagaytay City, 08 February 2023.
God our loving Father,
today we continue to pray 
for those in great trials and 
sufferings in life,
those in the eye of the storm
especially those driven out
from their own homes,
from their country,
from their roots 
like the refugees and those
fleeing from wars and calamities;
those displaced due to economic 
reasons like poverty;
the victims of the inhuman practice
of human trafficking.
Take care of those people
driven away from their homes
especially the children who 
always suffer most;
look after the welfare of
those thrown into foreign 
lands and environment,
so alienated in language and culture;
sustain those forced to make 
ends meet after being 
led to somewhere else
not of their own choice
and decision.
Hear the cries of the many
and modern 
Hagar and Ishmael
of our time;
bless them too for
we all came from Abraham;
punish the human traffickers,
convert them,
take away their hearts of stone
and give them natural hearts
who respect and rejoice
humanity.
Your very own Son
and our Lord Jesus Christ
was also driven out by people
after he had exorcised two demoniacs
at the territory of Gadarenes;
how sad that until now it continues 
to happen among us when we drive
people out and away because we
value more things and animals than persons.
The whole planet,
the whole land is yours,
O Lord but until now,
so many are lording over
vast tracts of land
when all we really need 
at the end is a simple plot
of three-and-a-half feet wide
by eight feet in length,
six feet under.
Amen.