Praying for a Broken Relationship

I recently had a conversation with a man who has continued to carry a burden of hurt and resentment since childhood. Now with children of his own, he's beginning to realize that this is a legacy he doesn't want to pass on. He's struggling to show his children how to live a life of faith and forgiveness, but until he puts the pain of the past to rest, he's unable to do so. This is a prayer I shared with him:

Come, Lord of Healing and Unity, I am in need of Your divine assistance. I need to approach another and find a way to peace and understanding. We are now separated, and the canyon between us is painful and empty of You. Help me to be honest as I seek reunion.

Open to my vision the ways by which I have failed and have been lacking in consideration. Let my heart be ready to see how I have sinned. I will need Your help so that I may move beyond my own feelings to an awareness of the other who is also suffering.

You, Searcher of Hearts, know how both of us in our own ways are at fault. Teach us to be humble as we seek reunion. Come and stand between us so that all we say and do will be filled with the sacred medicine of heaven.

Remind us how short our lives are so that we will not delay this reunion of hearts. Inspire us to see how this separation can serve to bring us even closer together, closer than we were before it happened.

Most of all, Lord of Compassion, let me be a servant of pardon, a minister of reconciliation, as I now pray for Your holy guidance.

Amen

- Fr. Ed Hayes

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