Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru

Intercessions

We are thankful for:

• the distinctive rhythms, music, dance, food and natural medicine in this area

• the beauty of the region, forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, and ocean coastlines, and especially indigenous peoples’ relationship with, and care for, the natural environment

• churches who witness and work both ecumenically and with those of other faiths to build relationships of trust and commitment amid ongoing injustice and oppression

• the diversity of languages and cultures flourishing in the region despite disruptions that have occurred through colonization, and political and economic turmoil.

We pray for:

• Christians to have the courage, imagination and energy to build bridges of peace and understanding against conflict and division, and to pursue justice for the poor, marginalized and dispossessed

• an end of corruption in all levels of the society, including economic exploitation which impoverishes and hinders economic growth from benefitting all.

• immigrants and refugees seeking a new home, and those who accompany and support them

• coca farmers to find sustainable incomes from other crops, for an end to drug trafficking, and effective assistance for those who are addicted.

Prayers

A Mapuche* Blessing

God of life, Mother of all, you renew creation.
Bring us peace and justice, ‘balance’ in the Mapuche sense:
balance and harmony for the earth,
balance and harmony for the peoples of the world,
balance and harmony for men and women,
balance and harmony between nature and ourselves and God.

(*Mapuche means ‘people of the earth’. They are the aborigines living in the south of Chile and Argentina. Source: the Mapuche Pastoral Team, Santiago, Chile. From: The website Red de Liturgia, Latin American Council of Churches)

Our Father in heaven, holy is your name.
We thank you for the gift of life,
which is renewed every moment with your beauty.
Your mercy, God, confirms your love.
In your hands are our destiny and our life.
All-powerful and merciful God, we pray for the future of Peru,
for the poor who often go hungry,
for the victims of disasters.
Provide them with all they need from you,
with all they require of you.
For the salvation of our souls through the death of your Son,
we thank you,
but we pray for those who are left out,
who do not have a relation with you,
who do not even know of your existence.
Lord, no longer allow human evil to go forward.
Keep corruption, which often touches the life of churches,
from proliferating.
We especially pray for the authorities of Peru,
that they be given the wisdom to plan towards a better future.
We pray for justice because here, too, the rich dominate
while justice is denied to the poor.
Lord, we pray for the leaders of your churches,
give them courage to bear with the poor, and the ignorant,
but also with those educated, who in their hypocrisies scorn your people.
Grant, O Lord, peace in all the world
and an end to war which only destroys and kills.
May the strength of the Holy Spirit dwell in our hearts.
May we live under your refuge and protection.
Bless our families.
Give us your happiness.
Thank you, Lord, for turning your ears towards our requests.
Give us the humility to accept your will.
In your hands we place our future and our livelihood.
Thank you, Lord, for giving us much more than we deserve,
especially for giving us the happiness
of having access to your word.
Receive our adoration and our prayers.
Thank you, Lord, for answering us.

(Victor M. Ascanio Huaringa, Peru, 2005. English transl. Terry MacArthur/WCC)

God of Life,
prepare our hands for a touch,
a new and different touch.
Prepare our hands for a touch,
a touch of encounter,
a touch of awakening,
a touch of hope,
a touch of feeling.
Many are the worn-out gestures.
Many are the movements frozen in time.
Many are the useless excuses just to repeat attitudes.
Give us daring
to create new titles of community,
new kinds of affection,
breaking away from old ways of relating,
encouraging true, meaningful ways to move into closeness.

(Ernesto Barros Cardoso, Brazil. Gifts of Many Cultures: Worship Resources for the Global Community, Maren C. Tirabassi and Kathy Wonson Eddy, United Church Press, Cleveland OH, USA, 1995, p.4.)

And the waters will flow from your altar, Lord
and flood the earth.
And we will be like a garden watered,
cared for,
exposed to life. 

Oh! let these waters come,
impetuous and pure,
and destroy the powers
and clean the paths
which my people will take,
singing and rejoicing
in an endless celebration,
the Word, Life, Freedom
and the Resurrection! 

And the waters will flow from your altar, Lord,
and clean away the debris
and we will have courage to act,
to serve,
to change the world. 

And the waters will flow from your altar, Lord,
life will be rekindled,
and we will see the new creation,
act
of your love.

(Simei Monteiro, Geneva, Switzerland. English transl. Colleen Reeks. Whole Life, Holy Life, Ernesto Cardoso, ISER, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

Prayer for peace and justice in Bolivia

O God, from Bolivian soil,
The Bolivian people implore you to listen to their voice,
feel their sadness and see the tears of your people,
which are also your tears.
So many bodies without any life left
have fallen in the streets,
in the roads and in the fields,
leaving behind pain and sorrow within the Bolivian family.

In those moments in which their hearts are mourning from such suffering,
give them consolation.
Do not allow them to relinquish their self-control,
but give them a vision
so they can see with their own eyes the way they ought to go,
so they can reach life by the path of justice.
Hear, O God, the voices of the multitudes
who march in the streets and highways
crying for justice,
tired of so much misery,
the lack of work, corruption and violence;
tired of so much authoritarianism by the people in power,
who take decisions without consulting the people
and who are guided by their own stingy interests;
tired that the natural resources
that you have given for the well-being of all the people
are once more being used to benefit the economic interests of the large
transnational corporations.

Hear the voice of the Bolivians
and give them discernment and strength
so that they can respond
to hatred with love,
to injustice with righteousness,
to apathy with commitment to their people,
to individualism with solidarity,
to violence with peace.

Hear their voice and inspire within their hearts (and within ours)
the knowledge of peace,
the strength of justice,
the joy of being close to one another.
Guide them to walk with the crowds on the way of peace with the signs of justice.
O God, hear their voice
and grant to them (and us) your eternal peace.

(Gustavo Loza and Mirela Armand Ugon, Cochabamba, Bolivia. © Red de Liturgia y Educación Cristiana CLAI-CELADEC.)

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