Christ, the source and future of our dignity

Be thou Blessed, Lord, the source and future of our dignity

Your show tenderness to the youngest ones

We have so much trouble discerning your presence

In those that we deem unworthy of our humanity

Help us, you who have lived our life as humans

To never dehumanize one who seems distanced from you

Lord, you who have known tears and anguish, blessed art thou

You dare to show your emotion before death and abandonment

You speak your compassion to those that “could faint on their way”

We are so burdened by the suffering which makes us absent or talkative

Teach us, you who also understand suffering, to be fully present

By the sides of those whom pain overwhelms

Lord, revolted by injustice and hypocrisy, blessed are you

You give us a law of love and sharing

You ask us to make adjustment to our lives in keeping with it

Tell us, you who died for staying true to your message

How to constantly invent rules for a more just world

Lord, you know how to withdraw and pray, blessed are you

You reveal to us the quality of brotherliness by pointing us to the Father

We are troubled by a choice between activism and resignation

We fear both the silence of your absence and the demand of your call

Come pray through us when we feel discouraged

When the prayer seems scandalous in the face of violence

Lord, you spoke with the wicked and the executioners, blessed are you

You denounce without compromise those who do not know how to love,

And then, in the same word, invite them to change

We have so much trouble praying for those who torture,

To celebrate the forgiveness of which certain victims are capable

Inspire in us the tongue of real dialogue

And the courage to take the first step towards reconciliation

Lord, you are living, blessed are you

Your words and gestures put us back on the path of life.

Guy Aurenche, former president of ACAT