A prayer for Fiji

from w
When there are disrupting and unforgiving floods in many parts of Fiji it's an opportunity for neighbours to pull together, and they often do this in Fiji. In troubled times people can become generous and barriers put there by schemers and plotters are lowered. Others of course are opportunists and that's why two towns in Fiji have curfews at present to stop possible looting. Our prayers go out to all the people affected by the floods that occur in low-lying areas and near rivers. Meanwhile the politicking goes on and we pray for sensitivity, good sense, and good listening in the word-fests that are going on this month in relation to Fiji, a country of such possibilities and beauty.

Francis of Assisi says it better:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

And, who is our neighbour?

A neighbour is not just
the person who lives next to us.
He or she is the person we meet in the shop,
office, school, communal food garden,
cane-field, church, temple, sports field.
There are times when a neighbour comes to our aid
when we experience something dramatic,
life tears us apart.
To facilitate these tough times,
we need to experience day to day chit-chat,
to know neighbours by name.
We can then shelter our family and loved ones
And watch out for our neighbour.