Prayer for July 2, 2023

From the beginning of creation, you call us to unconditionally welcome the stranger into our midst, O God of All. Just as you invite us to follow you and to come in through the main gate to your kingdom and the banquet you have prepared for us, you expect the same of us. You remind us over and over again that how we welcome the alien, the poor, the widow and other is exactly as we should welcome you. Give us the strength of character and resolve to act upon that call of radical hospitality. May we be people who look into the eyes of those we encounter and see your Spirit filling them and may they see the same in us. Allow us to live each day with the anticipation and expectation that we will encounter the divine. It is right there in front of us, Loving God, may our eyes and arms be opened in welcome of that moment. All this we ask in the name of the God who creates, redeems us and sanctifies. Amen