A  M o t h e r' s  P r a y e r

 

   Help me Lord, to show my children

    The way of love and understanding,

  The way of healing sick souls through endless patience,

   The way of unselfish devotion,

  Built on self-discipline so that no weakness

    Can allow contamination by the already sick.

 Help me Lord, to learn for myself.

Help me Lord, to show my children

   The way of strength and courage,

The way of faith bringing light of love to unravel

 The tangled web of mens' confused emotions.

     Help me Lord, to learn for myself.

 

         Help me Lord, to show my children

           The way of the family.

             The precious, fragile threads of love and self-sacrifice,

            Shared, returned, given again,

                Between those who hold the lives and welfare of loved ones

           In sacred trust.

             Help me Lord, to learn for myself.

 

            Help me Lord, to show my children

               The joys of art and knowledge,

                 The ceaseless nourishment and healing,

                   Building with the hands, the mind, the spirit.

                    Help me Lord, Oh, help me Lord to learn for myself,

                    That I may show my children

                    

               T h e   W a y   o f   G o d !

 

                            R.T.    1958

 

                     

            This cry from the heart of a mother came as

             an inspiration in the middle of the night.

            It was read and acknowledged by

              Ralph Bunche, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.,

           by Pope John XXIII,

            and by Eleanor Roosevelt,

               who asked permission to publish it.

               Fifty years later, it is clear that the

                author 's life since that time has been

                 a progressive answer to this prayer.

 

            

 

 

                                                               A grandmother at work

 

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