Prayer for Victims of Abuse and for Inner Healing
The lector read the three dedicated Mass intentions for today and one caught me by surprise: a prayer for victims of abuse. I’m not sure what the person was hoping for in the intention, but I was so taken by it that I spent the next hour praying for it as broadly as I could. During my time as a news reporter, I seemed to end up with many stories related to abuse of children, the kind where police and social workers get involved. How can it be that the ones expected to protect children would be the ones to hurt them? There are parents who consider their child a nuisance, a waste or an object to use. Children in cases like these may feel alone, but the world grieves with them. I grieve with them. And then there is the sort of abuse that would not warrant calling police or social workers. I know many people who say they hate their parents and cut them out of their life because of constant criticism, negativity, sarcasm, anger problems, perfectionism or neglect. There are little children who’ve told me, “I hate my family.” There may not be broken bones or bruises, but words can break spirits and bruise hearts. Truly, there are situations of abuse that won’t ever be reported to police, but to friends. I have wept over many cases like these. I’m grateful people have trusted me to talk. My heart aches today for cycles of abuse. People who are critical were often criticized themselves. There is usually are reason for the narcissism that makes a parent unable to care for others. There is a wound that causes someone to be passive-aggressive. Abusers were often abused. As often as the abused say, “I’ll never be like that family member was,” the abuse continues in the same or some other way. And I prayed today about abuse in other places, like marriages and significant others, among siblings, friends, at school and in workplaces. I believe in the resurrection. The Lord can heal in situations that by earthly measures would seem impossible. I believe He came make all things new. May the Lord heal those who hurt us. May the Lord bind our wounds. May the Lord break chains of abuse. PRAYER FOR INNER HEALING Lord Jesus, You came to heal our wounded and troubled hearts. I beg You to heal the torments that cause anxiety in my heart; I beg You, in a particular way, to heal all who are the cause of sin. I beg You to come into my life and heal me of the psychological harms that struck me in my early years and form the injuries that they caused throughout my life. Lord Jesus, You know my burdens. I lay them all on Your Good Shepherd's Heart. I beseech You -- by the merits of the great, open wound in Your heart -- to heal the small wounds that are in mine. Heal the pain of my memories, so that nothing that has happened to me will cause me to remain in pain and anguish, filled with anxiety. Heal, O Lord, all those wounds that have been the cause of all the evil that is rooted in my life. I want to forgive all those who have offended me. Look to those inner sores that make me unable to forgive. You Who came to forgive the afflicted of heart, please, heal my own heart. Heal, my Lord Jesus, those intimate wounds that cause me physical illness. I offer You my heart. Accept it, Lord, purify it, and give me the sentiments of Your Divine Heart. Help me to be meek and humble. Heal me, O Lord, from the pain caused by the death of my loved ones, which is oppressing me. Grant me to regain peace and joy in the knowledge that You are the Resurrection and the Life. Make me an authentic witness to Your Resurrection, Your victory over sin and death, Your living presence among us.