Daily Prayers for February 19

On February 19, 1942, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese warplanes the previous December, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order calling for the displacement of one hundred and twenty thousand Japanese Americans to internment camps.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you

as the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Song “O Lord, Hear My Prayer”

Free us, O Lord, from fear : so we can live in peace.

Psalm 95:8 – 11

Harden not your hearts, as your forebears did in the wilderness : at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me.

They put me to the test : though they had seen my works.

Forty years long I detested that generation and said : “This -people are wayward in their hearts; they do not know my ways.”

So I swore in my wrath : “They shall not enter into my rest.”

Free us, O Lord, from fear : so we can live in peace.

Genesis 37:1 – 11 Hebrews 10:1 – 10

Free us, O Lord, from fear : so we can live in peace.

Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, said, “Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.”

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Lord, keep us from fearfully persecuting the innocent among us. When we are tempted to use the cultural differences of our neighbors as excuses for injustice, convict us of our error. Keep us from turning difference into discrimination. Amen.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.