A Prayer for Children
By Ina J. Hughes
(The following Prayer was used as a special intercession during the Children's Mass)
By Ina J. Hughes
(The following Prayer was used as a special intercession during the Children's Mass)
We pray for children:
who like to be tickled,
who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants.
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.
who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers
who never "counted potatoes."
who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead in
who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.
who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money
who cover themselves with band-aids and sing off key,
who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,
who slurp their soup.
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can't find any bread to steal,
who don't have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
whose monsters are real.
who throw tantrums in the grocery sore and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories
who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren't spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.
who want to be carried and for those who must,
for those we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance,
for those we smother…and for those who will grab the hand of anybody
kind enough to offer it.
Amen
