How can we bless what we have been given when the act of giving has resulted in continual taking away?
Is there holiness in the bounty that breaks and bereaves?
And where is the restitution for the unmarked season of loss and of mourning?
O, Compassionate One,
Release us from the bonds of privilege and fortune
And instead, let us sanctify the act that not does steal away but that atones and makes right.
In the joy of plenty, let us not turn away from the presence of persecution and the pain of history.
And help us find the audacity to mark moments and days of this life, which benefit all human beings living on the earth.
 Amen.
