World AIDS Day

Come to us, God of peace.
Come with your healing, reconciling power,
That fear may be cast out by love, prejudice replaced by trust,
Hostility give way to gentleness.
Come to us, God of peace.

Come to us, God of justice,
That we may hear the cries of those oppressed by AIDS in every land,
Calling us, like Jesus the healer,
To walk with them in the search for justice and mercy.
Come to us, God of justice.

Come to us, God of love.
Come that we may see you in the poor, the lonely,
And those who have AIDS.
Come that we might respond to them as your compassionate Church.
Come that we may see you in people of every race,
And commit ourselves to the hope that we celebrate
Our life together in true community and justice.
Come to us, God of love.

(Taken from "Prayers and Reflections on AIDS: Caritas International and the Global AIDS Pandemic." This particular prayer is an adaptation from Dorothy McMahon's prayer, "Out of the darkness," Australian Council of Churches.)

P.S. Head over to hope in the headlines for some stories that celebrate progress in the global AIDS struggle.