A HOUSING Advocate's Prayer
Picture the places where you've lived.
Picture your family's home. Where you spent Thanksgiving and summer vacations.
The room where you studied. Where you were grounded. Where you hosted sleepovers.
The place you marked "off limits" to the rest of the family.
Picture your first place away from home. Your dorm room, or loft, or apartment.
Picture your starter home.
Picture the place you and your partner furnished together.
The room you prepared for your first child.
Picture your present home. Your dream home. Any haunted houses.
The ones you lost or had to leave behind.
Recall the bankers. The financial advices. The family members.
The neighbors who welcomed you.
Consider those who have no place to call home.
No private space. Safe space. Clean and well-lighted space.
No place to return to at the end of a busy day.
No cozy spot in which to dream, make love, play with their children.
No place for family and friends to gather.
Indeed, "no roof over their head."
And so we pray:
Thank you, God, for giving us time to spend together today at these tables, under this roof, to be "at home" with each other recalling all the blessings we have received.
We ask that our hearts, consciousness, imagination, and consciences be touched by the needs of others and ways we are called to respond.
Help us help them.
Amen.
Presented by Sr. Cheryl Keehner, CSA at the 2008 Enterprise Community Partners 25th Annual Conference, Cleveland, OH