Prayer from Senegal
Lord, hear my prayer of peace and forgiveness!
Lord God, forgive the white slave-traders of Europe and over the seas!
They hunted our children like wild elephants. They caught them, tied
them up, whipped them and soiled their hands with their blood.
Bless my people, Lord, those who seek their own faces under the threat
of being recognized. May they continue to seek you in spite of the cold
and famine that eats at their very bones, at their very insides. The
woman who laments her absent husband, the fiancée her lost love, the
mother her dead son, bless those who have lost loved ones, may we all
unite under your love.
With your help, may all the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, and all who
have sweated blood and suffering look beyond and see the haloed heads
of my people. Extend a warm handshake to them so that we may all
interlace our fingers to belt the earth in fraternal love.
(Excerpted from “Prayer for Peace and Brotherhood”, Sedar Senghor, president of Senegal, 1960-81. Hallelujah for the Day, ed. Anthony Gittins, Liguori/Triumph, Ligouri MO, USA, 2002, p.103.)