When the government and community leaders seek to provide protection for the community, and isolate some – or all – of a community, there comes a time when people begin to have strong feelings and need support. While those giving support are blessed and appreciated, here, we bring you prayers and meditations from many different religions for your engagement and reflection during this time of isolation and lockdown.
Pope Francis Prayer for protection from Coronavirus
O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign
of salvation and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.
At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus’ pain,
with steadfast faith.
You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need.
We are certain that you will provide, so that,
as you did at Cana of Galilee,
joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the Father’s will
and to do what Jesus tells us:
He who took our sufferings upon Himself,
and bore our sorrows to bring us,
through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen.
We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our pleas – we who are put to the test.
Orthodox Communion
A Prayer To Be Offered in the Morning
Lord our God, You who are rich in mercy, and with careful wisdom direct our lives, listen to our prayer, receive our repentance for our sins, bring an end to this new infectious disease, this new epidemic, just as you averted the punishment of your people in the time of David the King. You who are the Physician of our souls and bodies, grant restored health to those who have been seized by this illness, raising them from their bed of suffering, so that they might glorify You, O merciful Savior, and preserve in health those who have not been infected. By your grace, Lord, bless, strengthen, and preserve, all those who out of love and sacrifice care for the sick, either in their homes or in the hospitals. Remove all sickness and suffering from your people, and teach us to value life and health as gifts from You. Give us Your peace, O God, and fill our hearts with unflinching faith in Your protection, hope in Your help, and love for You and our neighbor. For Yours it is to have mercy on us and save us, O our God, and to You we ascribe glory: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever, to the ages of ages. Amen.
A prayer for Australia in a time of pandemic
Great God and Heavenly Father,
Please come powerfully to our nation in these dark and difficult days.
Please slow the spread of this virus throughout our land, and please protect the vulnerable from its deadly touch. Please lay your healing hands upon those who are now infected—please restore them to health and strength.
Please comfort the families of those who have died from this disease. Please fill their hearts with your presence and gather around them friends, family and neighbours who will comfort and support in their time of loss.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the gift of modern medicine, and thank you for the passion and dedication of medical staff everywhere. Please give each one of them your wisdom in every decision they make; please protect and sustain them, and give them the strength, energy and courage they need to carry on.
Please guide the minds of our leaders in the decisions they make that will affect all our lives. Please lead them to act wisely, carefully and in the best interests of all Australians. Please shine your light on the path ahead.
Please draw close to the anxious hearts and troubled minds of those who now face great financial stress; please protect them and their families from long term economic damage and guide them day by day and step by step through this crisis.
Please give each one of us the calmness and wisdom we need to carry us, together, through the days, weeks and months ahead.
Please plant into the heart of every Australian the spirit to love our neighbours as ourselves, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in caring for those around us—friends and strangers alike—as you draw our community together in love.
Please, loving Heavenly Father, draw especially close to those who are alone or troubled at this difficult time. Calm their troubled hearts, and move their friends, family and acquaintances to call them to encourage and support them.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you understand our suffering for you too have suffered—you have seen your beloved Son suffer rejection, humiliation and death on the cross to rescue us from the powers of darkness.
Please bring great good out of this great evil; please remind each of us that we do not need to make the journey of life on our own, in our own strength, but that you are here, as close to us as our own breath, to fill our hearts with your love, surround us with your powerful protective arms and guide us in your path.
And we ask all these things for this country, and these people, we love in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
For our schools, teachers and students
Heavenly Father,
You are worthy of all praise as the one who created all things, sustains all things and is moving all things towards the glorious conclusion you have planned for them. We thank you especially for sending your Son, that through him we have forgiveness and life and hope. Thank you for your wonderful plan of redemption and for fellowship we now have with you through your Son and in your Spirit.
Father, our world is broken and we are more aware of that than ever as a result of this COVID pandemic. We long for that day when every tear will be wiped away, when death will be no more, and there will be no more grief or pain. But we know we are not there yet and we pray that you might enable us to live as your light in the midst of this darkness, testifying to your continued goodness and the hope that has been secured for all your people through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
We pray that you might sustain us in all that you have given us to do in this moment. Especially we pray for those involved in education and training. As our schools seek to continue their important work in stressful and difficult circumstances, would you please keep teachers and students safe, and help them to care for each other. We pray for those who are facing critical points in their education, particularly those preparing for their final exams and assessments towards the HSC, and ask for a diligence in study that is surrounded at every point by a calm confidence in you and your provision.
We pray for those training for Christian ministry in this context. Please enable them to grow in faith and love and in the knowledge of your word. May they be shaped by you in ways which will prepare them well for what lies ahead on the other side of this pandemic. Would you pour out your Spirit and enable a new season of evangelism, Christian growth and healthy church life to emerge in the months ahead.
Father, all our hope is in you. We trust your promises and look forward to the day to come when the Lord Jesus will return to bring all your purposes to their fulfilment.
It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen
Jewish Prayers
Mi Shebeirach – Prayer for Healing
Mi Shebeirach avoteinu v’imoteinu,
Avraham, Yitzchak v’Yaakov, Sarah, Rivkah,
Rachel v’Lei-ah, hu y’vareich et hacholim
[names]. HaKadosh Baruch Hu yimalei
rachamim aleihem, l’hachalimam ul’rapotam
ul’hachazikam, v’yishlach lahem m’heirah
r’fuah, r’fuah shleimah min hashamayim,
r’fuat hanefesh ur’fuat haguf, hashta
baagala uviz’man kariv. V’nomar: Amen.
May the one who blessed our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, bless and heal those who are ill [names]. May the Blessed Holy One be filled with compassion for their health to be restored and their strength to be revived. May God swiftly send them a complete renewal of body and spirit, and let us say, Amen.
Below is a prayer that might be recited as we light the Shabbat candles.
Dear God,
We ask that You be there for us,
as you were for our ancestors,
a pillar in our midst.
Help us to turn to You, O God,
for guidance during these troubled times.
Give us strength for the weeks ahead.
Help us to reach out in love and compassion to one another,
to support those who are ill,
unable to leave their homes,
or who are struggling financially.
Be with our doctors and caregivers,
our nurses and scientists,
as they are working to develop a cure
and care for those who are ill.
Be with all who are ill and their families,
offering them Your compassion.
And, we pray, Your healing.
Be with our leaders.
Guide them to wise decisions
in these troubled days.
Be with us O God.
Help us to find the inner strength
to be patient when our nerves are tested.
Be our Still Waters
when we are surrounded by fear
and anxiety.
Be our Rock, to Whom we can turn
and give our worry and fears.
Be our Shelter.
Guide our steps
and keep us safe.
Help us to feel Your presence in these times of change.
As we light the candles this Shabbat,
each in our own homes,
may our kindled lamps,
each its own point of light,
join as the stars in the heavens —
a community together
welcoming Your Shabbat Peace
Your Shabbat Love
Your Shabbat Joy
into our homes,
Your day of rest that together we welcome
more than ever before
Sikh Prayer (Ardhas) for Coronavirus
Hinduism: Prayer to Lord Dhanvantri
Lord Dhanvantari is the God of Healing in Hinduism. He emerged during the churning of the Ocean – as the doctor (Vaidya) of the gods with Amrita the nectar of immortality.
Om shankham chakram jalaukam
dadhad amruta ghatam charu dorbhi chaturbhih
Sukshma svacch ati hridyam sukha pari vilasanam
maulim ambhoja netram
Kalam bhodojo valangam kati tata vilasan
charu pitam baradhyam
Vande dhanvantarim tam nikhila gada vanam
praudha davagni leelam
We bow to Lord Dhanvantari holding in his graceful four hands a Conch shell, a Wheel, a Leech and a pot of heavenly nectar.
Within whose heart shines the most pure and gentle beautiful blaze of light, which surrounds his head and emanates from his lotus eyes.
On the dark water whose body is luminous and gleaming.
Waist and thighs are covered in yellow cloth and by whose mere play
All diseases are vanquished as if by a mighty forest fire.
Islam
From Hadith (Sayings and Traditional Accounts of the Prophet)
True Islam Is Kindness
a. Golden Rule
No one is a true believer unless he desireth for his brother that which he desireth for himself.
b. Fellow-Beings
Do you love your Creator? Love your fellow-beings first.
c. The Mark of Faith
Kindness is a mark of faith: and whoever hath not kindness hathnot faith.
d. Good to God’s Creatures
All God’s creatures are His family; and he is the most beloved of God who doeth most good to God’s creatures.
e. Actions Most Excellent
What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.
f. The Needy
Feed the hungry and visit the sick, and free the captive, if he be unjustly confined. Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim.
g. The Perfect Muslim
That person is not a perfect Muslim who eateth his fill, and leaveth his neighbors hungry.
h. The Aged
Verily to honour an old person is showing respect to God.
i. Goodness
Follow up an evil deed by a good one which will wipe [the former] out, and behave good-naturedly to people.
j. Ultimate jihad
The most excellent Jihad is that for the conquest of self.
The Importance of Intention
Actions will be judged according to intentions.
There Are Many Ways to Give
a. An Open Countenance
Every good act is charity; and verily it is a good act to meet your brother with an open countenance, and to pour water from your own water-bag into his vessel.
b. The Best Alms
The best of all alms is that which the right hand giveth and the left hand knoweth not of.
c. The Faces of Charity
If you straighten out [some trouble] between two individuals, that is an alms. If you help a lame man with his beast, mounting him thereon, or hoisting up on to it his baggage, that is an alms. A good word is an alms. In every step you take while walking to prayers there is an alms.
Your smiling in your brother’s face, is charity; and your exhorting mankind to virtuous deeds, is charity; and your prohibiting the forbidden, is charity; and your showing men the road, in the land in which they lose it, is charity; and your assisting the blind, is charity.
A Buddhist Prayer
Great, compassionate Buddha!
With the greatest sincerity,
We are here to express our gratitude for your great protection:
Please let our nation make education available to all;
Please let our people raise their standard of living;
Please let our science and technology continue to improve;
Please let our politics remain democratic.
With great sincerity, we would like to express ourselves clearly:
Although education is available to all,
Our ethics have degenerated;
Although our standard of living has been raised,
Our public morality has eroded;
Although our science and technology have advanced,
Our industries have reported frequent incidents of pollution;
Although our political system is democratic,
Our society has been turbulent and ill at ease.
We thus ask for your great protection:
May the mercilessness and cruelty of our society
Be transformed into harmony and happiness;
May the impudence and impropriety of our society
Be transformed into proper manners and order;
May the rampancy of crime and misdirection of our society
Be transformed into joyous giving and friendships;
May the cheating and imposture of our society
Be transformed into honesty and righteousness;
May the anger, hatred and jealousy of our society
Be transformed into compassion, kindness, and benevolence;
May the wrong knowledge and wrong views of our society
Be transformed into right knowledge and right view
45We pray for your great support:
May we grasp the concept of cause and effect,
And understand the reality of life;
May we have the strength of a heart full of patience and tolerance
And never retreat in the face of adversity;
May we be imbued with clear and wise foresight,
And have no fears or worries;
May we have the courage to subdue evils,
And complete the mission of life.
Great, compassionate Buddha
We pray for your blessing and protection:
May our country have favourable weather;
And never have natural disasters or man-made calamities;
May our politics be honest, clean and just,
And never have corruption or bribery;
May our ethnic groups embrace those who are different,
And never have racial disputes;
May our society be steadfast, prosperous and powerful
And never have wars or upheavals;
May our lives be abundant in food and clothing,
And never suffer economic instability;
May our bodies and minds be healthy and carefree,
And never be disturbed by sickness.
Great, compassionate Buddha!
Please accept this prayer for our nation!
Namo Shakymuni Buddha
Submitted by Nan Tien Temple.
Author: Venerable Master Hsing Yun; A Prayer for our Nation, 2014
The Tao:
Living in Harmony with the Tao: The Quiet Mind
Empty your mind of all thoughts
Let your hearts be at peace
Watch the turmoil of beings
but contemplate their return
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don’t realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
Colours blind the eye.
Sounds deafen the ear,
Flavours numb the taste.
Thoughts weaken the mind.
Desires wither the heart.
The Master observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.
The ancient Masters were profound and subtle
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.
They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water.
Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.
Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
A Quaker Testimony
… … Look long and deeply into the blue of an autumn sky and feel the gentleness and fragility of the eternal as the balmy air fills your lungs.
Stand in the golden light of a tree as it catches and gives out the sun’s glow, and respond to the warmth of its ripeness.
Listen to the full-throated song of a magpie, and wonder at the power of the sound to move you to rejoicing.
Hold the eye of another with your own in a moment of unspoken unity, and know the exquisite tenderness within you.
Take a very young baby into your hands and experience the miracle and vulnerability of human life.
If we ponder these miniatures and distil from them their veritys, we may come to understand what is involved as we set ourselves the task of preventing war … …
(from This We Can Say – Australian Quakers 3.116)
A Baha’i Prayer
O! Thou kind Lord! Thou hast created all humanity from the same stock. Thou hast decreed that all shall belong to the same household. In Thy Holy Presence they are all Thy servants, and all mankind are sheltered beneath Thy Tabernacle; all have gathered together at Thy Table of Bounty; all are illumined through the light of Thy Providence.
O God! Thou art kind to all, Thou hast provided for all, dost shelter all, conferrest life upon all. Thou hast endowed each and all with talents and faculties, and all are submerged in the Ocean of Thy Mercy.
O Thou kind Lord! Unite all. Let the religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home. May they all live together in perfect harmony.
O God! Raise aloft the banner of the oneness of mankind.
O God! Establish the Most Great Peace.
Cement Thou, O God, the hearts together.
O Thou kind Father, God! Gladden our hearts through the fragrance of Thy love. Brighten our eyes through the Light of Thy Guidance. Delight our ears with the melody of Thy Word, and shelter us all in the Stronghold of Thy Providence.
Thou art the Mighty and Powerful, Thou art the Forgiving and Thou art the One Who overlooketh the shortcomings of all mankind.
An Interfaith Prayer
All Knowing, The Omniscient, Ruler of the world, Lord of mercy, Master of Justice:
Have mercy and save Your children who dwell in Your world, which You created with the Attribute of Kindness.
Rescue them from an unseen enemy, from suffering and protect them from dread.
Send us Your Light to brighten the broken hearts of orphans, fathers and mothers, men and women who have lost their dearest ones.
Send full recovery to the ill and the afflicted, those on respirators and in isolation; and give strength, might, and hope to Your world.
Send a spirit of charity and justice into Your world; Help people, assist those who are suffering;
Straighten the paths of the world.
Provide sustenance for Your children all over the world.
Lord of Mercy, we beseech for your salvation and redemption
to comfort all Your children and offer them
peace, compassion, blessings, light and joy
A Prayer for Medical Practitioners and Science
God of wisdom,
Bless medical scientists and researchers around the world
With insight and skill, dedication and fortitude,
As they combat coronavirus,
So that their work yields knowledge and understanding,
Speedily finding a vaccine, treatments and deterrents to its spread.
Source of life,
Grant public health and government officials
The strength to act swiftly and decisively,
With compassion and understanding,
In service to humankind,
Fighting this outbreak
And the other diseases that still plague the planet,
Diseases threatening the lives of our brothers and sisters,
Nations and communities,
Young and old.
Rock of Ages,
Bring an end to disease and suffering,
So that all may know
Your compassion and Your grace.
.ברוך אתה ה’, רופא כל בשר, ומפליא לעשות
Baruch atah Adonai, rofeh kol basar, u’mafliah la’asot.
Praised are You Adonai, healer of flesh, maker of wonders.
(Source: Coronavirus: A Prayer for Medical Scientists)
Marianne Williamson: Prayer For Our Times
Dear God, we pray for this world. We ask that you remove the walls that separate us and the chains that hold us down. Use us to create a new world on Earth, one that reflects Your will, Your vision, Your peace. In this moment we recognize the power You have given us to create anew the world we want. Today’s world, dear Lord, but reflects our past confusion. Now, in this moment, we ask for a new Light. Illumine our minds. Use us dear Lord, as never before as part of a great and mighty plan for the healing of this world. May we no longer be at war with each other. May we no longer be at war with ourselves. Let us forgive this century and every other, the evils of history, the pain of our common fears. Remove from our hearts the illusion that we are separate. May every nation and every people and every color and every religion find at last the one heartbeat we share. Through you, our common Father/Mother and the redeemer of our broken dreams. May we not hold onto yesterday. May we not obscure Your vision of tomorrow but rather may You flood our hearts. Flow through us, work through us, that in our lives we might see the illumined world. Create, sustain that world on Earth, dear God, for us and our children.
See also: Multifaith Prayers – International Day for Nurses
https://religionsforpeaceaustralia.org.au/?p=10425
