# Prayer to Heal Our Land
*2015-11-08*

> Bill Young reflects on the feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus and leads a prayer for an end to abortion and for the moral renewal of the United States.

## Feast of Blessed John Duns Scotus

Good afternoon. This is Bill Young, and welcome to the Prayer and Lunch podcast. Today is Sunday, November 8, the feast day of Blessed John Duns Scotus, the Scottish Franciscan scholar who taught in Paris and is known for his devotion to the Virgin Mary.

## A Story of Hope and Abortion

I was moved by a tweet from a woman who shared her painful experience. She was brutally raped, and the doctors urged her to have an abortion. Despite serious medical complications, she chose to carry the child to term and placed the baby with a loving family in Tennessee. We will pray for all who are considering abortion and for those who have chosen life, that our nation might be healed.

## Prayer for Our Land

Lord, we come before you as a people who have been given blessings unlike any nation before us. Yet we have marred your spacious skies with cities and sin. The amber waves of grain, once a blessing, are now taken for granted. The awe we should feel before your purple mountains has been replaced by a desire for pleasure. We have turned away from you, blaming darkness on others while neglecting the light of your Mother, Mary.

Father, we recognize that our small sins have allowed greater evils to flourish. We ask for forgiveness for our failings as Christians. As Samuel reminded your people, we must not turn from you but worship you with our whole hearts. May the Lord not abandon his people.

Mary, we do not deserve to be heard, yet we trust in your maternal intercession. Please pray before God that we may be forgiven, that our families may be healed, and that our nation may return to humility under God.

## Closing Petition

Holy God, grant Mary’s intentions that we may once again be your people—a nation humbled before you, not above you. We beg your mercy and repentance, knowing that without your grace our country heads toward disaster.

*Through prayer and repentance, we ask God to heal our land and restore a spirit of humility and life.*