Dear Lord,

Please help us learn how to be forgiving and merciful. if someone strikes us on the right cheek, help us turn to him the other also. if someone wants to sue us and take our tunic, help us let him have our cloak as well. help us learn to be merciful, just as You are merciful to us.

Help us learn not to judge others, or we too will be judged in the same way that we have judged others. help us not to look at the speck of sawdust in each others' eyes, ignorant of the plank in our own eye. help us learn to first remove the plank from our eye, then will we be able to see clearly.

Finally, Lord, help us learn to love. help us learn to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. for if we only love those who love us, we'd only be comparable to that of tax collectors. and if we greet only our brothers, we'd only be that of pagans. help us learn to love others, just as You have loved us. for love is patient, love is kind. it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

and having the faith (no matter how small, even as small as a mustard seed) in You, i believe that You will be able to make a miracle happen. may You work wonders in the lives of the 7 of us, and maybe one day, touch the hearts of the other 6's.

Amen.