World Prayers for October 8-14: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama

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Roadside market in Nicaragua. Richard Leonardi for Bread for the World.

Bread for the World believes prayer is central to the work of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger happens in every corner of the world. In this blog series, we will provide a prayer for a different group of countries each week and their efforts to end hunger.

This prayer series will follow the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, a list compiled by the World Council of Churches that enables Christians around the world to journey in prayer through every region of the world, affirming our solidarity with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations, experiencing their challenges and sharing their gifts.

We will especially be lifting up in prayer the challenges related to hunger and poverty that the people of each week’s countries face. In prayer, God’s story and our own story connect—and we and the world are transformed. In a prayer common to all of us—the Lord’s Prayer/the Our Father—we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This line from this prayer can also be a prayer for the end of hunger.

We invite you to join Bread in our prayers for the world’s countries to end hunger. And we encourage you to share with us your prayers for the featured countries of the week or for the end of hunger in general.

For the week of October 8-14: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama

Prayer: ‘God of justice’

Hear, O God, the cries of your oppressed people. 
It is a fight between good and evil, 
between justice and injustice. 

Lord, make your light shine upon us, 
and guide us by your Spirit,
for we are cast down, but not defeated, 
afflicted, but not in despair. 
This is not a fight against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, 
against powers, 
against the hosts of evil in heavenly places.
Come, Lord, free us from the yoke of oppression 
that has been laid upon us! 
It is as if we were in a dark tunnel, 
but we know that in your light we shall see light. 
Do not leave us in the hands of our enemies, 
who have joined against us,
all those who selfishly seek their own good
and act violently, trampling over their neighbours,
so as to reach their goals. 
They thus hate justice, 
they wish to devour us, destroy us, 
day and night they are plotting evil. 
Why do you tarry, Lord, in making your power felt? 
They put their trust in money, 
in influence, in bribery…
But we, Lord, put our trust in you, 
our salvation comes from you.
May those who desire evil for us
be confounded and put to shame. 
Amen.
(Mendelson Dávila Amaya, Nicaragua)

Percentage of the population of these countries living below the national poverty line:

Costa Rica: 21.7
El Salvador: 31.8
Nicaragua: 29.6
Panama: 23.0

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators as found in the 2017 Hunger Report.

Prayer is a central part of Bread for the World’s work. Learn more about how you can get involved with prayer at Bread. 

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