World Prayers for September 17-23: Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay

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San Telmo Market in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Wikimedia Commons.

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 September 17-23: Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay

God of life, 
you put in human beings 
the imprint of your image and likeness 
and made us to participate with you in your creation. 
Forgive our incapacity to respect and protect life in all its forms. 

God of justice, 
you call us to travel this path 
which is the only route leading to true peace. 
Forgive our daily acts of injustice 
which condemn many, many persons to death 
by hunger, exclusion and war, 
and lead us to the abyss of endless violence. 

God, incarnate in history, 
forgive us because we imprison you in our dogmas, 
limiting you to our religious institutions 
and crucifying you alongside the vulnerable of our time. 

O God, strengthen us in our daily work for a world more just, 
accepting differences, built on diversity. 
Renew our commitment to peace with justice, 
a commitment which denounces the arrogance 
of those who believe that they are powerful 
and own the lives of all the rest. 
Give us a vision to banish violence in all its forms. 
Establish as the foundation of our lives, 
and the lives of our people, 
respect, equality, truth and justice.
(Bishop Nelly Ritchie, Buenos Aires, Argentina. © Red de Liturgia del CLAI; English transl. Terry MacArthur, WCC)

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

Argentina: Not available
Paraguay: 22.6
Uruguay: 9.7

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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