Prayer for Difficult Days - Tazria/Meztora 5773 - April 12, 2013

Eternal One, our sustainer, our light, our source of comfort

We read in the Torah this week about the how the priests were called upon

To diagnose maladies that appeared on the skin of their community members

Or in the plaster of their homes.

Their prescription for healing, we learn, was not intended to be medical, but spiritual, with the intention of  ultimately restoring purity and holiness to the people and to their surroundings.

So it is with us.

We may be experiencing physical pain which leads to emotional distress.

We may be dealing with seemingly insurmountable challenges in our own lives.

We may be assisting family members and friends who find themselves in dire straits.

Whether our own affliction is visible or not, it is real, it is difficult, and it may persist all too much in casting a dark shadow upon our waking hours

or remain with us as an obstacle to rest and quiet as we lie down at night.

You, Eternal One, are our hope, our strength, our wellspring of knowledge and our path towards emotional maturity. 

You calm our spirits and enrich our souls.

Enable us to be a dominion of priests to one another

as we reach out in love and concern to offer much needed help and understanding.

Empower us to gradually and effectively turn signs of sadness, dejection, anger and bitterness into banners of joy, satisfaction, acceptance and kindness.

As we pray to You for wholeness and completeness,

Renew in us a sense of your Oneness that binds all existence together

so that we can bring into the world and into our lives

Healing, unity, compassion and peace.

Amen.