Prayers For Compassion

Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to help the physical, mental, or emotional pains of another and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as having sensitivity, an emotional aspect to suffering, though when based on cerebral notions such as fairness, justice, and interdependence, it may be considered rational in nature and its application understood as an activity also based on sound judgment. Compassion is a feeling you get if you are a true human; the desire to help or, at the very least, see what you can do. There is also an aspect of equal dimension, such that individual’s compassion is often given a property of “depth”, “vigor”, or “passion”.

We have collected some of the best prayers for compassion to use in request to God. May these prayers for safety bring you comfort and peace of mind. May these prayers for strength encourage your spirit and strengthen your faith.

A Prayer for Compassion #1

Oh God, I wish from now on
to be the first to become conscious
of all that the world loves, pursues, and suffers;

I want to be the first to seek,
to sympathize and to suffer;
the first to unfold and sacrifice myself,

to become more widely human
and more nobly of the earth
than of any of the world’s servants.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881–1955)

Prayer For Compassion

Helping is compassion

A Prayer for Compassion #2

Lord, thank you for being a God of compassion. When I feel hungry or beat down by the heat of this world, you offer refreshment. With you there is nourishment for dry and hurting places. May I see where you provide for me, because sometimes I don’t notice it. Sometimes I reject it. But Lord, I admit that I need your refilling often.

When I feel shaken, you are not. You never cease to offer love and compassion for those who are weary. When I can’t figure out what to do and it feels like everything I do is wrong, your arms remain open to receive me. I can’t understand your acceptance and love, but you offer it. Help me accept it.

Have compassion for my doubts, fears, actions, thoughts, and the wrestling that happens in me. Show me new ways, Lord. Help me see your care and kindness, especially when I feel empty and alone.

Lord, I need compassion from others. I need compassion for myself too. Help me notice and embrace compassion offered to me. Help me extend compassion to myself and others, especially when it’s hard to do. Amen.

A Prayer for Compassion #3

Spirit of Life, I give thanks for the opportunities to love that present themselves in the turmoil of life.

Where the light catches the tears in another’s eyes, where hands are held and there are moments without words, let us be present then, and alive to the possibility of changing. Let us seek to make another’s well-being the object of our concern. Let us seek to be present to another’s pain, to bathe another’s wounds, hear another’s sadness, celebrate another’s success, and allow the other’s story to change our own.

Let us stand in the morning on damp grass, hear the syllables of bird song, and fill up on sweet air that rolls over oceans and continents. Let us look up at the stars and the planets that fill the night sky with majesty. Let us witness the first fresh buds of spring amid the brown sticks of winter. And for all this, let us be grateful.

Let us not defend ourselves against the discomfort of unruly emotion, nor seek to close down our hearts for fear a new love will come to shake our foundations. Let us instead be open to discovering a new way of seeing an old problem, or appreciating the perfection of a seashell, or the possibility of friendship. For in giving ourselves to what we do not understand, we receive life’s blessings, and in taking care of another, we are cared for.

A Prayer for Compassion #4

Jewish Tradition

Baruch Atah Adonai
Brucha At Shechinah
Blessed One-ness, Blessed Connection,
Kadosh Baruch Hu:
We pray for all who are in pain
And all who cause pain.

We pray for those of us
Who are so angry
That we have lost compassion for the suffering
Of anyone who is not a member of our group.
And we pray for those of us
Who cannot see the suffering
behind the loss of that compassion.

We pray for the strength
To resist the urge to inhumanity
That we feel in times of fear and mourning.
We pray for the courage
To resist the calls to inhumanity
That others may make upon us in times of crisis.

Baruch Atah Adonai
Brucha At Shechinah
Blessed One-ness, Blessed Connection,
Kadosh Baruch Hu:
May we find relief from our hurts and fears.
And may we not, in our pain,
Lose our empathy
For the hurts and fears of others.
We pray for all who are in pain
And all who cause pain.

Amen

— By Trisha Arlin

A Prayer for Compassion #5

Spirit of Wisdom,
may we bear your love for humanity
by bringing good news to the poor.

Acting according to your will,
we will come to know your reign,
where all will be seated at your heavenly banquet.

Let us bring food to the hungry,
healing to the violated,
and presence to the lonely.

Teach us to shines like the stars
in our relationship with God,
with our neighbor,
and with all of creation.

Lead us in promoting peace and integrity
through our everyday challenges.
May your comforting embrace bring us compassion for others.

William Purcell ’86, ’92 M.Div. Center for Social Concerns

A Prayer for Compassion #6

We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Don’t be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of other people, too. (Phil 2:4)

Lord God,
We confess:
our lifestyles are too busy,
our focus self-centered,
and our world is consumed
with fear, greed, and pride.
Sometimes, Lord, we react
to the pains of others
with a flippant “who cares?”

Yet, in our more receptive times,
when Your Voice calls to
our innermost beings,
We know with absolute certainty two things
we desperately need:
To be loved…and to love.

Hear us, Lord,
grateful,
thankful to experience occasional
breakthrough moments
of unconditional love.

Be with those whose hearts are broken,
demoralized by life’s blows;
those who mirror to us that unfairness and suffering
is not lightened by pat answers or avoidance,
but is made bearable
because of fellow travelers
who truly do care,
and show it.

Walk with us, God.
Our trek is not always easy,
our vision shortsighted,
our love often hidden.
May we seek the deeper places
where our compassion, our joy reflect
You, the God who is Love.
Amen.

By Virgil Fry

A prayer for compassion amid the coronavirus crisis

Creator God, we pray:

May we who are far from the ones we love be reminded to find ways to be the loving embrace of God for our neighbour.

May the restrictions we face remind us of the daily threats to human dignity, life and basic safety faced by so many people around the world.

May we who are healthy remember people without access to basic health care.

May we who are limiting our travel remember those who have no safe place to go.

May we who have a social safety net remember our sisters and brothers in the Global South whose hardships will only increase.

May our fear for our elders’ lives move us to love and cherish each person we encounter every day.

In the face of fear, let us choose love, peace and hope.

Amen.

Prayer: Development and Peace – Caritas Canada

Compassion In Marriage

Thank You for my marriage. Thank You for my husband’s heart. Thank You for the understanding he has of You. I pray that we both would have hearts full of compassion for each other. May Your Holy Spirit teach us how to live in peace with each other, while still communicating through difficult emotions. May You help us live in a way that reflects Your heart of compassion. May compassion motivate every decision we make in Jesus’ name AMEN!

Compassion

Compassion

Prayer of Mercy and Compassion

Oh gracious God, enlighten my mind and heart with truth, love, mercy, gratitude and compassion. Give me the courage to follow you daily in faith, love and hope. In my busy day help me
to think of you now and then.

Make me aware of the needs of the people around me. Help me to be grateful for what I have and help those with so much less. I ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Prayer For Compassion And Mercy

Loving Lord Jesus,
I praise and thank You because Your mercies are unending and they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness that we are not consumed. Please shower Your grace and mercy upon me in abundance on this day. Enable me to reflect Your virtues of having love and compassion and being slow to anger on my fellow-beings. Help me to exalt Your name in everything that I do on this day. May my thoughts, words and deeds bring glory to Your name now and forever.
In Your matchless name I pray. Amen.

***    ****    ****

Oh gracious God, enlighten my mind and heart with truth, love, mercy, gratitude and compassion. Give me the courage to follow you daily in faith, love and hope. In my busy day help me
to think of you now and then.

Make me aware of the needs of the people around me. Help me to be grateful for what I have and help those with so much less. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

***    ****    ****

Heavenly Father, we gather together and come into agreement in the wonderful and powerful Name of Jesus Christ.

Where two or more are gathered there You’ll be in the midst of us and anything we agree upon as touching You will surely do.

Father in Jesus Name, there is no distance in the spirit and we thank You for the listener who desires a prayer to be merciful and compassionate to people who are difficult.

Father, we thank You for Your mercy and Your abundant love for the listener.

Thank You for walking beside them and helping them clean up the mistakes they have made since no one is perfect.

At some point we have all acted unbecoming towards someone else and in essence, been difficult to deal with.

We’ve been a ‘difficult’ person to someone else.

From this point of reference help the listener to see difficult people in that same light – that no one is perfect, we all trip up and are facing challenges in life that ushers us into acting ungodly.

Please help the listener when they run into difficult people to remember all the times You helped them so they can respond with a heart filled with compassion and not with judgment.

Help them to reach out with mercy and love to those who are difficult to deal with. For all they know the ‘difficult’ person could have had an abusive childhood, just received a bad doctor’s report, or had a divorce finalized.

Life is tough and not everyone knows how to handle it, including those who have made Christ their Lord and Saviour.

We decree and declare that the listener has a heart filled with compassion and not with judgment, reaching out to help difficult people when You ask them to.

We decree and declare they are merciful and compassionate to people who are difficult to deal with.

Praise You Father for those specific times You instruct for the listener to help those difficult people beyond just a friendly smile.

We decree and declare that the listener helps difficult people in whatever way and to whatever extent You direct in Jesus Name.

We rebuke judgment and condemnation towards difficult people in the life of the listener. We declare that mercy and love overflow to others.

We believe and receive everything we’ve prayed and give You glory in advance for this prayer is answered!

In the wonderful and precious Name of Jesus we pray, amen.

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By the mercy of God: I decree that the hand of the enemy shall not prevail over my life, in the name of Jesus.

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Every power robbing me of the mercy and favor of God: Your time is over release me and die, in the name of Jesus.

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Infinite God –

In times of trouble, darkness and confusion I cry out to you, God, for answers and comfort. The future is unclear and frightening and all I can do is look to you for hope. Please show us your will and open our hearts to receive and understand it.

***    ****    ****

Your compassion has no end. As I struggle to find answers, there is comfort in knowing that you experience my pain and suffering with me. Help me find the mercy to turn my own suffering into healing for someone else. Help me turn my focus away from myself and onto those around me who also feel lost.

***    ****    ****

Teach me how to comfort others, turning my pain into a guide of gentleness and mercy. Instead of licking my own wounds, help me recognize the pain of your children and comfort them.

***    ****    ****

Be a beacon of light, guiding us out of our darkness. Help me be a haven of compassion and understanding for those who also suffer. Amen

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Merciful God of compassion and justice, have mercy on us as we confess our sin.
We are not the stewards Christ calls us to be.
Riches possess us while others go hungry.
We mismanage creation with our pollution and strife to obtain ever more than we already have.
We abuse your provision for us by our selfish desires.
Help us hear again Christ’s call to be faithful, and through him forgive us as we repent of our sin and turn from it…
Lord, hear our prayer.

***    ****    ****

Loving God,
with a handful of flour and a drop of oil the widow of Zarephath fed the prophet Elijah before her child and herself.
God, teach us the joy of hospitality which welcomes friend and stranger, neighbour and enemy, and so finds You feasting among us….
Lord, hear our prayer.

This prayers are borrowed from https://prayerist.com/prayer/compassionandmercy.html

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled
as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

— By St. Francis

Compassion – Prayers andAffirmations

Prayer Options:

1. A reading from the book of Sirach. (42:15-25)

Now will I recall God’s works; what I have seen, I will describe. At God’s word were his works brought into being;
they do his will as he has ordained for them. As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the Lord fills all his
works… How beautiful are all his works! Even to the spark and the fleeting vision! The universe lives and abides
forever; to meet each need, each creature is pre- served. All of them differ, one from another, yet none of them
has he made in vain, For each in turn, as it comes, is good; can one ever see enough of their splendor?

The word of the Lord.

All: Thanks be to God

2. St. Teresa’s Prayer

Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which He walks
To do good
Yours are the hands with which He blesses
All the world Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are his body
Christ has no body but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Amen

3. Lord, open our eyes
that we may see you in our brothers and sisters.
Lord, open our ears
that we may hear the cries of the hungry,
the cold, the frightened, the oppressed.
Lord, open our hearts
that we may love each other as you love us.
Renew in us your spirit.
Lord, free us and make us one.
Amen

4. Mary is special because she lived the very meaning of the Gospel that we are all invited to live. Mary’s
example of staying with Jesus through his suffering and death encourages us to be filled with compassion and
with hope. Mary did not wallow in grief but took courage from His resurrection. We have been promised in
Baptism that the hope Mary saw fulfilled in her life will be realized within our own lives.

5. Dear God, How long has it been since we walked in someone else’s shoes? Today, we can honor and respect
those people we meet who come from different backgrounds, travel on different roads, choose different
lifestyles, express themselves differently, or come from other parts of the world. We can look at them with eyes
of love and know that our differences show the unique character of our individual gifts, but the life that
animates us–the light at the center of our souls–comes from one source, the source we all share from our
loving God the Father. Amen

6. Dear God, help us to remember that others don’t always see the way we do, hear what we hear, feel what we feel, or understand things the way we’ve come to understand them. You give each of us gifts that are uniquely ours but so often we fail to value the gift in another, judging other gifts as wrong as or somehow less important than our own. Give us the compassion you want us to have, O Father, and teach us to embrace each other with compassionate arms, no matter what our age, color, creed, history, or belief. Help us to remember that you are Life Itself, and that you are using every one of our unique gifts to bring us together with you once again. Amen

Affirmations:

I will seek to understand others by listening
I will forgive others
I will celebrate God’s love for creation.
When I plant a seed or a bulb this spring, I will be reminded to plant hope in myheart.
I use my gifts and talents given to me by God
I always do my best.
All it takes is all I’ve got.
I build on my strengths and weaknesses
I set goals
I accept change
I am proud of the good things I do
I am thankful for the gifts of others

Concluding Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer (or your choice)

See also

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