Make us instruments of your peace — A prayer about Ebola

By Mike Ruffin

O God,

Our world community is dealing with an outbreak of the deadly virus that we call Ebola.

Lead us to repent of our sins that have contributed to the spread of this disease and to the deaths of so many people. We have over the decades allowed pride, hatred, and apathy to lead to wars with their attendant breakdowns in society so that some West African nations lack the health care services to deal adequately with the Ebola outbreak. We have over the centuries followed policies and engaged in practices in Africa that have contributed to the ongoing disruption of societies there and that have led to our failure to understand the societal context within which this disease has broken out and must be dealt with.

While we cannot undo the past, lead our nation and the nations of the world to do all that we…