In my search for help with overcoming effects of spiritual abuse in my life, I came across this prayer at http://www.sgm.org.nz/refresh_2_2.htm My mind is silenced by the divine love expressed by this person and I KNOW this is the Heart I want to find within myself.

The Ravensbruck Prayer

This prayer was found scrawled on a piece of wrapping paper in the Ravensbruck
Concentration camp.*

LORD

Remember not only the men and women of good will

but all those of ill will.


Do not only remember all the sufferings they have subjected us to.

Remember the fruits we brought forth thanks to this suffering �

Our comradeship

Our loyalty

Our humility

Our courage and generosity,

the greatness of heart that all of this inspired.


And when they come to judgement,

let all those fruits we have borne

be their reward

and their forgiveness.

Amen


*Ravensbruk was the only major
Nazi concentration camp
for women.

Contributed by
Anne Dilenschneider, San Mateo, California

This is a beautiful prayer that I intend to use myself. I have been surprised by the ability fo some to forgive. We recently had a case in the UK of an 18 year old student murdered in the street becasue he was black. No other reason, he'd never met his attackers before. They were jailed just before christmas, and the murdered boy's mother gave a beautiful statement to the press about her forgiveness as a Christian for those young men. I don't know if I could say the same thing in that situation, but I will be saying this prayer.
FrancesB

FrancesB:

I saw the item you mentioned on the news and was also very moved by the mother's beautiful statement of forgiveness. It was very genuine and filled with Christian love; very poignant indeed, and something to be emulated.

I don't know if you noticed the way the press switched their attention to the boy's girlfriend, whose spirit was less forgiving, and milked her unChristian attitude for all the coverage it was worth.

Stephen,
Yes I noticed the same thing. The press seem so negative, seeking the sensational and the vitriolic to make a good story. I guess that's what appeals to us though. That and hatred is so much easier than forgiveness. It seems society understands the desire to strike back and applauds it. I guess it mirrors us in all our individual weakness and sinfulness.
Frances

What an extraordinary prayer. And I have the feeling that if one can understand it, one is already on the right path. If one can do it, one is in a place that is truly extraordinary.

Hi Tate,

Thank you for forwarding the gift of this heartful prayer of love and forgiveness.

My birth family shared living arrangements with several Jewish refugees, survivors of concentration camps. We lived together in vacated barracks left behind by American soldiers after the war. How fondly I remember the jewish people who were so kind to me, a small child. As I grew older I made visits to each of them as we sat in silence and thankfulness in their new found freedom. They certainly are God's chosen people full of His strength, love, forgiveness and power.

My father worked for the Foreign Service and helped in finding countries for them to call home, were they could build new lives, including our family who immigrated to America.

The poem brought back to me these memories and how very much I love the jewish people.

I felt a feeling like that rising up today when I saw some recently released photographs of torture victims. I do hope the camps are liberated soon.
People being burned and beaten and it has been ordered to be carried out by my government.

I am deeply saddened by what is being done in my name, and I feel powerless to stop it, and wonder how long it must go on...

Why them and not me. How come I am not in a torture camp. How come I am not a guard and a perpetrator of this torture? Why am I here and not there?

What has become of mankind. Why would people wish to do this to another? What pain must they be in?

Yes, I have read books about the Holocaust since childhood. It seems so long ago and far away...

Then I watch an interview with a whistle blower, a former CIA operative who informs us that we have trained over two million around the world in torture techniques, and he participated.

Why? I thought we were the "good" people. I am losing my innocence and I am horrified. I will repent in sackcloth and ashes for the sins of my people, in which I also participate and share the blame...

mourning&grieving@repentance.com

I felt a feeling like that rising up today when I saw some recently released photographs of torture victims. I do hope the camps are liberated soon.

This is why those kinds of photos ought not be released! People just react emotionally to them. Besides, Abu Graid has already been "exposed," and the problems addressed. That's a little different from the situation that prompted the "Ravensbruck Prayer," don't you think? Why imply some kind of moral equivalency by commenting on that here?

Torture and mistreatment of prisoners is not U.S. policy, nor does it typify our treatment of those interned during the present conflict.

The "other side," OTOH, kidnaps innocent people, tortures and beheads them . . . not a whimper of protest from those lamenting Abu Graib, however. Why not "Ravenbruck Prayers" offered up for them?

And what do you think would happen if the prison camps in question really were liberated? Most likely the following:

A. More roadside bombs deterrring the democratic process that Iraqis have clearly indicated they want to have happen.

B. More kidnapping and torturing of innocent civilians.

C. More terrorist attacks planned against the U.S. and other Western countries (in fact, some detaines released from Gtmo were re-captured doing just such a thing.)

It's this lack of perspective about what's going on in the world today that bothers me so much about those who protest Abu Graib, Gtmo, and other lamentable situations.