My Prayer-Poem for the 17th day of Lent, Friday 5 March 2021

We hear today news that Pope Francis
is visiting those in the land
of broken Iraq, where believers
of Syriac ancestry stand.


Their suffering in recent years
at ISIL extremists’ decree
is for bearing the name of our Saviour,
for bravely refusing to flee.


Just like under Nebuchadnezzar
in around BC five eighty two,
in Babylon your chosen people
had many torments to go through.


So now in our time, in that same land
our brothers and sisters endure
the cross, the beheadings, the car bombs
and the faithful few keep their lives pure.


So we pray for the power of courage
for those of our faith who remain,
that the Spirit of Jesus would flow though
Pope Francis again and again.


©️Mark Andrew Smith
#the100dayproject #KingsTaunton #PrayAPoem

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