As news continues to unfold about George Sodini’s struggle with loneliness, I can’t help but think there are so many people in the world just like him. People who live reclusive lives not because they want to, but because somehow they feel unloved and the one solution to their problem is love. As I mentioned yesterday in my prayer for Sodini’s victims and his family, I feel this is a call for all of us to be in prayer for our brothers and sisters who are in the grips of loneliness. To help this along I wanted to post a prayer that I discovered in the Beliefnet prayer library:

Prayer for Lonely People

Loving God,
there are times in each life
when there is no one.
No one with whom to share
a word,
a laugh,
a sad remembrance,
a gentle touch,
a fond embrace,
a kiss of love.
Bless each one who suffers
from such loneliness.
Enrich life with a friend
or gentle stranger
who will spend a moment
noticing
and loving.
In those times
your love shines through,
the world is reborn,
and Christ is known.
So be it!
Amen.

By Vienna Cobb Anderson

Source: Adapted from “Prayers of Our Hearts” © 1991 Vienna Cobb Anderson. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

For more prayers, visit the Beliefnet Prayer Library.