Night Prayer (Sept 26): Excerpts from Pope Leo’s UNESCO Address, a Short Prayer, and a Song about Human Dignity

The useful part

Saturday 9/26 skip to main | skip to sidebar A Concord Pastor Comments Daily Prayer, Spirituality and Worship in the Roman Catholic Tradition 9/26/26 NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 9/26 Tonight's prayer is prompted by Pope Leo's address (9/25/26) to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Every culture is challenged by this question, which lies at the heart of every form of knowledge, every art and every religion… Before all else, the human person is someone who is conceived and born.

How it works

• To be human, then, implies a responsibility before history: the human being is one who grows, learns and works with both hands and mind.
• By that labor, we may cultivate the earth or disfigure it, create works of art or destroy them.
• At this particular juncture, we must recognize that the most terrible of "human works" is war, for then science itself is placed at the service of an inhumane will to destroy and to kill.
• Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake and watch over me while I sleep that awake, I might keep watch with you and asleep rest in your peace...
• Conscience never asks me— "How much did you acquire?" It asks— "Whose pain Became lighter because of you?" That is the measure That matters.

What to take from it

Those engaged in the fields of education, science and culture are called all the more to care for every person, so that the beauty of our freedom may shine forth. The voice born in me today May echo through a thousand minds tomorrow— To see a human being Simply as human— That is what Real progress looks like. Open me, grow me, complete me… Inspire me, encourage me, embolden me… Heal me, mend me, repair me...

Example or evidence

• Help me to be a brother, a sister, to all of my brothers and sisters and remind me, Lord, that everyone is sister and brother to me...
• From the outset, our humanity is a gift and a trial, a promise and a responsibility… Secondly, we are all born naked and in need.
• We are poor by birth, in need of bread and words, of care and affection — that is, of all that nourishes body and spirit.
• Let me see, Lord, that my deepest human needs are the needs of every human being, of all my brothers and sisters wherever they may be and that their poverty is my poverty and that my wealth belongs to them...

Details worth keeping

Thus, first of all, to be human means to be a child. Help me see, Lord, and help me delight in the beauty of freedom, in the light of justice, in the graciousness of peace: help me know my own personal responsibility for cultivating beauty in all my thoughts, in my words and in the work of my hands... Help me to be human, Lord, for human is what you made me to be...

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