Prayer for Peace and Healing

Spirit of Life all around us
You have gathered us together
in a swirl of healing wind…
Take this newfound apprehension,
an unwelcomed shawl
heavy upon our shoulders
and make of it a comforter
soft and warm and trusting
in which we might rest our weary
souls…

Each day we awaken
may our first thought and vision
be the peace in the eyes
of our sisters, brothers, cousins,
who also see the peace in mine.

And from this gaze into each other, may the
peace of our hearts
heal one another.

      — Marta I. Valentín
A Long Time Blooming: Meditations (2014)

Reverend Marta I. Valentín is the Professional Development Director in the Ministry and Faith Development staff group. She served as Ministerial Intern at First Parish in Cambridge.  Her former shared ministries were the Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford, MA; First Church Unitarian in Littleton, MA, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, VA. Her first settled shared ministry was at First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans where she arrived two weeks before Hurricane Katrina. She also brings experience from a number of other Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) wide positions: New England Regional Staff, the UUA’s former staff group, Identity-based Ministries, Public Information Office and Beacon Press. She has shared her gifts as well with the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association’s (UUMA) CENTER continuing education team. She is a published poet and percussionist.