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12/01/2003 Entry: "World AIDS Day"
Five people worldwide die of AIDS every minute of every day. HIV has hit every corner of the globe, infecting more than 42 million men, women and children, 5 million of them last year alone.
Link and Think "is an observance of World AIDS Day in the personal web publishing communities. The project involves hundreds of webloggers, journalers, diarists and other personal website publishers, each linking to resources about HIV/AIDS or publishing personal stories about how the AIDS pandemic has affected them."
The Methodist Church in Britain has published a primer, Speak Out About HIV/AIDS: A Guide To Resources, available in print or for download. It will encourage groups of all ages to reflect, talk, and pray on the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.
A World AIDS Day Prayer, from Catholic Relief Services
We bring our prayers before a God who knows our prayers before we pray them, who in listening toour intercessions helps us to acknowledge the desires of our own hearts.Bless us with compassionate heartsGod of compassion, many step away from people with AIDS out of ignorance, or fear or denial. Help us to step toward our brothers and sisters who have AIDS, those who are an ocean away and those on the sidewalks downwhich we walk. Help us stand in solidarity with their suffering, in recognition of their worth. We pray…Bless us with compassionate hearts.God of the poor, AIDS does not discriminate by race or religion or economic class. But people do. Help us to respond to the cry of the poor for AIDS medications and health care, for food, for education, for communities of support. We pray…Bless us with compassionate heartsGod of the orphan, there are villages in Africa where all of the adults have died of AIDS; only their children remain. Help us to create a global village that will raise these children in love and hope into a secure future. We pray…Bless us with compassionate heartsGod of justice, our nation has the power to fund a large percentage of the efforts that will slow the spread of global AIDS. Strengthen our call for a U.S. response that is wise and immediate and generous. We pray...Bless us with compassionate heartsGod of our inmost hurts and heartbreaks, AIDS reaches us where we live. Be with us as we call to mind the people we have loved, known or encountered who are living with or who have died from AIDS...We pray...Bless us with compassionate heartsWe have brought our prayers for healing and compassion before God. Let us go forth ascompassionate healers into a world that awaits the full Reign of God. We pray this in Jesus’ name….Amen
