After each numbered petition - except 7 - priest says:
'Lord have mercy’ & people reply: ‘Christ have mercy’
1 Gracious Father we pray this day for the animals intensively reared
so callously - and all so as to be cruelly experimented upon - within
this government approved 7,000 acre site of Porton Down. An
establishment as legally accepted as were the gas chambers and
experimental blocks of a past Third Reich
2 Dear God, how members of the human race can stoop to callously
breed defenceless creatures for the sole purpose of future torture, is
beyond our human comprehension. We're simply told that such evil
practices, in the experimentation of biological warfare, occur here in
Porton Down upon a daily basis; and for these defenceless animals about
to be horrendously exploited we, therefore, offer to Thee our heartfelt
prayers.
3 Father, we realize that preparation for war can be a necessary evil
and that a nation needs to defend itself from future aggressors. But we
also know that no one - whatever the ultimate motives might be - can
ever conquer evil by the furtherance of it. Yes, by inflicting it upon
weaker life than one's own. We know that the moral barometer of any
nation is reflected in the way it treats or God forbid? - Mistreats
weaker forms of life than its own.
4 Oh' God, how some of the employees of Porton Down can reconcile
their hourly abuse of animals, with family life which involves, not
least. the nurturing of their offspring along lines of love and virtue
is beyond our comprehension. Grant us, however, the Grace not to unduly
judge them; but always to realise that 'there, but for the grace of God,
go I
5 We pray. Dear Father, that the consciences of all involved in
grotesque abuses of weaker and more vulnerable life than theirs, may be
awakened through the visitations of the night, so as to awaken to the
just horror of what they have already sown; realizing that they will,
inevitably, reap the same, as clearly as night follows day. For what
they have 'meted out to other lives will return in full measure upon
themselves.‘
6 Dear Lord, grant to the Vivisectors of this establishment a heart
of flesh in place of a heart of stone. Yes, and a willingness to accept
in the next life a purgatorial cleansing through future existences
justifiably appropriate. For though tempered with mercy, and blest by
the knowledge of Thy forgiveness, we are all told that we must reap what
we have sown.
7 Indeed, we pray for the cathedral, the churches and worshippers of
the Diocese of Salisbury who allow such macabre and cruel practices to
be perpetrated on their doorstep, and yet turn a blind eye to it all -
just as ‘respectable' Germans did who lived near Nazi concentration
camps by keeping their mouths shut, yet still attending church on
Sundays!
(P. 'From such blatant hypocrisy' R. 'May the Good Lord deliver
us')
8 Lord, this time round You have placed our lives into a human body -
next time round we may not be as fortunate for You have created far more
animals and insects than You have humans! - so show us how privileged we
are, and the grave responsibility that hangs over each of our heads. For
only as humans have we the ability to 'make or mar' the creation over
which You have called us to be faithful guardians, protectors and carers
of 'lesser' lives than our own.
9 May we take up the challenge to boldly be a mouthpiece for the
defenceless of every species, realizing that the more vulnerable they
are then the more needful they are of our care and protection. To this
end, bless each activist here today for they are surely the very salt of
the earth.
10 Good Shepherd, Thou who didst chose to be bom amongst the animals;
whose birth announcement by angels was singled out to animal carers in
Bethlehem; and who grew up to identify Yourself with those prepared to
forfeit their lives for the welfare of even a single sheep; Good
Shepherd, Lamb of God, bless our witness this day. But of more
importance still: bless the animals incarcerated within this hell-hole
Amen
Animal Padre's
