Love is not for the lovely alone (Article 365)
Dannelle Melgar 
Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School, Alameda, CA

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Love is not for the lovely alone;
love is for those who need it;
those who have heard the Master's call,
yet, somehow, failed to heed it.

They are the envious, they are the cruel,
the vindictive, and the greedy;
they are the hungry, they are the poor,
they are God's most needy.

It's easy to love the lovely,
the sweet, the good, and the true;
but the ones who curse and hate you,
they need loving too.

(This prayer is adapted from More Dreams Alive: Prayers by Teenagers, edited by Carl Koch. Copyright © 1995 by Saint Mary's Press. Permission is granted for this prayer to be used for classroom or campus ministry purposes. This prayer may not be republished in any form without written permission from Saint Mary's Press. To order this book, contact Saint Mary's Press at 800-533-8095, or visit our online catalog at www.smp.org/catalog.cfm.)