Lord and God, it seems that you are preparing for us Babylon, consisting of the shattered towers of our hopes, the shattered towers of our work, the shattered towers of our possessions! (…)
You did not want to descend from your most holy heaven into the holy world, but into the wicked world; you did not want to descend into a world full of Your divinity, but into the world of the unbelievers. Lord and God, accept our solitude, accept our lostness, accept Babylon, of which we are becoming ourselves. Lord and God, pass over us in Your power and be that stone from the mountain that will destroy all our desires! Pass over us in your warmth and become the fire that cleanses all impurities! Pass over us in the brightness of Your light that will engulf all darkness! Lord and God, may You engulf that Babylon, which we are, into Your holy Jerusalem, which You Yourself are!
(Erich Przywara SJ /1889–1972/, Prayers of this Age, 15; during the time of World War II)
