“Whatever prayer of petition any may make, any of your people Israel, who know affliction and pain and stretch out their hands toward this house, listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement, and forgive. To the foreigners, likewise, who are not of your people Israel, but who come from a distant land for the sake of your great name, your mighty hand and outstretched arm, and come in prayer to this house, listen from heaven, the place of your enthronement. Do all that the foreigner asks of you, that all peoples of the earth may know your name.”–2 Chronicles 6: 29-30,32-33

When I feel powerless and my heart is “tongue-tied,” as I do now in the situation in the Holy Land, I’m grateful when the ancients texts can speak for me. The scroll of the names of the dead in Holy Land rolls on. The weight of them in our arms becomes to heavy to bear. “Listen from heaven,” O God, our only help.

I’m grateful for each grieving person who chose not to politically weaponize their pain. I’m grateful for those taking to the streets in the United States calling for an end to the bloodshed. I’m grateful for the hidden diplomats working around the clock. I’m grateful for the humanitarian aid workers doing everything they can to get food and water to people in Gaza. I’m grateful for each brave person who is making a choice for peace amid the violence of hell.

Here are four places to donate funds for humanitarian aid. They are working closely with partners on the ground in Israel and Palestine:

Catholic Relief Services/Caritas

Oxfam

Islamic Relief Fund – Palestine

New Israel Fund