Prayers for Peace
Our charism of peace challenges us to witness to gospel values. Recognizing this call to be peacemakers, let us raise a common voice to a vision of peace as we confront the violence of our day. May we confront this violence with the love of Christ that it may be transformed by our prayer and actions.
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We thank you, Master and Lover of mankind, King of the ages and giver of all good things, for destroying the dividing wall of enmity and granting peace to those who seek your mercy. We appeal to You to awaken the longing for a peaceful life in all those who are filled with hate for their neighbors, thinking especially of those at war or preparing for war. grant peace to your servants. Implant in them the fear of You and confirm in them love for one another. Extinquish every dispute and banish all temptations to disagreement. For You are our peace and to You we ascribe glory: to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
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May God bless us with discomfort, At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger, At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears, To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness, To believe that you can make a difference in this world, So that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
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Speaking of Peace
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more in your heart. - St. Francis of Assisi
There is no way to peace. Peace is the way. - A.J. Muste
Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited. - Alice Walker
If you love peace, then hate tyranny, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not another. - Mahatma Gandhi
I tell you one thing- if you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather learn to see your own faults. - Sri Sarada Devi
My personal vocation is to be a pilgrim of peace...We, as Christians, are on the side of nonviolence and this is in no way an option for weakness and passivity. Opting for nonviolence means to believe more strongly in the power of truth, justice, and love than in the power of wars, weapons, and hatred. - Dom Helder Camera
We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and don't make peace withourselves. World peace must develop out of inner peace. -The Dalai Lama
Anyone can love peace, but Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the peace-lovers." He says "peacemakers." He is referring to a life vocation, not a hobby on the sidelines of life. - Jim Wallis
The God of peace is never glorified by human violence. - Thomas Merton
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Father you are the source of life and peace. Hear our prayer in this time of war.
You alone have the power that can change hearts
May our Muslim, Christian and Jewish sisters and brothers seek the way of peace together.
Grant us understanding that puts an end to strife;
Mercy that quenches hatred, and forgiveness that overcomes vengeance. Amen
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Peace - Pax - Paz - Paix
In our world,
Peace.
In every room of our homes,
Peace
in every corner of our hearts,
Peace.
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Heartsong Hermitage
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Litany of Resistance
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us.*
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the world
Free us from the bondage of sin and death*
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Hear our prayer, Grant us peace.*
For the victims of war
Have mercy*
Women, men and children
Have mercy*
The maimed and the crippled
Have mercy*
The abandoned and the homeless
Have mercy*
The imprisoned and the tortured
Have mercy*
The widowed and the orphaned
Have mercy*
The bleeding and the dying
Have mercy*
The weary and the desperate
Have mercy*
The lost and the forsaken
Have mercy
O God--have mercy on us sinners
Forgive us for we know not what we do*
For our scorched and blackened earth
Forgive us*
For the scandal of billions wasted in war
Forgive us*
for our arms makers and arms dealers
Forgive us*
Forgive us for our Caesars and Herods
Forgive us*
For the violence that is rooted in our heart
Forgive us*
For the times we turn others into enemies
Forgive us*
Forgive us
Deliver us, O God
Guide our feet into the way of peace
Hear our prayer
Grant us peace*
From the arrogance of power
Deliver us*
From the myth of redemptive violence
Deliver us*
From the tyranny of greed
Deliver us*
From the ugliness of racism
Deliver us*
From the cancer of hatred
Deliver us*
From the seduction of wealth
Deliver us*
From the addiction of control
Deliver us*
From the idolatry of nationalism
Deliver us*
From the paralysis of cynicism
Deliver us*
From the violence of apathy
deliver us*
From the ghettos of poverty
Deliver us*
From the ghettos of wealth
Deliver us*
From a lack of imagination
Deliver us*
Deliver us, O God
Guide our feet into the way of peace*
We will not conform to the patterns of the world
Let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds*
With the help of God's grace
Let us resist evil wherever we find it*
Amen.
Jesus for President Litany of Resistance created by Benedictines for Peace with Jim Loney and Brian Walsh.
To be read responsively from the asterisk.
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Prayers for the Elimination of Racism
To the Creator of all races and people, who loves each of us for our uniqueness, we offer our prayers of petition:
For an end to discrimination in all its forms, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That each person may be respected and valued as a child of God, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That each of us may acknowledge our part in mistakes and sins of the past pertaining to discrimination and racism, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
For a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation among peoples who share a history of mutual mistrust, hatred or aggression, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That the victims of racial prejudice may forgive those who persecute them, and their persecutors may have a change of heart, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That the church will continue to strive to make every element of human life correspond to the true dignity of the human person, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear of our prayer.*
For those who have struggled in the past and continue to do so today for civil rights, economic justice and the elimination of discrimination based on race, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
For the conversion of the hearts and minds of those who allow another's race to influence their relationships and limit their openess, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That we may work to influence the atititudes of others by expressly rejecting racial stereotypes, slurs, jokes and be affirming of the cultural contributions of every racial group in our world, we pray
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That we make a personal commitment to abolish social structures which inhibit economic, educational and social advancement of the poor, we pray...
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
That we may work for decent working conditions, adequate income, housing, education and health care for all people, we pray
Lord of all nations, hear our prayer.*
Almighty God, source of our life, we acknowledge you as Creator of all people of every race, language and way of life. Help us to see each other as you see us: your sons and daughters loved into being and sustained by your
parental care. Keep watch over our hearts so that the evil of racism will find no home with us. Direct our spirits to work for justice and peace so that all barriers to your grace which oppress our brothers and sisters will be removed. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Used with permission of the Augustinian Secretariate for Justice and Peace.
Orthodox Peace Fellowship
http://www.incommunion.org/articles/introduction/prayers