Prayer For Peace In War
Lord, We believe that the Mother of God, who so many times defended our land, today stands with tears by the throne of her Son praying for us. And we must, having cast aside anger, hatred, and malice, and having armed ourselves with love and forgiveness, strengthen our podvig of prayer in order to stop the flow of maternal tears, that children might not be made orphans, womenwidows, childreninvalids, that our cities and towns might not be destroyed, and houses abandoned. Amen
Triune God, you have revealed to us that the works of darkness and injustice have to be conquered by the dying and rising of Jesus. Jesus' offer of peace encourages us to imitate him in breaking the bonds of inhumanity, of injustice, of hatred, of disunity. Strengthen us with your Spirit of peace that we may always hate evil, love good and establish justice. Do not allow us to cry "Peace" when we are comfortable but declare war against those who go hungry and live in precarious situations. Enable us to find your peace in humble and courageous service of the least of these who are members of your family. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, Peace to you, grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace. Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters. May longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all. Amen.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths toward the future.
From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning
of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin: individual sin
and the sin of the world, sin in all its manifestations.
Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption: the power of the merciful love. May it put a stop to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Immaculate Heart
reveal for all the light of hope. Amen.
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed;
how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: Never again war!; With war everything is lost. Instill
in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our
path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words division, hatred and war be banished
from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be brother, and our way of life will always
be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen.
O Lord, you see how everywhere the winds have burst forth, and the sea is convulsed with the great violence of the rising waves. Command, we beseech you who alone are able, both the winds and the sea. Restore to mankind the true peace of your name, that peace which the world cannot give, and the calm of social harmony. Under your favor and inspiration may men return to due order, and having overthrown the rule of greed, bring back again as ought to be, the love of God, justice, charity toward neighbor, temperance in all desires. May your kingdom come. May all recognize that they are subject to you, and must serve you who are truth and salvation; that without you they labor in vain. In your law is reason and fatherly kindness. You are ever at hand with your strength and your copious power to help man to keep it. Life upon earth is a warfare, but you watch the contest and aim man to conquer. The weak you sustain; the victor you crown. Amen.
Eternal God
Save us from weak resignation to violence
Teach us that restraint is the highest expression of power
That thoughtfulness and tenderness are marks of the strong.
Help us to love our enemies
Not by countenancing their sins,
But by remembering our own
And may we never for a moment forget
That they are fed by the same food,
Hurt by the same weapons,
Have children for whom they have the same high hopes as we do.
Grant us the ability
To find joy and strength not in the strident call to arms
To grasp our fellow creatures
In the striving for justice and truth.
God of peace,
Show us how to put away the weapons of war
and help us destroy the tools of destruction.
God of peace, may your kingdom come.
God of peace,
Teach us to follow the ways of justice
and walk with us the paths of truth.
God of peace, may your kingdom come.
God of peace,
Challenge the weapons of war,
and banish hatred and division,
so that all your children may sleep secure.
God of peace, may your kingdom come.
Amen