Prayer For Peace Pope Francis
Lord God, in Christ you bring us the promise and presence of peace, a treasure which
transforms us even though we do not fully understand it. Through your people, your
kingdom peace stretches beyond the boundaries of church and nation, and some you
bless with the qualities that are able to breach divisions and restore relationships
between peoples and nations. ?As we consider the conflict in n? we bring you thanks
and praise for those whom you have called to work for peace; for journalists, peacemaking charities, religious leaders, politicians and all others who contribute to the
discourse and action involved in bringing about a peaceful settlement ?in n?.
Bless each person who recognises and lives out the desire to bring peace, O Lord.
We long for more than talk
But we know peace starts here -
With people gathered around a table,
Looking not at ideologies, politics or boundaries
But at other human faces also scarred by pain.
And listening not to policies, plans or proposals
But to other human stories also told in anger.
Here there is a mirror that reveals
The differences they so fervently and distinctly hold
Have led them all here -
To the same darkness,
And the same table,
And the same hope of peace.
God, life is a paradox. Today we scientifically control more and more of the world, but the world seems more and more out of control. Time is paramount, but the roses we want to smell are ever more remote. There are more leagues, richer players, and bigger stadiums, but they have less loyalty and less respect. God, we are all part of the rat race. Help us to be still every day, to feed on Your Word, and to listen for Your still small voice. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
O God, Eternal Father, in Your mercy hear our prayer which we raise up to You amidst the deafening noise and desperation of the world. We turn to You with great hope, full of trust in
Your infinite Mercy. Made strong by the examples of the blessed martyrs of Per, Zbigniew and Michael, who have rendered courageous testimony to the Gospel, to the point of offering their blood, we entrust ourselves to the intercession of Your Most Holy Mother. We ask for the gift of peace and of the elimination from our midst of the sore of terrorism.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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.