A Prayer for Peace
(Translated from Gregorian chant by Chau T. Phan)Give peace, o Lord, in our days
Because there is no one else
Who will fight for us
If not You, our God.Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris
Quia non est alius
Qui pugnet pro nobis
Nisi tu Deus noster.
Almighty God,
from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed,
kindle in the hearts of all men the true love of peace,
and guide with Your pure and peaceable wisdom
those who make decisions for the nations of the earth;
that in tranquility Your kingdom may go forward,
till the earth be filled with the knowledge of Your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Almighty God,
in whose hands lies the destiny of men and nations,
Let not the hopes of men perish,
nor the sacrifices of men be in vain.O holy and life-giving Spirit,
enable us by thy grace to root out from our common life
the bitterness of ancient wrongs
and the thirst to avenge the betrayals of long ago.
Save us from the tyranny of history
and set us free in a new obedience
to serve each other in the present hour.Accepting the redemption wrought for us,
we believe that all our sins of yesterday are covered by thy mercy;
Grant us therefore grace and courage
to give and to receive the forgiveness
which alone can heal today's wounds.
Draw us, O Lord, towards loving kindness
and guide us into the way of peace.
Almighty and Eternal God, the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son clearly manifests your dispositions toward us.
Thus you forgave the Prodigal Son for his frantic pursuit of pleasure, for squandering the rich inheritance you had given him.
You forgave the Elder Son for his self-righteous condemnation both of his younger brother and of your tender forgiveness of his outrageous behavior.
You insisted only that they live together in peace.
May we know your infinite mercy and share it with one another both as individuals and as nations, races, religions, ethnic groups, neighbors, households, and families.
Grant us an ever-deepening commitment to the rights and needs of every member of the human family and an ever-increasing respect and love for the integrity and interdependence of all creation.
Abbot Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Saint Benedict’s Monastery, Colorado.
From “Creating Communities of Peace,” Prayers for a Thousand Years, Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon (HarperSanFrancisco, 1999, p. 128)
O God of many names
Lover of all nations
We pray for peace
in our hearts
in our homes
in our nations
in our world
The peace of your will
The peace of our need.George Appleton, The Oxford Book of Prayer (Oxford University Press, 1985)
Show us, good Lord,
the peace we should seek,
the peace we must give,
the peace we can keep,
the peace we must forgo,
and the peace you have given in Jesus our Lord.From Contemporary Prayers for Public Worship, ed. Caryl Micklem
Prayer for World Peace, 1978Lord, we pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding to what we believe to be right.May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men were created.Week of Prayer for World Peace, 1978
Calm my heartO Lord, calm the waves of this heart; calm its tempests.
Calm thyself, O my soul, so that the divine can act in thee.
Calm thyself, O my soul, so that God is able to repose in thee,
so that his peace may cover thee.Yes, Father in heaven,
often have we found that the world cannot give us peace,
O but make us feel that thou art able to give peace;
let us know the truth of thy promise:
that the whole world may not be able to take away thy peace.Soren Kierkegaard, 1813-55